Visual and graphical speech: when "emojis" replace text in digital discourse

The rapid development of digital communication platforms has fundamentally transformed the nature of human language, leading to the emergence of visual and graphical speech. This paper investigates the linguistic, pragmatic, and cognitive dimensions of emojis as non-verbal signs that function as structural substitutes for textual units in modern media discourse. By applying speech act theory, relevance theory, and semiotic analysis, the study explores how emojis transition from emotional intensifiers to independent semantic predicates capable of carrying illocutionary force. The research examines the structural distribution of graphic signs in digital communication and addresses the phenomenon of linguistic economy. The findings reveal that emojis do not merely complement the text but actively reconstruct the pragmatic organization of digital dialogue, allowing interlocutors to achieve maximum communicative efficiency with minimum cognitive and textual effort.

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