Emojis on Board: The Communicative Functions of Emojis in Saudi Females’ WhatsApp Groups Interactions

This study examines the communicative functions of emojis as used by Saudi females aged between (35-55) in twenty-five female-only WhatsApp groups’ instant messages. These groups are chosen according to five different social purposes for which the group is created: sisterhood-related, close friendship-related, relatives-related, religion-related, and workplace-related. The data has been collected through screenshots of WhatsApp conversations naturally occurring between the females in these groups. The method used for checking the types of emojis and their frequencies is based on computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) of ‘coding and counting’ (Herring 2004). All the different emojis were coded and counted and then were put to qualitative analysis on theories and methods of interactional sociolinguistics (IS) such as (Gumperz 1982; Dressner and Herring 2010). Results show that emojis have been used to express various kinds of emotions such as happiness, sadness, longing for old days, etc. Furthermore, they have been used to express different communicative functions of what Gumperz (1982) refers to as ‘contextualization cues’ such as congratulation on happy occasions, agreeing on others’ comments, compliments, sharing information with others, gratitude, sending prayers, reminding the members of religious tasks, laughing, arguing, etc. The results also prove that emojis are context-dependent and are used to help users to approximate real daily face-to-face situations to others and to facilitate the different expressed emotions and communicative functions to receivers (Dressner and Herring 2010; Evans 2017).


Data Collection and Methodology
The data has been collected from naturally occurring messages in twenty-five Saudi female-only WhatsApp groups where emojis are used. These groups are created according to five social purposes: sisterhood-related, close friendship-related, relative-related, religion-related, and workplace-related. The corpus was collected between December 2022 and January 2023. At the time of the collection of the data, I noticed that most WhatsApp users were markedly shifting to using stickers and memes. The reason is that these are faster and funnier than using emojis, and they raise no misunderstanding as emojis. The researcher has contacted colleagues at work and acquaintances like neighbors, friends, and relatives to collect the data in addition to her own. The number of informants is ten females who are members of WhatsApp groups related to the five social groups listed above. They are members in these groups as a sister or an employee, etc. That was the only way to collect such data since these texts are private for their own users (Georgakopoulou 2011). Twenty-five groups were the source of collection of the data (i.e., 5 sisters' groups, 5 work groups. etc.). The reason behind this large number of different social groups is to collect as many emojis as possible and to identify their forms and the communicative functions they express. The number of participants in these groups ranges from 5 (i.e., the smallest in a group) reaching to 45 (i.e., the largest in a group). The researcher made sure that all these informants and the members in these groups were Saudi females whose ages ranged from . These informants were asked to send screenshot messages of texts where emojis are used from each social group with the names shaded to the researcher's email for ethical reasons. All the screenshot messages were typed in Saudi Arabic. Their total number is 93 texts. The texts were more than enough to start the analysis. It is important to note that the data in this study does not represent the Saudi digital population as a whole. It is only a sample of the emojis used in these WhatsApp female groups in general. The messages, along with their emojis, were transferred into five Word files with a detailed classification of the form of the emoji used and the emotion and communicative function it expresses. Because of the cosmopolitan readers of this study, an English translation is provided. It is to be noted that since Arabic is written from right to left, emojis appear on the left side of these messages. Emojis in the English translation appear to the right. The absence of punctuation marks is a mark of the Saudi Arabic chat language. Consequently, the researcher added punctuation marks in the English translation to achieve the intended meaning. Using Herring's (2004) method of 'coding and counting' of computer-mediated discourses, emojis were classified according to their different forms and functions, and they were then counted. A table with three columns in a Word file was formed for each group. One column is for the form of the emoji used, such as ( ) ( ) etc., the second column is for the number of its occurrence, and the third is for the communicative function it expresses. The data consisted of 57 unique emoji forms used. It is important to note that whenever an emoji is used successively more than once, such as ( ), it is counted as one instance of use. The reason is that the researcher believes that the repetition of an emoji is related to showing the extremity of that emotion or reaction, such as laughter (Al-Jahdali 2022). After the coding and counting stage had been completed, the data was put into an interactional sociolinguistic analysis (IS) following Gumperz's (1982) framework and studies such as (Dressner and Herring 2010). IS's main approach is to study how people use language when they interact in face-to-face settings. Based on Gumperz's (1982) framework, IS identifies certain relational signs that contribute to signal activities and discourse markers in those settings. These are 'contextualization cues' that are vital in helping others understand the semantic content and how each sentence relates to the previous or the latter one. Gumperz (1982: 131) lists many of these cues, such as lexical choices, formulaic expressions, syntactic features, moves related to opening and closing a conversation, and non-verbal features, such as facial gestures and expressions. In the absence of face-to-face interaction in WhatsApp typed discourse, this study will attempt to check whether emojis are used to play the role of what Gumperz (1982) refers to as 'contextualization cues' that help interlocutors to achieve the intended meaning as in face-to-face interaction. For the limited space, two representative examples are provided for each social group, followed by a table that lists all the emojis used and the kind of emotions or communicative functions expressed in that group (see . It is to be noted that when the same/different emojis are used in one line of the message, they will appear in the table in their exact order as used. If, on the other hand, they are stand-alone, they will appear alone in the table. The time span of the messages, replies, and their effect is beyond the scope of this study. All the groups' names and members' names, internet links, and pictures were anonymized so that they were not identified by anyone. Hence, the names that appear in the translation are all fake except otherwise.

