When the very first set of emoji was designed by Japanese engineer Shigetaku Kurita in the 1990s, pixel-y dots within a 12-by-12 dot grid were about the entirety of what could be conveyed in emoji form. This made for some relatively rudimentary emoji communication back in the day: A heart here; a hand there.
The depth of what you can represent with emoji alone has now vastly expanded, spurring occasional controversy, an entire (admittedly panned) movie, and academic studies about the linguistic importance of those fun little pixels on our screens. Emoji may not be a language of their own in the traditional sense — there's no grammar involved, and they primarily consist of nouns — but there's little doubt that in their relatively short existence they've changed something fundamental about the way we communicate. Read more...
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