37.2537, Confs: Panel at IPC20 - Emoji-Mediated Pragmatics in Digital Communication: Interfaces, Cultures, and Methods (Finland)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2537. Mon Aug 03 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2537, Confs: Panel at IPC20 - Emoji-Mediated Pragmatics in Digital Communication: Interfaces, Cultures, and Methods (Finland)

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Date: 01-Aug-2026
From: Sam Yang [samyyang679 at gmail.com]
Subject: Panel at IPC20 - Emoji-Mediated Pragmatics in Digital Communication: Interfaces, Cultures, and Methods


Panel at IPC20 - Emoji-Mediated Pragmatics in Digital Communication:
Interfaces, Cultures, and Methods
Short Title: IPC

Date: 27-Jun-2027 - 02-Jul-2027
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact: Yang Yang
Contact Email: yy at eduhk.hk
Meeting URL: https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP2027

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis;
Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics

Submission Deadline: 15-Oct-2026

1. Theme and Aim
In today’s digital communication, emojis are no longer peripheral or
merely decorative elements of written text. Rather, they have
transitioned into sophisticated paralinguistic tools that encode,
modify, and realize illocutionary forces at the intersection of
cross-cultural conventions and digital platform affordances (Yus,
2025). Increasingly, emojis function as use-conditional expressives
(Grosz, 2022) that directly alter the pragmatic weight of an
utterance. They also bring about generational shifts in pragmatic
baselines, with layered, ironic, and stance-marking uses widely
observed among Gen Z (Abbasi et al., 2025).
Against this backdrop, this panel addresses a timely and theoretically
significant issue in contemporary pragmatics: how emoji use reshapes
the interpretation and production of utterances in the context of
digital communication. By bridging linguistic and socio-cultural
theories and engaging in sustained dialogue with current research on
digital discourse, the panel aims to create a focused venue for
examining how pragmatic meaning is constructed through emojis, whose
use can be culturally variable, platform-sensitive, and
interactionally strategic.
2. Major Topics
The panel welcomes theoretically informed and empirically grounded
contributions from a broad range of perspectives, such as linguistic
analysis, conversation analysis, discourse analysis, corpus-based
research, multimodal analysis, experimental methods, and mixed-methods
approaches. Relevant topics will include, but are not limited to, the
following:
-Syntax, semantics, and/or pragmatics of emojis in digital
communication;
-Function of emojis in signaling, modulating, or reconfiguring speech
acts and illocutionary force;
-Pragmatic choices of emojis shaped by institutional settings, role
relationships, and platform-specific conventions;
-Role of emojis in relational work, including politeness, face
management, stance-taking, alignment, and interactional delicacy;
-Intercultural and intergenerational variation in emoji interpretation
and pragmatic norms; and
-Any other topics related to emoji-mediated pragmatics.
3. Value
Recognizing that research on emojis remains theoretically and
methodologically fragmented across different traditions, the proposed
panel seeks to advance a more integrated understanding of
emoji-mediated communication by drawing the above-mentioned strands
into conversation. By situating emoji use within broader
sociohistorical and cultural ecologies, the panel will provide a forum
illuminating how emergent norms of digital communication challenge
stable assumptions about shared background knowledge and common ground
in pragmatic theory.
4. Proposed Panel Structure
The panel (90 minutes) will consist of two parts:
-Four oral presentations (20 minutes each): exchanging findings of
individual studies
-Moderated discussion (10 minutes): focusing on theoretical
connections, methodological diversity, and future directions for
research on emoji-mediated pragmatics.
5. Submission
Please submit your abstract (250 words to 500 words, including
references) via the conference website (https://ipra2027.exordo.com/)
by 15 October 2026. In step 4 (‘Topics’) of the submission process,
select the panel ‘Emoji-Mediated Pragmatics in Digital Communication:
Interfaces, Cultures, and Methods’. Further information on submitting
abstracts can be found in the IPC20 Call for Papers
(https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP2027) Please note that an
active IPrA membership for at least the first author is required to
submit an abstract.
References
Abbasi, M., Jamshed, N., & Bilal, R. (2025). Discourse analysis of
emoji use in digital communication by the Millennials & Gen Z: A
comparative endeavor. The Journal of Cultural Perspectives, 4(1),
80–108.
Grosz, Patrick (2022): Emojis and conditionals: Exploring the super
linguistic interplay of pictorial modifiers and conditional meaning.
Linguistics Vanguard 8, 457-467.
Yus, F. (2025). Emoji Pragmatics. Palgrave Macmillan.
If you have any further questions regarding the panel, please feel
free to contact us directly:
- Dr. Jing Jin (jjin at eduhk.hk) The Education University of Hong Kong
- Mr. Yang Yang (yy at eduhk.hk) The Education University of Hong Kong



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