Do you kiss when you text? Cross-cultural differences in the use of the kissing emojis in three WhatsApp corpora

Abstract

Emojis are pictographs added to messages on social media and websites. Researchers have observed that emojis representing kissing faces are often used to close instant messaging conversations. This has been interpreted as an imitation of cheek kissing, a common behavior in some cultural contexts. We analyze the use of seven types of kissing emojis in three corpora of WhatsApp chats, one from Spain (where cheek kisses in face-to-face interaction are commonplace in many situations), the other from Germany (where kisses are occasionally given), and the third from the German-speaking part of Switzerland (where cheek kisses are a common greeting between relatives and friends). To do so, we systematically categorize and compare the use of a sample of these emojis on WhatsApp. The analysis suggests that there are differences between the three corpora in the use of the kissing emojis. The emoji “face throwing a kiss” is often included in closing messages in the Spanish and Swiss-German data, while in the Federal German corpus kisses do not appear at the end of a conversation; using these emojis in openings is uncommon in all three corpora. This suggests that these emojis can exhibit cultural variation, but they do not clearly mirror face-to-face behavior.

Self‐praise on social media WeChat Moments in L1 and L2 Chinese

“…Previous studies have also found cultural variation in emoji practices (e.g., Kejriwal et al., 2021; Ren & Fukushima, 2022; Sampietro et al., 2022). It can be further hypothesized from the present findings that emojis of hands, objects, and animals may be more culturally loaded and therefore more difficult for L2 learners to acquire and fine‐tune.…”

“…In contrast, facial emojis are more universal across cultures and thus are easier for L2 learners thanks to positive transfer. More pragmatics research on nonlinguistic aspects of learners’ pragmatic practices is warranted (Ren & Guo, 2022b; Sampietro et al., 2022), reflecting the need to expand the definition of pragmatic competence to include multilinguistic, multi‐semiotic, and multimodal resources (Ren, 2022b).…”

variation géographique et sociale dans le français d'internet: émojis et émoticônes en France et au Québec

“…D'autres études n'ont pas mis en évidence de différences significatives (Fullwood et al 2015;Pérez-Sabater 2013). Il y également des différences culturelles dans l'utilisation des émojis, à la fois dans leur fonction sémantique (Sampietro et al 2022) et dans leur fréquence (Guntuku et al 2019).…”

The medium is accountable: Metacommunication and media ideologies about voice messages in WhatsApp chats

“…In messages #05 to #07, María offers an 'absolution' (Robinson, 2004), declaring that she likes VMs, thus ratifying the mode switch. The standalone emoji in #07 can either strengthen her appreciation or mark an (unsuccessful) closing of the interaction, often marked with a kissing emoji in Spanish WhatsApp messages (Sampietro et al, 2022). In #21, she accepts that Ricardo is sending VMs because he is busy preparing lunch, and implicitly acknowledges the apology by referring to its content.…”