Sisterhood-related groups:
The data is collected from five different sisters' groups. These groups ranged from (5-7) members. The purpose of these groups is to get together, chat about daily house chores, such as cooking, cleaning, etc., update each other with all the important family news, work, gossiping, joking, hanging out, sharing recipes, etc. Such topics are usually carried out in face-to-face communication or over the phone. Those sisters interacted with each other almost daily in their group, and this explains why the data in this social group specifically was the highest of all social groups (i.e., 33 screenshots). The style of texting in all five groups is very relaxed, intimate, and informal, and this signals that their relationship is assumed to be strong. Analyzing the data, it has been found that different emojis have been used to express many different emotions and communicative functions in order to make them approximate real physical situations. Table (1) summarizes all the emojis used and the emotions, and the communicative functions they express. Example (1) consists of forward-backward messages between three sisters who are checking on each other in regard to their weekly gathering at their mother's house. It is typical in the Saudi culture that gathering at the parents' house is related in Islam to honoring them. Sisters, brothers, and grandchildren usually attend such gatherings where they chat, eat, enjoy their time, and perform this highly religious duty to their parents and siblings. Asmaa initiated the opening of the conversation in the group by asking about whether her sisters are available online or not and used the Eyes in One Direction emoji ( ) as an approximation of the real situation when we search for others in a room through our eyes. She continues and reminds them that their mother is waiting for them for lunch at her house. Fatima indicates their presence in the group by texting and confirming everyone's presence on her behalf and then attaching a Big Smile emoji ( ) to indicate lightheartedness. She confirms that she will bring dessert and uses a Savoring Food Face emoji ( ) to indicate yumminess. She moreover asks Nora to bring a homemade Arabic coffee since she likes Nora's coffee and uses a Red Heart emoji and a Flying Kiss emoji ( ) to indicate her deep love and appreciation for Nora. Nora responds back and apologizes for not being able to come to lunch since she has an appointment and uses a Weary Face emoji ( ) to express sadness for not being able to show up for lunch and a face with Thermometer emoji ( ) to express her sickness. She further asks for suggestions of what she should bring along by using a Thinking Face emoji ( ) to indicate wonder. Fatima responds back and asks her to bring a savory dish by using a Flying Kiss emoji ( ), indicating farewell and parting in face-to-face situations, followed by a Thumb Up emoji ( ) to show her confirmation. Example (1) is an example of how WhatsApp groups made it possible for those sisters to 'gather' and 'talk'. The type of texting and the emojis used indicate a live example of openings, talking about social topics, and then closing the conversation. It is an approximation of real face-to-face situations.

Example 1
Example (2) is about Lamia, who is sharing her feelings of boredom with her sisters by starting with the phrase 'What a long afternoon!'. She continues describing how she did a lot of chores that require a lot of time, such as cleaning, cooking, changing the bed sheets, and turning on the washing machine, and the afternoon is still there! This detailed textual description is to associate her sisters with her day and to feel that intimate physical connection when someone wants to get something off their chest. She closed her text with a Face with a Tear emoji ( ) on a separate line to indicate her extreme boredom. Having this emoji typed as a stand-alone is to signal her emotional situation; hence it is understood in connection to the whole text.

