Love them or hate them, we are all quite aware of their existence. Since their inception in the late 1990s, Emojis [e (絵, “picture”) + moji (文字, “character”)] have surpassed “trend” status, becoming a mainstay in world culture. While they may have inundated every phone used by someone under 18, writing them off as purely juvenile might miss the point of this quirky set of illustrations. For over two decades, these symbols have continued to evolve into a universal language.
Symbolic languages have been around for millennia. They’ve served as both an augment to formal written language and a precursor to it. Our own Latin alphabet originated in part as a set of small illustrations. Our ‘A’ or ‘Alpha’ started as the head of an ox (ox being “aleph” in Hebrew), which simplified over time, evolving into the first letter of the alphabet we know today.
Symbolic language takes many forms, with a wide variety of uses, styles, and voices. However, one theme remained constant. Humans condensed these languages to solve an issue at hand. Unified sets of symbols have reduced complexity, promoted literacy, created identity, and crossed international language barriers.
Hieroglyphs: Status
Likely the most recognized symbolic language, Egyptian hieroglyphs served as both a phonetic alphabet and a set of icons that could replace full words. Egyptians believed that the wise god Thoth gifted them hieroglyphs. They featured intricate details and were often used only in royal matters as a marker of status. A more common derivative, Hieratic script, was for everyday purposes.
Stained Glass: Illiteracy
In medieval Europe, when only the noble were literate and Bibles were scarce, the church used stained glass to tell biblical stories pictorially. Halos designated the holy ones, the Lamb represented Christ, and the Holy Mother almost always wore blue.
Math & Science: Complexity
However complex, formulas are vastly simpler with letters and symbols that include additional knowledge or formulas within formulas. What is Pi but an endless stream of digits, entirely encapsulated into a single glyph.
Rebuses: Identity
Pictures in place of words, or parts of words, grew into a game, especially in Victorian times. People created these mind puzzles to stump or delight the readers, depending on their complexity. Before that, heraldic crests and sigils were formed using illustrations to define a surname, creating a pictorial legacy for generations to come.
Hobo Symbols: Code
While not the most ubiquitous example, the ‘hobo code’ was a set of both pictorial and abstract symbols used to communicate among travelers. Typically inscribed on a fence post of an unsuspecting homeowner, one could tell if the family living there was kind, helpful, dishonest, or had a vicious dog.
International Icons: Language Barrier
Every airport in the world is covered in them. From the gender-defining ‘men’ and ‘ladies’ restroom signs, handicap accessibility, and arrivals/departures are all crystal clear for anybody of any language.
While history is all well and good, how does this exactly relate to text messages? Each of these examples above solved a communication obstacle. Like these, emojis weren’t created solely for fun, but to communicate more with less.
Emojis: Space & Time
In the late nineties, cellular data was a valuable commodity. Text messages were finite in characters, and messages themselves were charged by the each. Feel that nostalgia? It feels like limits. The introduction of emojis expanded the limits. A few icons could represent full sentences with numerous characters. Later officially registered at the turn of the millennium, these graphic icons became a canonized set, with years of room to grow.
Fast forward a decade, after numerous third-party apps, Apple finally included its own stylized set in iOS. With this at the fingertips of such a wide-reaching population, emojis came roaring into the Western world, one smiley face, thumbs up or stinky pile of poo at a time.
Emojis are now a staple of modern communication, with endless uses. Either due to limits in time, opportunities to show off your wit, transcribe literary masterpieces, expound tonality, react in ways words can’t simply describe, or create coded messaging for those ‘in the know,’ Emojis mean whatever the user wants them to. And that is language unto itself.
