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Comment by torgoguys | Hacker News Reader

This isn't the first time I've heard someone throw out the idea of emojis as a possible language. It seems popular in certain circles, including a couple of different podcasts I listen to.

Why do people insist on trying to shoehorn emojis into the realm of being a whole languange? Let emojis be emojis. They're not a language. They're not punctuation. They are how we use them.

I'm not a huge fan, but they can be fun and are quite good at conveying certain emotions and empathy. Plus other uses. Why must they be pushed towards use as something that they're not?

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Also, how can emojis evolve into a language when they are prescribed by big companies, which provide few updates? Perhaps the set of emojis should be crowdsourced, and we might see some interesting language phenomena.

I see you've never spent much time on deviantart. :) The only limitation there is your ability to remember the right nickname. :iconawesomefaceplz: :iconhappydanceplz:

Standardization by a small group can have a positive effect on a language's evolution. Look at what Webster's dictionary did for English spellings and common usages.

> are quite good at conveying certain emotions and empathy

I don't find this to be true at all. They are missing key elements that convey emotion such as tone and the nuances of facial expression that isn't captured in an icon.

Unlike actual true human facial expressions that we are trained to use and interpret as soon as we are born, emoji usage varies dramatically between people which further dilutes the intended meaning (why did that guy use four smileys in one paragraph? why did she not respond to my emoji?). There's so many ways to misinterpret them because not everyone is using them the same that they lose their chance to be an effective tool to communicate emotion.

Tone and facial expression aren't conveyed at all in non-emojied text. Comparing emojis usage to spoken conversation doesn't make sense because they aren't used to augment or replace speech.

I didn't compare the two. I was explaining that the absence of these things means emoji's don't do a good job of communicating emotion and empathy.

Normal English words also vary widely in their usage, but consistency is often found within tight peer groups. In either case, universalities are still implied or they emerge, whether it is a smiley face to mean a smile or an eggplant for sexual connotation.

I had no idea an eggplant is used as a sexual connotation, which underscores my point that emoji's aren't universally understood.

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