Example 2
All the data analysed in these five groups (i.e., 33 screenshots) show that these messages are held in a very systematic and structured way as they are in real face interactions (Trudgill 2000). The back-forward texting is similar to a conversation taking place among the interactants. The style of texting is very relaxed, intimate, and informal. The topics raised are highly intimate, social, and personal (i.e., detailed descriptions of daily activities, sharing personal pictures and videos, updating each other with confidential news, etc.). This indicates the strong relationship among those sisters. The solidarity level among the members is an important reason for the high number of messages (the highest in all groups) and the varied nature of emojis used (the highest in all groups). Different emotions, such as happiness, love, sadness, boredom, annoyance, longing for the past, etc., are expressed (Table 1). Moreover, different communicative functions such as celebrations, indicating hot weather, sarcasm, yumminess, encouragement, innocence, agreement, sending prayers, indexing, illness, laughter, support, hope, motherly affection, teasing others, wonder, gratitude, etc. are expressed ( Table 1). The use of emojis is important to consider here in these groups: (1) the same emojis ( ) are used to denote different emotions, such as sadness (example 4) while longing for the past as in (example 29). (2) many emojis express their intended meaning without any ambiguity to users because they resemble exact facial expressions  -Yes inshaa Allah (if God permits it), I will bring dessert.
-Let Noura bring coffee. I like her coffee.
Nora: -Yes, I am coming inshaa Allah (if God permits it) but may be after lunch because I have an appointment.
-What should I bring?
Fatima: -Bring a savory dish to be served with tea. (3) different emojis are used to express one emotion only: sadness ( ) as in (example 4), ( ) as in (example 11), and ( ) as in (example 29). This is to mark that users have the freedom to use emojis according to their preference and that they rely on the text which makes it easy for the group members to understand the intended meaning.

Close friendship-related groups:
Twenty-five screenshots were collected from five different close friend groups. These groups ranged from (7-10) members. The purpose of creating these groups includes: getting together online to chat, updating each other with all the important social news such as wedding invitations, engagements, giving birth, celebrating religious occasions, joking, chatting, hanging out, etc. Since the members have known each other for a very long time, their relationship is assumed to be strong. Their style of texting is very informal and relaxed. Table (2) summarizes all the emojis used and the emotions, and the communicative functions they express. Ex (3) shows how Leila is expressing her pleading feelings to one of her friends in the group by using four successive instances of a Pleading Face emoji ( ). One of the members wanted to exit the group because she has been too busy lately and has not been able to respond to the group messages. The repetition of the emoji ( ) is similar to a situation when someone is verbally begging another to stay, and the Pleading Face emoji ( ) is similar to the facial expression drawn on the face when we plead. Leila teases all of the members in the group and says that it is not allowed for anyone to leave the group and indicates her love by using a Red Heart emoji ( ). She continues normally and asks about their news and says that she misses all of them. The duplicating of letters in the text expresses her intense feelings toward her friends (Al-Jahdali 2022).

Example 3
In example (4), Nora thanks both Mimi (a diminutive form of Maha) and Reema for the night they spent together, and she sends a prayer as a form of contentment and appreciation. She describes the night as beautiful and that they have all enjoyed it. Nora closes her text by thanking God, which is a vital ritual expression Muslims use to express thanking the givings of God. She then uses a Red Heart emoji ( ) to show her love and a Kiss Mark emoji ( ) to indicate kissing them as in real face-to-face situations. Duplicating the letters in the text is to show her deep appreciation and joy.

Example 4
The intimate, back-forward, relaxed and informal style of the twenty-five messages in these groups proves that their relationship is strong. The topics are intimate and social (hanging together, expressing love and concern, etc.), and this explains the high Translation: Leila: --We will not allow anyone to exit this group.

