COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EMOJI, GIF, AND STICKER USAGE IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNICATION
Keywords:
Emoji, GIF, sticker, digital communicationAbstract
The rapid development of social media platforms has introduced new forms of visual communication such as emojis, GIFs, and stickers. These elements function as digital paralinguistic tools that enhance emotional expression and clarify meaning in text-based interaction. This study investigates the differences in the usage of emojis, GIFs, and stickers among English and Uzbek social media users. The research analyzes communicative examples collected from Telegram, Instagram, and Twitter in order to identify cultural and pragmatic differences in visual communication practices. The results indicate that while English-speaking users tend to use GIFs and reaction memes more frequently, Uzbek users rely heavily on stickers and emojis to express emotions and politeness. The study demonstrates that cultural norms, platform preferences, and communication styles significantly influence the use of visual elements in online discourse.
References
Bai, Q., Dan, Q., Mu, Z., & Yang, M. (2019). A systematic review of emoji: Current research and future perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology.
Danesi, M. (2016). The semiotics of emoji: The rise of visual language in the age of the Internet. Bloomsbury.
Dresner, E., & Herring, S. (2010). Functions of the nonverbal in CMC: Emoticons and illocutionary force. Communication Theory.
Evans, V. (2017). The emoji code: The linguistics behind smiley faces and scaredy cats. Picador.
Gawne, L., & McCulloch, G. (2019). Emoji as digital gestures. Language@Internet.
Ge, J., & Gretzel, U. (2018). Emoji rhetoric in digital communication. Information Technology & Tourism.
Herring, S., & Dainas, A. (2017). GIFs and communicative functions in social media. Information, Communication & Society.
Kelly, R., & Watts, L. (2015). Characterising the inventive appropriation of emoji as relationally meaningful in mediated communication. Experiences of Technology Appropriation.
Li, L., & Yang, Y. (2018). Pragmatic functions of emoji in Internet communication. Discourse, Context & Media.
Miller, H., Kluver, D., Thebault-Spieker, J., et al. (2016). Understanding emoji ambiguity in context. Proceedings of ICWSM.
Novak, P., Smailović, J., Sluban, B., & Mozetič, I. (2015). Sentiment of emojis. PLoS ONE.
Riordan, M. (2017). Emojis as tools for emotion work in computer-mediated communication. Computers in Human Behavior.
Stark, L., & Crawford, K. (2015). The conservatism of emoji. Social Media + Society.
