semiotics, emoticons, emojis, promoting linguistic inovation

signifier

• signifier is the physical form or sound pattern associated with a particular concept or idea

• such as words sound or written word on a page

signified

• the signified is the mental concept or the meaning that is associated with the signifier

• it is the physchological or cognitive aspect of the sign representing the idea or image the signifier conjures in the mind

emblem gestures

emblem gestures are non-verbal communications, such as emoticons, kaomojis, emojis and graphemes that have meaning. The meaning can vary depending on the context and cultural background of the user

informal language: e-communication - expressive

• informal language is often more expressive than formal language

• the creativity and flexibility of informal language is demonstrated in internet chat forums, social media, text messaging, use of emojis

• for example, there are many different version of laughing online

• etymology of LOL

  • usually a playful, joking attitude but also contextual

  • “i hate you lol” - this can have an intimate tenor if the relationship is close

  • “i love you lol” - this can have a demeaning tenor if there is tension in the relationship

informal language: e-communication flexible punctuation

• the flexible use of punctuation creates tone

• is often used to indicate sarcasm or irony

• irony is understoof through context - designied to dominate and there is little concern as to whether every person understands the joke

• ironic online use of punctuation - ‘scare quotation marks”

• cohesion can be created through hashtags by grouping topics together #oscars

informal language: e-communication spelling and vernacular

• tweets using # rather than @ mentions often contain more slang for smaller audiences which includes regionalisms, local vocabulary, acronyms and emoticons.

• respelling mainstream language

emojis - representation of gesture

• culture affects meaning of gestures through emjojies

• in western cultures, thumbs up can mean “well done”

• in western culture the okay emoji means “asshole” in latin american countries

emojis, emoticons and kaomojis - representation of mood

• emblems are often used to symbolise somones mood without them having to explain in written text how they are feeling

• in western culture, the mouth symbolises a mood and this can be created through emoticons which are a range of punctuation marks, letters and numbers to create a facial expression

  • :) smiling mouth/happy face or :( down mouth/sad face

emojis are able to

• emojis can provide cohesion through use of the same emoji over long passages

• show in group participation - younger people see the simley face with 2 tears emoji as the “older person emoji” smiley face with one tear used more by younger people

• emojis are used to discuss taboo topics or to cover for a taboo subject. for example in 2016 apple changed the pistol emoji to be replaced by the water gun emoji as something less violent and change tone

• swearing emoji - doesn’t tell you what swear word is being used so a ‘cover’ for taboo langugae

emojis aren’t able to replace language for a number of reasons

displacement: we are able to use language to talk or write about things that are not present right now

• space displacement means that we are able to communicate about things that are not currently in the exact space (environment) where the conversation takes place

• time displacement means that we are not able to communicate about things that happened at a time outside of the actual discourse

• we are not abe to communicate these types of ideas through emojis

graphemes

• single letters are often used to represent words

• “r u” = are you

• # and @ can also be used to replace words

• there are also context specific graphemes that are used such as the ‘== symbol in maths and the copyright symbol

how informal/non standardised internet writing has started to become standardised

• emojis: dictionaries have started to include meanings for emojis

• punctuation: less use of punctuation, more chunking of phrases

• opening greetings: less use of the formal opening/greeting “dear”.

morphological patterning - word formation processes

• affixation

• abbreviation

• acronyms

• blends

• backformation

• compounding

• contractions

• initialisms

• shortenings

affixation

prefixes, suffixes or infixes are added to a base word to create a new word with a modified meaning or grammatical function. these affixes can change the meaning, part of speech or grammatical structure of the base word.

adding un to happy

abbreviation

shortened from of a single lexeme or phrase. e.g iykyk

acyronms

an acronym is a word formed from the first letter or first few letters of a series of words and the whole formed is pronounced as a word. Acronyms are used as a shorthand for the full phrase, and are often more convenient and easier to remember than the full phrase. Some are pronounced letter by letter.

e.g NASA

blends

a process where two or more words are combined to create a new word is often a combination of the original words and the meaning of the new word is often a combination of the meanings of the original words

e.g brunch is a blend of breakfast and lunch

backformation

when affixes are removed from a word to change the meaning

edit comes from the word editor by removing suffix “or”

compounding

the process of combining two or more words to create a new word which typically has a distinct meaning that is different from the meanings of the original words. Compounding is a way of creating new words, which can be used to describe new concepts, objects or ideas that did not exist before.

e.g toothbrush is a compound noun made up of “tooth” and “brush”

contractions

a contraction is a word or phrase in which two or more words are combined and shortened to create a new word or phrase.

“i’m” is formed by combining the pronoun “I” with the auxiliary verb “am”

conversion of word class

when a word takes on a new meaning by changing it from one word class to another

intialisms

a type of acronym in which the letters are pronounced one at a time rather than as a single word.

ATO replaces the full phrase “Australian Taxation Office”

shortening

a process of creating new words by cutting off one or more syllables from a longer word. The resulting word is typically a shorter and more convenient version of the original word.

ad is a shortening of the word advertisement

lexicology word formation processes

• borrowing

• commonsiation

• neologism

• nominalisation

• archaism

• obsolescence

borrowing

borrowing is a process whereby rather than creating a new lexeme by combing parts of a words or whole words that already exist in our language, we absorb a lexeme from another language

e.g entrepreneur - french

commonisation

when a proper noun becomes a common noun and is used without a capital letter

brand name onsie is now a common noun

neologism

a newly-coined word or phrase that has recently entered into common usage. can be created by combining existing words, creating new words from exiting roots or by inventing new words completely.

e.g selfie

nominalisation

when a word changes word class through the use of suffixes. The creation of a noun by attaching a suffiz to an existing noun or another part of speech.

e.g verb achieve becomes nominalised noun achievement

archaism

words that have become outdated due to changes in language, culture, society

e.g thou, thee and thine

obsolescence

words that stop being used because they have become no longer needed

e.g telegraphs