The word emoji-a compound of two Japanese words e (“picture”) and moji (“character”)-refers to “graphic symbols with predefined names/IDs and code (Unicode)”, including representations of facial expressions, abstract concepts, emotions, animals, plants, activities, gestures and objects (Rodrigues et al., 2018: p. Moreover, a probe into the contextualized configuration of emojis can offer practical insights into the interpretation of emoji-bearing texts in judicial decision-making as well as the admissibility and investigation of digital evidence in courts.Įmojis, created by Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita in 1999 and then hailed as a new-era hieroglyphic language, have become increasingly prevalent in online messaging and social media platforms. For this reason, it is suggested that legal professionals untangle and weave historical, social, cultural and legal contexts into the interpretation of an emoji’s meaning. From a social semiotic perspective, emojis as dynamic signs have great meaning potentials, making their meanings context-dependent and interpreter-dependent. variation in court cases under different rules of evidence iv. variation across platforms, including devices, operating systems, software programs and clients ii. Through an empirical qualitative content analysis of the court judgments in China and the United States and some supplementary materials, this study posits that an emoji’s meaning in courts can be subject to the following six categories of variations: i. Emojis in courts have been extensively researched in extant studies, but relatively little attention has been paid to the emoji variation phenomena in Chinese courts. Emojis are increasingly being used as digital evidence in courts due to the miscommunication and misinterpretation arising from the high variability of their usage and interpretation.
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