Translation:
Nora: -Thaaaaaaanks Mimi and Reema, May God makes you content.
-It was a beautiful night and we enjoyyyyyyyed it.
-Thank God. number of data collected and the high number of emojis used. The texts are an approximation of real face-to-face interactions. The duplication of letters is also an indication of intense emotions. Using diminutive names also shows the close and intimate relationships among those friends. Those friends text and use emojis to help them show their different feelings and communicative functions ( Table 2). Emotions expressed in these groups include love, peace, sadness, longing for the past, deep appreciation, missing someone, pleading, and shock. In addition, different communicative functions, such as concern, laughter, approval, sending prayers, congratulations on religious occasions, kissing, etc., are expressed. The emojis are important to consider here according to their use in these groups: (1) the same emoji is used to denote different communicative functions and emotions, such as ( ) to indicate dying out of laughter as in (example 4) while sadness as in (example 6). (2) Emojis that express their intended meaning without any ambiguity of meaning to users, such as ( ) to indicate kissing as in (example 23). (3) different emojis are used to express one emotion only: sadness ( ) as in (example 7), and ( ) as in (example 6). (4) Emojis which are culture-specific and get their meaning in relation to the culture as ( ) in (example 10). The crescent moon marks the start of Ramadan for Muslims, and accordingly, the use of ( ) raises no ambiguity at all for those users. In another context, ( ) marks good night. 4 The data here indicates that users are free to use emojis according to their preferences and intended meaning. Recipients have no difficulty understanding the intended meanings as long as the text is available.  (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25).
Having to abide by the social conventions, which is an important cultural and religious matter, the main purpose of these groups is updating its members with family news. These include engagements, wedding invitations, giving birth, celebrating religious occasions, death news, etc. The total number of screenshots collected is 13. Their kind of relationship is semi-formal since each of the members has her own social life and relations. The style of texting in all these groups is semi-formal as well. Table (3) summarizes all the emojis used and the emotions and communicative functions they express. Example (4) is an example of a rather semi-formal style of texting between the members. Fatema starts with a formal salute in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is the High (H) and most formal variety in the Arab world. Her formal salutation is an indication of the semi-formal relationship that is held between them. She then announces the birth of her granddaughter. It is an Islamic tradition to thank God for his blessings before the announcement of good and happy news. It is a sent metamessage (Bateson 1972) that (we, as a family, are happy for the birth of our granddaughter). She then assures them that both the mother and her daughter are in good health condition. She then sends her prayers for both the mother and the daughter, which is an Islamic custom to do on such occasions. Fatema's announcement here is similar to the same job carried out through phone calls to announce such happy occasions. The members of the group started congratulating Fatema by first replying back formally to her greeting, congratulating her, and sending their prayers as well. Manal used a Girl emoji ( ) to refer to the newborn girl and a Heart with a Ribbon emoji ( ) to indicate a sealed heart similar to a sealed present. Hanan sent a face with Heart Eyes emoji ( ) to indicate her happiness for the good news and a Red Heart emoji ( ) to show love. Maha used a Face with Heart Eyes emoji ( ) to express her happiness for the good news. Example (5) shows how the communicative function of congratulation is carried out by the use of different emojis. Each of these members congratulated them in her own way and according to her preference. The use of emojis in this example is to celebrate this happy occasion and to beautify the verbal text so that it is not interpreted as negative or lacking excitement. Hence, the single use of emojis shows the semi-formal congratulation that has to do with paying a social duty to Fatema, her daughter, and the newborn baby.
Example 5 Example (6) is an example of how the members celebrated Eid Al-Adha in the group. In real life situations, people tend to repeat words and phrases to each other to show rapport and solidarity (Tannen 2007). In addition to that, in Saudi female culture, females tend to kiss each other on their cheeks to show this dear celebration to each other. In example (6), Nejwa starts by congratulating the members in MSA (indicating the semi-formal relation). She shows her celebration by using a White Heart, a Flower, a Party Popper, and a Confetti Ball emojis successively ( ). Emojis give the opportunity to celebrate virtually in a faster and easier way because they are at hand and afford nothing compared to real life, where there are usually preparations of flowers, balloons, party poppers, confetti balls, etc. In a virtual celebration, it is presumable that repeated uses of these emojis should express rapport and solidarity easily, especially since they financially cost nothing. However, because of the semi-formal relation between the interactants, a single use of ( ) emojis has been used rather than multiple ones. The user knows that the verbal text alone would be interpreted negatively, and hence emojis are used to soften the text between the members and to indicate celebration. However, not using multiple emojis indicates that it is a social task to be done. These emojis fail to show any kind of excitement at all. The members of the group congratulated back verbally in a formal and reciprocal way (a signal of the semi-formal relation) and used emojis as well. Reema used two Roses ( ) for the celebration. Fatema sent a Bouquet of Flowers ( ), and Ghada used two Red Hearts ( ). The two instances of the use of emojis are a reflection of the user herself and her way of celebrating her relatives, which is still distant and plain.

