Emoji and Indirect Replies

In face-to-face communication there are multiple paralinguistic and gestural features that facilitate recognition of a speaker’s intended meaning, features that are lacking when people communicate digitally (e.g., texting). As a result, substitutes have emerged (expressive punctuation, capitalization, etc.) to facilitate communication in these situations. However, little is known about the comprehension processes involved in digital communication. In this research we examined the role of emoji in the comprehension of face-threatening, indirect replies. Participants in two experiments read question – reply sequences and then judged the accuracy of interpretations of the replies. On critical trials the reply violated the relation maxim and conveyed a negative, face-threatening response. On one-third of the trials the reply contained only text, on one-third of the trials the reply contained text and an emoji, and on one-third of the trials the reply contained only an emoji. When the question requested potentially negative information about one of the interactants (disclosures and opinions), participants were more likely to endorse the indirect meaning of the reply, and did so faster, when the reply contained an emoji than when it did not. This effect did not occur when the question was a request for action, a more conventional type of indirect reply. Overall, then, this research demonstrates that emoji can sometimes facilitate the comprehension of meaning. Future research is needed to examine the boundary conditions for this effect. Keywords: Emoji, language processing, indirect meaning, relation violation

在面对面交流中，存在多种副语言与手势特征，可辅助识别说话者的意图含义；而在数字通信（如短信）场景中，这类特征往往缺失。为此，各类替代沟通手段应运而生，例如表情标点、大写字母等，以优化此类场景下的交流效果。然而，当前学界对数字通信涉及的语义理解过程仍知之甚少。
本研究聚焦表情符号（emoji）在解读带有面子威胁的间接回复时的作用。两项实验中的被试需阅读问答序列，随后对针对回复的解读准确性进行评判。在关键试次中，回复违反了合作原则的关系准则，并传递出负面的面子威胁性回应。其中三分之一的试次中，回复仅包含纯文本；三分之一的试次中，回复同时包含文本与表情符号；剩余三分之一的试次中，回复仅包含表情符号。
当提问要求获取关于互动对象的潜在负面信息（如个人披露与观点）时，若回复中包含表情符号，被试更倾向于认可回复的间接含义，且判断速度更快；而当提问为行动请求（一种更为常规的间接回复类型）时，上述效应并未出现。
综上，本研究证明表情符号有时可助力语义理解。未来仍需开展相关研究，以探明该效应的适用边界条件。
关键词：表情符号（emoji）、语言处理、间接含义、关系准则违反