Emoji in WhatsApp Group Conversation:

Study on Barthes Theory of Semiotics

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.211110.099How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Emoji; WhatsApp; Barthes theory of Semiotics

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the use of emoji in WhatsApp group conversation to reveal the types and meaning of emojis used in the setting where members from groups communicate online. The participants were 21 students of English Applied Linguistics year 2019. The data were collected from since the WhatsApp group conversation made, surely since August 2019 to September 2021of interaction in the WhatsApp group. The methodology of the research is qualitative descriptive using technical analysis of Roland Barthes semiology. The technique of collecting data is based on two resources. The primary data are collections of screenshot chat that contains of emojis in WhatsApp. The secondary data are references supporting the topic of the research. In validity technique, the primary data are collected based on the topic of the discussion. After that, the data are processed descriptively by explaining, and comparing the information gained from many resources. Then, the data are reduced and presented. The findings showed that all members of WhatsApp group used the following emojis, namely face with tears of joy, rolling on the floor laughing, loudly crying face, grinning face with smiling eyes, frowning face, thumbs up, folded hands, hugging face, smiling face smiling face with hallo and woman facepalming, in the WhatsApp group communication. In terms of real meaning of emoji used by the sender is not entirely accurate with the context of the message, while the researcher could conclude that the meaning of the emoji is constantly shifting based on the real context or situation within the conversation at the group conversations. The findings contribute to research on the use of emojis relatively scarce in WhatsApp corpus. The findings also suggest how to communicate using emojis in forums with members from various group conversations.

Copyright

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Rahma Yulia Syahfitri
AU  - Sumarsih
AU  - Muhammad Natsir
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/11/22
TI  - Emoji in WhatsApp Group Conversation:
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th Annual International Seminar on Transformative Education and Educational Leadership (AISTEEL 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 296
EP  - 300
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211110.099
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.211110.099
ID  - Syahfitri2021
ER  -