Translation:
Fatema: -Peace be upon you, thanks to God, (Noor) gave birth to a baby girl and she (the baby) is fine and her mom as well, I ask God to bless her and make her one of his righteous worshippers.
Manal :-and peace be upon you, a thousand thousand congratulations, may God bless you on her, and thank God for Noor's safety.
Hanan: -and peace be upon you, a thousand thousand congratulationnns, God has willed it and blessed it.
-May God keep her safe.
-And thank God for Noor's safety.
Maha: -A thousand thousand thousand congratulations, and thank God for Noor's safety.
-May God make her a newborn full of happiness and make her dutiful to her parents.

Example 6
All the data analyzed in this section show the use of the formal variety (MSA) in salutations and replies in most messages. This is to assure the kind of semi-formal and semi-distant relation. Even though the members are relatives and the assumption is that their relation should be stronger than that of close friends' groups, however, the data show the contrary. The style of texting ranges from semi-formal to formal. The topics are confined to updating family occasions and celebrating social occasions such as Hajj or Ramadan. Intimate topics, pictures, and videos have not been found anywhere in the data. The emojis used, and the emotions and communicative functions they express are far less than the previous two groups. Emotions in these groups expressed joy, wonderfulness, hope, frustration, dizziness, sorrow, and happiness. Different communicative functions were found, such as laughter, gratitude, congratulations on the birth of a new born baby, and wishing well being to others ( Table 3). The use of these emojis varies as (1) the same emoji is used to denote different emotions such as ( ) to express joy as in (example 3), wishes for wonderful days to come as in (example 4), and wishing a Happy new year as in (example 8). (2) Many emojis express their intended meaning without any ambiguity to users, such as the loudspeaker emoji ( ) to indicate announcing loudly (example 12). (3) different emojis are used to express one emotion, such as congratulating a newborn baby girl ( ), ( ), ( ) in example (6). The emojis were used once or twice maximum in showing celebrations, and this contradicts real-life situations. No duplication of letters has been found in the data as well. This is another strong proof to show the semi-distant relation and the semi-formal relation among those relatives.

Religion-related groups:
The members of these five different groups ranged from (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). They are gathered because of one absolute goal, which is religion. They read, memorize, and recite Quranic verses to each other and share religious news and updates. The total number of messages collected is 14. Their relationship is semi-formal with each other since each of them has her own social life and relations. Their group is not active compared to the sisters-related groups, for example. Table (4) summarizes all the emojis used and the emotions and communicative functions they express. Example (7) clearly describes a typical group that is created for religious purposes. The teacher, who is the leader of the group and one of its members, voluntarily takes the lead to do the job of checking on the members. She starts her text with the formal Islamic greeting ? assalamu 9alaikum (Peace be upon you (pl.)). She directly follows her greeting with another informal greeting Good morning followed by a Yellow Heart emoji ( ). The double-instance greeting is important to note here: the first salute is to indicate the religious relation between them, and the informal greeting is to show solidarity. Apart from its meaning in Snapchat as #1 BF Snapchat, the Yellow Heart emoji ( ) is used for a relation that denotes the sincerity and pure intentions among the members of this group since it is a sincere and, for God's sake, relation. This is an evidence that users can attach their own meaning to an emoji they choose. She continues and asks about their health as a marker of social connection. She then notifies them of what they are to be assigned to do. She assigns Juzu' 9amma (the 30 th Chapter in the Holy Quran) and uses a Folded Hands emoji ( ) as a prayer for sending blessings. She further confirms that it is better to start the schedule of memorizing together. Juzu' 9amma is the chapter she chooses, and she uses a Thumbs Up emoji ( ) as a confirmation. Awatef greets her back in the informal salutation SabaaH ?annuur (Morning of light) and uses an emoji of Two Small/Big Hearts ( ) to denote her respect and love. She agrees to the task raised by the teacher by texting the well-known kind of confirmation expression? inshaa Allah (if God wills it) and uses a Thumb Up emoji ( ). ?inshaa Allah is a vital interactional ritual used by Muslims whenever they want to express their hopes and tasks to be done in the future. Nawal then greets back with an informal greeting SabaaH ?alward (Morning of roses), to show solidarity and uses two emojis: a Prayer Hand emoji ( ) as a sign of prayers and a Bouquet of Roses emoji ( ) to indicate her respect and love. She confirms that she has already started and would be able to catch up with them by using a Red Heart emoji ( ) to indicate a love of what she is doing and a smiling face emoji with Open Hands ( ) as an indication of willingness. The teacher replies back with mashaa Allah (God willed it), which is another vital interactional expression of gratitude and congratulation said by Muslims on happy and blessed occasions. She attached the expression with an emoji of Clapping Hands ( ) to signal encouragement and support. Nawal thanks her teacher formally to signal their teacher-student relation and then uses two emojis: a Kissing Face emoji ( ) to signal her kissing the teacher out of joy (as in face-to-face farewell in Saudi culture) and a Smiling Face with Hearts emoji ( ) to signal love and respect to her teacher. The two emojis are used to close the conversation.

