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A Pragmatic Analysis of Digital Media Stickers, Emojis and Gifs Towards Vocabulary Development

Received: 18 August 2023     Accepted: 11 September 2023     Published: 14 October 2023
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Abstract

Communication is a birthright of all societies, regardless of geographical location. As the globe becomes a global village where a common language is utilised for communication via social media images, there is a need to investigate how social media images can be used to improve vocabulary for efficient communication. To achieve this objective, this paper examines several digital media images purposively selected from WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram using Grice's (1975) theory of cooperative principles in conjunction with a qualitative research design. The six digital media images employed in the study include stickers, emojis, and gifs. The study critically investigates these images using insights from cooperative principles and qualitative design to identify and explain how they have been used for effective communication when there is no appropriate word to explain and interpret them. According to the study’s findings, stickers, emojis and gifs are tools that can be utilised to develop vocabulary for effective communication. The paper recommends that English instructors incorporate digital media images into their lesson plans when teaching new vocabulary. Furthermore, more glossaries on stickers, emojis, and gifs with emotions and food types from around the world, as well as living and non-living things with text attached to them for expressing their names and meaning, should be made available in order to facilitate the teaching and learning of new words thereby improving effective communication.

Published in English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ellc.20230804.11
Page(s) 83-91
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Digital Media, Emoji, Gif, Instagram, Stickers, Twitter, Vocabulary, WhatsApp

References
[1] Bamigbola, E. O. (2022). A Pragmatic Analysis of Language Use of Nigerian Army on Parade Ground. International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 4 (2), 347-360.
[2] Capone, A., & Mey, J. L. (2015). Introduction: Pragmatics, linguistics, and sociocultural diversity. In Interdisciplinary studies in pragmatics, culture and society (pp. 1-11). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
[3] Chukaokeke, C., & Obiamalu, G. (2021). Conversational implicatures of Whatsapp stickers chats of Unizik students. PREORC Journal of Arts and Humanities, 6.
[4] De Seta, G. (2018). Biaoqing: The circulation of emoticons, emoji, stickers, and custom images on Chinese digital media platforms. First Monday.
[5] Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In Speech acts (pp. 41-58). Brill.
[6] Kress, G. R. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. Psychology Press.
[7] Lateh, N. H. M., Baharuddin, K. H., Nasir, N. S. M., Mohamed, A. F., Rusdi, F. A. D., & Arif, N. N. A. N. M. (2021). Using Stickers and Gif On Social Network Communication: Users’ Experience And Preference.
[8] Leech, G. N. (2016). Principles of pragmatics. Routledge.
[9] Luor, T. T., Wu, L. L., Lu, H. P., & Tao, Y. H. (2010). The effect of emoticons in simplex and complex task-oriented communication: An empirical study of instant messaging. Computers in Human Behavior, 26 (5), 889-895.
[10] Negishi, M. (2014). Meet Shigetaka Kurita, the father of emoji. Wall Street Journal, 26.
[11] Riordan, M. A. (2017). The communicative role of non-face emojis: Affect and disambiguation. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 75-86.
[12] Schneebeli, C. (2019). GIFs in online interaction: embodied cues and beyond. Cahiers de l'ILSL, (59).
[13] Sugiyama, S. (2015). Kawaii meiru and Maroyaka neko: Mobile emoji for relationship maintenance and aesthetic expressions among Japanese teens. First Monday.
[14] Stark, L., & Crawford, K. (2015). The conservatism of emoji: Work, affect, and communication. Social Media+ Society, 1 (2), 2056305115604853.
[15] Tang, Y., Hew, K. F., Herring, S. C., & Chen, Q. (2021). (Mis) communication through stickers in online group discussions: A multiple-case study. Discourse & Communication, 15 (5), 582-606.
[16] Traugott, E. C., Kortmann, B., Fitzmaurice, S. M., & Taavitsainen, I. (Eds.). (2007). Methods in historical pragmatics.
[17] Tomshinsky, I. (2013). The Art of Writing Handwriting Letters and Notes. International Journal of Business, Humanities, and Technology, 3 (8), 109-116.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Prisca Godspower Ochulor, Yusufu Kaptani Atiu, Mary Adebayo. (2023). A Pragmatic Analysis of Digital Media Stickers, Emojis and Gifs Towards Vocabulary Development. English Language, Literature & Culture, 8(4), 83-91. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20230804.11

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    ACS Style

    Prisca Godspower Ochulor; Yusufu Kaptani Atiu; Mary Adebayo. A Pragmatic Analysis of Digital Media Stickers, Emojis and Gifs Towards Vocabulary Development. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2023, 8(4), 83-91. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20230804.11

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    AMA Style

    Prisca Godspower Ochulor, Yusufu Kaptani Atiu, Mary Adebayo. A Pragmatic Analysis of Digital Media Stickers, Emojis and Gifs Towards Vocabulary Development. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2023;8(4):83-91. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20230804.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ellc.20230804.11,
      author = {Prisca Godspower Ochulor and Yusufu Kaptani Atiu and Mary Adebayo},
      title = {A Pragmatic Analysis of Digital Media Stickers, Emojis and Gifs Towards Vocabulary Development},
      journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
      volume = {8},
      number = {4},
      pages = {83-91},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20230804.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20230804.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20230804.11},
      abstract = {Communication is a birthright of all societies, regardless of geographical location. As the globe becomes a global village where a common language is utilised for communication via social media images, there is a need to investigate how social media images can be used to improve vocabulary for efficient communication. To achieve this objective, this paper examines several digital media images purposively selected from WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram using Grice's (1975) theory of cooperative principles in conjunction with a qualitative research design. The six digital media images employed in the study include stickers, emojis, and gifs. The study critically investigates these images using insights from cooperative principles and qualitative design to identify and explain how they have been used for effective communication when there is no appropriate word to explain and interpret them. According to the study’s findings, stickers, emojis and gifs are tools that can be utilised to develop vocabulary for effective communication. The paper recommends that English instructors incorporate digital media images into their lesson plans when teaching new vocabulary. Furthermore, more glossaries on stickers, emojis, and gifs with emotions and food types from around the world, as well as living and non-living things with text attached to them for expressing their names and meaning, should be made available in order to facilitate the teaching and learning of new words thereby improving effective communication.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AU  - Prisca Godspower Ochulor
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    AB  - Communication is a birthright of all societies, regardless of geographical location. As the globe becomes a global village where a common language is utilised for communication via social media images, there is a need to investigate how social media images can be used to improve vocabulary for efficient communication. To achieve this objective, this paper examines several digital media images purposively selected from WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram using Grice's (1975) theory of cooperative principles in conjunction with a qualitative research design. The six digital media images employed in the study include stickers, emojis, and gifs. The study critically investigates these images using insights from cooperative principles and qualitative design to identify and explain how they have been used for effective communication when there is no appropriate word to explain and interpret them. According to the study’s findings, stickers, emojis and gifs are tools that can be utilised to develop vocabulary for effective communication. The paper recommends that English instructors incorporate digital media images into their lesson plans when teaching new vocabulary. Furthermore, more glossaries on stickers, emojis, and gifs with emotions and food types from around the world, as well as living and non-living things with text attached to them for expressing their names and meaning, should be made available in order to facilitate the teaching and learning of new words thereby improving effective communication.
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Author Information
  • Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts, Bingham University, Karu, Nigeria

  • Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts, Bingham University, Karu, Nigeria

  • Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts, Bingham University, Karu, Nigeria

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