Exploring emoji usage in intercultural CMC: Insights from Colombian and Argentinian learners of German

Abstract This study investigates the use of emojis in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) among Colombian and Argentinian learners of German. Recent research demonstrates that emojis serve multiple functions, including expressing reactions to previous statements and modulating the tone of assertions. Beyond the illocutionary domain, where they help articulate speech acts, emojis facilitate discourse by managing conversation openings and closings. They also signify informality in the stylistic domain and guide the social intent of conversations. While these findings are insightful, they primarily reflect interactions among speakers sharing the same first language (L1) and cultural background. The dynamics of emoji use in a second language (L2) and intercultural settings remain underexplored. To address this gap, this study analyzed a corpus of WhatsApp messages exchanged during a virtual interaction between 24 Colombian and Argentinian learners of German. The results reveal that the use of emojis among L2 speakers largely mirrors their use in L1 contexts, suggesting a strong transferability of their pragmatic, discursive, and stylistic functions. Additionally, this study identifies an extra function in the illocutionary domain, where emojis help signal sociality rights and obligations, thereby maintaining positive interpersonal rapport. Furthermore, the performance of national identities emerged as a unique function of emojis in intercultural communication, supporting the idea of a universal component in emoji use. These findings contribute to our understanding of how emojis operate in L2 and intercultural settings, highlighting their role in facilitating effective digital communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries. The consistent use of emojis by participants from different cultural backgrounds suggests that emojis can act as universal symbols, bridging cultural and linguistic gaps while also allowing for the expression of unique social identities.