Example 7
Example (8) is an example of the tasks carried out in the group and how the members acknowledge achievements and the tasks they have done. Leader Eman announces great news by saying that Afaf has finished reciting the assigned chapter. She refers to her as (the dear) in order to show closeness and dearness. She then surrounds her name with seven duplicated instances of Two Big/Small Heart emojis (( Afaf ). This duplication of the emoji is to send a metamessage (I am extremely proud of Afaf.). Her extreme pride and joy are shown by a combination of both textual and visual expressions (i.e., the name is surrounded by seven instances of small-big heart emojis). She further explains that Afaf did a make up for the past weeks and uses a Red Rose ( ) to indicate appreciation for the work she did.

Example 8
Even though the members in these groups are not relatives, their kind of relationship is closer and stronger than the relativerelated groups because of the elevated purpose they are gathering for which is reciting and memorizing Quran and updating each other with religious news. In Islam, this kind of relation is divine, and Muslims believe that they get lots of favors in the afterlife for such a divine relation. The use of the formal salute is a mark of the Islamic salutation, and following it with the informal salutation is to signal such strong and close relation among its members for the purpose they are gathering for. The texting and emojis found Translation: Miss Marwa: -Peace be upon you and blessings of God.
-I hope everyone is doing well.
-Today we will start with Juzu' 9amma.
-Let us start at the same time so we will all be on schedule.
-inshaa Allah (f God permits it). express lots of emotions such as divine love, gratitude, sadness, tasks to be done, sending lots of prayers, etc. Moreover, different communicative functions, such as expressing a divine relation, sending prayers, agreement, gratitude, kissing, reminding others to read Quran, etc., are expressed ( Table 4). The emojis used in these groups are: (1) the same emoji is used to express different emotions, such as sadness ( ), as in (example 7), while facing difficulties, as in (example 4). (2) Many emojis express their intended meaning without any ambiguities to users, such as ( ) to indicate agreement as in (example 1). (3) different emojis are used to express one communicative function only, such as wishing a good morning to others as ( ) in (example 1), ( ) in (example 1), and ( ) in (example 5). (4) An emoji is used, and the user attaches their own meaning as ( ) in (example 1) to denote a divine relation. (5) emojis are used as decorative markers at the end of a text with no meanings at all, such as ( ) in (example 6). (6) emojis used to surround a word within a verbal text as ( Afaf ) in (example 14). It is for the best researcher's knowledge this instance of emojis' use surrounding the text has not been seen in other studies. This marks the flexible nature of emojis that are available to users and that users have the full choice to use emojis according to their preferences and intentions. The accompanying text makes it easy for the members to understand the intended meaning. extreme excitement and pride for achieving the task appreciation for the work done

Workplace-related groups:
These five groups consist of colleagues at the same workplace. The main purpose of creating these groups is to update its members with all the news that is related to the workplace. These include new rules, promotions, work tasks, etc. Furthermore, important social news in relation to those colleagues, such as engagements, wedding invitations, giving birth, celebrating religious occasions, etc., are also announced from time to time. The number of members is the highest in all groups . Despite the large number of members found in all five groups, the data collected in these groups are the least in number (i.e., 8 screenshots). The reason for this small number of data is related to their formal relation with each other and that their texts are seen by all members. The rest of the data has been found to have no instances of emojis use and were plain texts and consequently were excluded from data collection. The justification for not using emojis at all is that emojis are seen as beautifying the text, informal, and accordingly it is an unneeded task since they are busy and formal. Their style of texting is found to be formal in MSA and some instances of formal (L) variety use. Table (5) summarizes all the emojis used and the emotions, and the communicative functions they expressed. Example (9) shows the formal style of texting. The supervisor does not start her text with a greeting as expected. This is to signal her seriousness, formality, and shortage of time. She directly announces the meeting time and date for the members. She further stresses the time of the meeting and punctuality and uses a Ten O'clock emoji ( ). Even though the meeting is at 9:00 and not 10:00, the emoji is used to represent time in general.

