Scribd
Upload
20 views1 page

Podcast 2

The podcast discusses the impact of emoticons and emoji on modern communication, defining emoticons as emotion-based symbols and emoji as pictorial characters originating from Japan. While some argue that these visual elements hinder complex communication, others believe they enhance written language by adding emotional context. The debate continues on whether these forms of expression are regressive or progressive in the evolution of communication.

Uploaded by

wueric0102
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
20 views1 page

Podcast 2

The podcast discusses the impact of emoticons and emoji on modern communication, defining emoticons as emotion-based symbols and emoji as pictorial characters originating from Japan. While some argue that these visual elements hinder complex communication, others believe they enhance written language by adding emotional context. The debate continues on whether these forms of expression are regressive or progressive in the evolution of communication.

Uploaded by

wueric0102
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Unit 2: Part 1: Communicating in the 21st Century.

Podcast 2:
PODCAST HOST Good afternoon, and welcome to Communicating in the 21st Century. Our topic today is how using
emoticons and emoji in texting, tweeting, and instant messaging is affecting the way we communicate. Go to our
website if you’d like to see some of what I’m going to describe.
First, let’s make sure everyone understands the terms emoticon and emoji. The word emoticon is a combination
of two words: emotion and icon. An icon is a type of symbol, such as a drawing of a heart broken into two pieces to
mean heartbroken. Emoticons express both feelings and ideas in online communication. As far as we know, a
computer scientist named Scott Fahlman invented the first emoticon in 1982. You’re probably familiar with it—it’s a
smiling face on its side. So, as you can see from this early example, emoticons are simple pictures made from
punctuation or other non-letter symbols.
Emoji, on the other hand, are small, cartoon-like pictures of just about anything—from a doghouse to a
watermelon. The word emoji is a Japanese word and is similar to a compound word in English—that is, a combination
of two words to make one word, such as basketball or sunlight. The first character is e-, which means picture, and the
second one is -moji, which means character. Why the Japanese word? Because the first emoji were invented in Japan.
At the end of the 1990s, a Japanese mobile network wanted to attract more teenage customers. So an employee,
Shigetaka Kurita and his team invented 176 characters and made them available for use in instant messages. These
playful characters, or emoji, became immediately popular with the Japanese, who, at least according to author Motoko
Tamamuro, often feel more comfortable using indirect ways to get their ideas across, especially when sharing their
feelings. It seems that the desire to express our feelings through pictures is universal, however, because emoji quickly
spread all over the world. But emoji and emoticons can express much more than feelings. There are emoji animals,
plants, weather and food, among many others. We can put them together to make an emoji “sentence.” And a lot of
emoticons are much more complex than just a smiling face. Thus, people often use emoji and emoticons to replace
the written word. And that brings us to our discussion topic for today: How are emoticons and emoji affecting
communication?
Some say that this use of pictures is a sign that we are losing the ability to communicate complex ideas. They
point out that our ancestors used pictures to communicate thousands of years ago, before the invention of writing.
From this point of view, then, emoji and emoticons are like pictures scratched on rocks, and are a step backward to an
earlier time, before the invention of writing. But there are also strong supporters of emoji and emoticons. They argue
that rather than taking something away from written language, emoji and emoticons improve it. How? They compare
emoji and emoticons to facial expressions, such as raising your eyebrows, and gestures, such as shrugging your
shoulders. They believe that emoji and emoticons add meaning to the written word or even change a word’s meaning
completely. Thus, they argue, emoji and emoticons are a step forward. Still other people argue that texting, instant
messaging, and tweeting are not really written language at all—they are much closer to oral conversation.
Abbreviations such as the letter “u” for the pronoun “you” are similar to the natural reductions of informal speech, for
instance “gonna” for “be going to.” So, what do you think? Are emoji and emoticons like wordeating locusts that will
end up killing the written word? Or are they more like honeybees that pollinate our writing and allow us to grow our
ideas and spread them over large distances? To join the conversation, call, text or tweet us at . . .

You might also like