34: Emoji are Gesture Because Internet (Patreon)

Emoji make a lot of headlines, but what happens when you actually  drill down into the data for how people integrate emoji into our  everyday messages? It turns out that how we use emoji has a surprising  number of similarities with how we use gesture. 

In this episode  of Lingthusiasm, your hosts Lauren  Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about emoji, and how  gesture studies can bring us to a better understanding of these new  digital pictures. We also talk about how we first came to notice the  similarities between emoji and gesture, including a behind-the-scenes  look into chapter five of Gretchen’s book about internet linguistics,   Because Internet (the chapter in which Lauren makes a cameo appearance!)

Speaking of which, that’s right, Because Internet,  Gretchen’s long-anticipated book about internet linguistics, is coming  out this Tuesday! (That’s July 23, 2019, if you’re reading this from the  future.) If you like the fun linguistics we do on Lingthusiasm, you’ll  definitely like this book! Preorders and the first week or two of sales  are super important to the lifespan of a book, because they’re its best  chance of hitting any sort of bestseller list, so we’d really appreciate  it if you got it now! 

We’re  planning a special bonus Patreon Q&A episode with behind the scenes  info on Because Internet and the book writing process once it’s out, so  send us your questions at contact@lingthusiasm.com or on social media  by August 15th to be part of this bonus episode! 

For links to everything mentioned in this episode go to https://lingthusiasm.com/post/186386270916/lingthusiasm-episode-34-emoji-are-gesture-because