Dialogue as Text Containing Emoticons: Jurislinguistic Approach

Abstract

The article considers dialogues containing emoticons, which have become case materials of various lawsuits. The key problems for legal linguistics related to the functioning of texts containing emoticons in modern electronic communication are considered: verbalization of emoticons, including online verbalization with the help of specialized emoji-translators, and their interpretation and lexicography. Basing on the considered court cases, the problem of similarity between the text, which includes emoticons, and the verbalized text, which does not contain pictograms, is also formulated. Basing on the analysis of pictogram texts, as well as messages containing emoticons, it has been concluded that the similarity between text with pictographic elements and text that does not contain emoticons can be represented to various degree. Three options are possible: 1) the presence of complete similarity (identity) between the text containing emoticons and the text, which is its exact verbalization; 2) the presence of partial similarity between text with emoticons and text without pictographic elements; 3) lack of similarity between text with emoticons and text without pictographic elements. The degree of similarity between texts arises from the phenomena of polysemy, homonymy and synonymy. The appearance of new meanings in the emoticon leads to the development of synonymy between pictograms, and ultimately to the synonymy of message texts. The homonymy of emoticons can be culture determined, and can also be associated with the broadening and narrowing of the communicative context of the situation from the position of the addresser and addressee of the message. Between the text containing emoticons and the text in which there are no emoticons, there may be a dictum similarity (identity), but at the same time accompanied by mode differences. Thus, the degree of similarity between a text containing emoticons and a verbalized text is determined both ontologically, i.e. by the very use of signs, which are characterized by the presence of multifaceted relationships, and epistemologically, i.e. depends on the social, psychological traits, characteristics and attitudes of persons entering into communication.