Abstract
The term “emoticons” short for “emotion icons” refers to graphic signs, such as the smiley face, that often accompany computer-mediated textual communication. They are most often characterized as iconic indicators of emotion, conveyed through a communication channel that is parallel to the linguistic one. In this chapter, it is argued that this conception of emoticons fails to account for some of their important uses. We present a brief outline of speech act theory and use it to provide a complementary account of emoticons, according to which they also function as indicators of illocutionary force. We conclude by considering how our analysis bears upon broader questions concerning language, bodily behavior, and text.
This chapter is a shortened version of Dresner, E. and Herring, S.C. 2010. Functions of the nonverbal in CMC: Emoticons and illocutionary force. Communication Theory 20: 249–268.
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Notes
- 1.
Provine et al. (2007) draw a parallel between what they call the “punctuation effect” of laughter placement in speech and signed language and the placement of emoticons in written CMC, but they do not suggest that emoticons function like punctuation.
- 2.
These examples are drawn from the second author’s archives over the last 10 years, and include private email, private chat (Instant Messaging), public chat (AOL chat; Internet Relay Chat), and public discussion forum postings. This sample is not systematic, and no attempt is made to advance claims about the frequency of occurrence of any usage based on it.
- 3.
On face threats and speech acts, see Brown and Levinson (1987).
- 4.
CFS/FMS = Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia Syndrome.
- 5.
See Sperber and Wilson (1986) for an account of the way context helps determine the speech act performed through the production of a given utterance.
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Dresner, E., Herring, S.C. (2014). Emoticons and Illocutionary Force. In: Riesenfeld, D., Scarafile, G. (eds) Perspectives on Theory of Controversies and the Ethics of Communication. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7131-4_8
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