Emojis as Strategies of Repair in Apologies: a study on digital communication exchanges

ABSTRACT Emojis are linked to the emotive expression, as well as to the identification of the prevailing speech act in a communicative exchange carried in the digital environment. From this perspective, this study is in line with the notion that these icons may be used to highlight the illocutionary force of a given speech act (DRESNER, HERRING, 2010, AVELAR, 2018), more specifically, the apologies following refusals, (KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI, 2001, LEECH, 2014). To verify the validity of this proposal, we carried the analysis of 432 threadscontaining emojis, collected from interactions within a WhatsApp group (AVELAR, 2018). The results point out that emojis constituted a strategy of repair, used to restore the image of the offender and that of the offended. These strategies also served as repairs, due to the potential face loss resulting from the accomplishment of a dispreferred speech act, such as refusals.

摘要 表情符号（Emojis）与情感表达及数字环境中交际互动里主导言语行为的识别密切相关。据此，本研究契合如下学术观点：此类图标可用于凸显特定言语行为的言外之力（DRESNER、HERRING，2010；AVELAR，2018），具体指向拒绝行为后的致歉行为（KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI，2001；LEECH，2014）。为验证本研究构想的有效性，我们对从某WhatsApp群组互动中采集的432条含表情符号的聊天线程开展了分析（AVELAR，2018）。研究结果表明，表情符号构成了一种面子修复策略，用于修复冒犯者与受冒犯者双方的形象。鉴于实施拒绝等非偏好性言语行为可能引发交际双方的面子损失，此类策略亦可作为修复手段发挥作用。