34: Emoji are Gesture Because Internet

Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics

Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne

Science

4.8 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2019

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emoji make a lot of headlines, but what happens when you actually drill down into the data for how people integrate emoji into our everyday messages? It turns out that how we use emoji has a surprising number of similarities with how we use gesture. In this episode of Lingthusiasm, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about emoji, and how gesture studies can bring us to a better understanding of these new digital pictures. We also talk about how we first came to notice the similarities between emoji and gesture, including a behind-the-scenes look into chapter five of Gretchen’s book about internet linguistics, Because Internet (the chapter in which Lauren makes a cameo appearance!) Speaking of which, that’s right, Because Internet, Gretchen’s long-anticipated book about internet linguistics, is coming out this Tuesday! (That’s July 23, 2019, if you’re reading this from the future.) If you like the fun linguistics we do on Lingthusiasm, you’ll definitely like this book! Preorders and the first week or two of sales are super important to the lifespan of a book, because they’re its best chance of hitting any sort of bestseller list, so we’d really appreciate it if you got it now! Go to gretchenmcculloch.com/book for ordering links! We’re planning a special bonus Patreon Q&A episode with behind the scenes info on Because Internet and the book writing process once it’s out, so send us your questions at contact@lingthusiasm.com or on social media by August 15th to be part of this bonus episode! We also have a new tier on Patreon! For $15 or more, join the Ling-phabet tier and get your name and favourite IPA symbol or other special character on our Lingthusiasm Supporters Wall of Fame! Plus, join the new $15 tier by August 15th, and get a free Because Internet bookplate signed by Gretchen with your name on it and sent to you in the mail, so you can stick it inside of your copy of Because Internet (or anywhere else you like to put stickers). patreon.com/lingthusiasm As usual, we also have a bonus episode for the $5 Patreon tier, and this month’s bonus episode is about family words! Aka familects, these are the unique words that you create and use within your family. Support Lingthusiasm on Patreon to gain access to the familects episode and 28 previous bonus episodes. patreon.com/lingthusiasm For the links mentioned in this episode, visit the shownotes page at: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/186386270916/lingthusiasm-episode-34-emoji-are-gesture-because

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Lincthusiasm, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics. I'm Lauren Gorn.
0:22.7	And I'm Gretchen McCulloch. And today, we're getting enthusiastic about emoji and gesture.
0:26.7	But first, my book about Internet linguistics is coming out in less than a week from when this episode goes up.
0:32.9	Yay! It will be out on July the 23rd, 2019, and it's called Because Internet and is available in all major booksellers, including an audiobook which you read yourself, Gretchen.
0:45.0	Yes, I did. So if you like hearing me talk here, you can now listen to me, read the book. Or you can read the book in the conventional way with the words in front of your eyes is also a thing you can do.
0:54.7	And I'm really excited to get to share this book with you, to finally get to hear what people think
0:58.1	about it. And it is a really good thing to get it when it first comes out, because if it has any
1:03.5	likelihood of hitting any sort of bestseller list, pre-orders and sales in the first week are
1:08.4	what's going to make that happen. So if you can help us make more
1:12.2	people pay attention to the book by getting it on any sort of lists, that would be super cool.
1:16.0	This episode is a bit of a taster for the chapter on emoji that's in the book.
1:21.2	Which you were kind of involved with, Lauren.
1:23.5	Which is why we've chosen this chapter, but there are lots of other topics covered in the book.
1:30.1	I've been lucky enough to read, and you'll hear how that went in the episode.
1:35.2	I've read this book. I'm very excited for it.
1:37.5	Other topics include things like how we use punctuation to signal tone of voice,
1:42.7	the language of memes, and how the first social
1:45.2	network you joined influences your internet life. And that chapter, I felt very seen.
1:51.3	I've heard a lot of people contact me about that chapter. So because internet, there are links
1:55.5	in the description, there are links on linkthusiasm.com. You can get it. You should get it. I'm
2:00.0	really excited to get to talk about it more with people once they get can get it. You should get it. I'm really excited to
2:00.9	get to talk about it more with people once they get to read it. In other exciting linkthusiasm news,
	...

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