Can an emoji be a word?
Oxford Dictionaries thinks so — they chose one as their Word of the Year. And this has language purists fuming. But what exactly is a word?
Linguist Daniel Midgley explains on this episode of Talk the Talk.
Listen to this episode
You can listen to all the episodes of Talk the Talk by pasting this URL into your podlistener.
http://danielmidgley.com/talkthetalk/talk_classic.xml
Promo
Show notes
The Linguistics Roadshow: Dialect Maps!
http://lingroadshow.com/resources/englishes-in-australia/vocabulary/mapping-words-around-australia/
Optus removes Arabic ads from shopping centre after alleged threat to staff
http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/optus-removes-arabic-ads-from-shopping-centre-after-alleged-threat-to-staff-20151116-gl0njn.html
This Phone Company Had To Explain What Islam Was To Angry Customers
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/optus-had-to-take-down-its-arabic-posters-after-people-kept#.siJ8qAKp4
Islamophobia in US: The Arabic language
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/civil-rights/237556-islamophobia-in-us-the-arabic-language
Philly Passengers Pulled off Flight for Speaking Arabic
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/Philly-Pizza-Shop-Owner-Profiled-Southwest-Airlines-351944441.html
Forget French and Mandarin – Arabic is the language to learn
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/forget-french-and-mandarin-arabic-is-the-language-to-learn-10382690.html
Arabic is fastest-growing language at U.S. colleges (2010)
http://www.thegazette.com/2010/03/25/arabic-is-fastest-growing-language-at-u-s-colleges
Commentary: Teach Arabic in public schools
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-arabic-language-public-schools-perspec-0406-20150403-story.html
Teaching Arabic is no cause for fear
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/10/navarrette.arabic.curriculum/
Alabama: Residents Fear Teaching Arabic To Students Is A Threat To Christianity
http://www.loonwatch.com/2013/10/alabama-residents-fear-teaching-arabic-to-students-is-a-threat-to-christianity/
Here’s an interesting account of what it was like for British Navy soldiers to be learning Russian in the 1950s.
http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/25314/2/Centaur_russia.pdf
Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2015 is… 😂
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/11/word-of-the-year-2015-emoji/
Find out why we chose 😂 as the #OxfordWOTY: https://t.co/LjJyxO8cvvpic.twitter.com/iiQZxQltst
— Oxford Dictionaries (@OxfordWords) November 17, 2015
Oxford Dictionaries Chooses ‘Pictograph’ as Word of the Year
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/oxford-dictionaries-chooses-pictograph-as-word-of-the-year/225933/
Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year is an emoji, and that is awesome
http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/oxford-dictionarys-word-of-the-year-not-only-reflects-the-current-linguistic-landscape-but-also-the-times-in-which-we-live
Emoji versus the rest
http://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/nCilLJGgCT0A7hT8rjt7rO/Emoji-versus-the-rest.html
Scholarly reflections on ’emoji’
http://blog.oup.com/2015/11/scholarly-reflections-on-emoji-word-of-the-year/
Are Emojis Words? Science And Language Experts Explain.
http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2015/11/20/3724423/an-emoji-investigation/
An emoji was named the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year and people want to leave planet Earth
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12000092/An-emoji-was-named-the-Oxford-Dictionaries-Word-of-the-Year-and-people-want-to-leave-planet-Earth.html
Oxford’s Word of the Year…isn’t a word
http://www.skynews.com.au/culture/offbeat/2015/11/17/oxford-s-word-of-the-year—isn-t-a-word.html
Vyv Evans – Signs of our times: why emoji can be even more powerful than words
https://theconversation.com/signs-of-our-times-why-emoji-can-be-even-more-powerful-than-words-50893
Google: word definition
https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=word+definition&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=ho5KVvWwJqLu8wfomYGQCw&gws_rd=cr
Over time, words in English have had a tendency to compound.
phonological word
http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/Phonological-Word.htm
emojitracker.com
http://emojitracker.com
Urban Dictionary: Nyorn
NOTE the downvotes! People hate this definition, so it’s probably wrong. But also note the connection to Aboriginal English.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nyorn&defid=7088728
Nyorn dard
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120821023225AAfkSRn
Image credit: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02946/emoji_2946521b.jpg
Transcript
We’re working our way back through the archives. If you think we should prioritise a transcript of this episode, let us know!