The Emoji Linguistic Functions in WeChat among Different Gender

Abstract

In the 20 years since the first set of emojis was released, it has become increasingly popular to use them in text-based online communication to express emotions. In this study, a mixed design approach was employed, utilizing both a corpus-based tool and a questionnaire. Over a period of approximately 4 months, undergraduates at a Chinese college were observed to explore how the five functions emerged from the collected data, based on Jakobson’s Model. This paper analyzes the six linguistic functions of emojis, namely emotive, conative, phatic, poetic, referential, and metalingual. The questionnaire reveals differences in emoji usage between male and female students. The researcher suggests that further studies should be conducted to investigate other influential aspects of emoji usage.