So now we have the option to give this new creation the visual 'thumbs-up' but have you thought (puzzled face) why we've become so addicted to using emojis? Professor Vyv Evans, has written a book called ‘The Emoji Code’ – he says "increasingly, what we’re finding is that digital communication is taking over from certain aspects of face-to-face interaction… one of the reasons emojis are so interesting is that they really do enable us to express our emotional selves much more effectively." So emojis are a sort of substitute for the visual signals or non-verbal cues we normally give when we speak to someone face-to-face.

Another advantage of emojis is that they are an international language – they don't use words but tell a message in pictorial form so they can be easily interpreted whatever your native language. However, the emojis you send need some thought as they can sometimes be misinterpreted – if a friend sends you an emoji of a hammer, you may think he is angry when really he is saying he has hurt himself or he is clumsy!

Emojis are a good way for showing empathy – they are a virtual hug or a flirtatious tease. But as linguist Neil Cohn says, "to many, emoji are an exciting evolution of the way we communicate; to others, they are linguistic Armageddon." It does show there is a lot more to our communication than words alone but does this mean the decline in traditional writing?

词汇表 happy 高兴的

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