Example 9
Another formal workplace text is seen in example (10). The school principal starts right away by giving the required task needed from the members. She notices that she did not greet the members and rectifies this by using a rhyming sticker of 'Good evening accompanied with roses' scent'. Using a sticker is faster and easier than texting and is much preferable for its colors and beautiful font. She then continues texting formally by using fadhlan (kindly), which is highly formal and is in the H variety in a line alone to attract their attention. She continues and writes that they should pay attention to the important notes sent through ?almanaSSah (the education platform). She uses the Index Finger Pointing Up emoji ( ) as a linking device that draws attention to the previous important note posted earlier in the text. The whole text is carried in MSA, and it is highly formal to indicate formality and seriousness.

Example 10
These groups are a manifestation of the real-life workplace. The analysis of data shows that the type of texting and emojis used are highly formal and to the point. The members do not share any personal information, and their topics are mostly work-related. They talk about meeting times, required tasks, emails, etc. MSA is used extensively because it marks seriousness and formality.
Members are found to read typed notes and rarely reply back because it is a task that they have to accomplish. These messages play the same role as messages sent through emails or ordered by the boss/principal etc., where the employer takes the order and does the job. Emojis in work-related groups were found to express communicative functions mostly related to job tasks, such as: pointing to an important note, stressing tasks to be done, meeting times, sending emails, expressing gratitude for work done well, and agreement on a raised point. Emotions have not been found anywhere in the data. Celebrating religious occasions was found to be formal as well and expressed through using one unrepeated instance of a Flower emoji ( ), while other members preferred texting in MSA and used no emojis at all. A flower emoji is far less emotional than a heart or a bouquet of flowers, for example. Even though these groups are females only, the heart emoji has never been used, and this signals the kind of formal and distant relation among them ( Table 5). The emojis used in these five groups were the least in number of all groups (8 stand-alone emojis). This rare use of emojis proves seriousness, formality, and the distant relation among the members. This is to prove that emojis express more communicative functions and less, if not emotions at all, than emoticons, as has been studied and approved in workplace emails by Skovholt et al. (2014).

Conclusion
This study has provided evidence on the kind of emojis used and the emotions and the communicative functions they express as used by Saudi females aged  in twenty-five WhatsApp groups' interactions. Emojis were found to express different kinds of emotions, such as happiness, sadness, pride, boredom, love, etc. (Tables 1-5). The data analyzed agrees with Novak et al.'s (2015) findings in that emojis express more specific emotions other than that expressed by emoticons. In addition, emojis indicate several communicative functions such as indexing, celebrating occasions, performing tasks, agreement, appreciation, etc. (Tables 1-5). The purpose of creating the social group, the solidarity level among its members, and the topic of discussion contributed to the kind of emoji used, the emotion it expressed, the communicative function/s indicated, the formality style, and the language/dialect used. It has been noted that as the formality level and solidarity distance rise, emojis are less-used, are more direct, and are less varied. Emotions have not been found anywhere in work-related groups; rather, emojis that expressed work-related communicative functions have been found (Table 5). On the other hand, when the informality and solidarity level rise, emojis were used more with a great variety to express different emotions and communicative functions. It has been found that intimate and social topics are discussed in closely connected groups (sisters and close friends), semi-formal and semi-intimate topics are discussed in semidistant groups (religious and relatives), while formal, distant, and job-related topics are discussed in distant groups (workplace). MSA and formal style of L variety have been found to be used to indicate seriousness, formality and the distant relation between the members of a group. The informal L variety of Saudi Arabic has been used to indicate solidarity and friendliness, with instances of doubling of letters to show the intensity of emotion. Highly-connected social groups have been found to have a higher number of messages and a higher use of varied emojis expressing a high number of emotions and communicative functions despite their low number of members. Formal and semi-formal groups have been found to have a low number of messages and emojis despite the high number of members. All the emojis were found to be dependent on the text in all these social groups even when the emoji was used stand-alone, and this falls in line with the findings of Al Rashdi (2018: 125) and Darics (2013). Analysis done on the data showed that recipients understood the meaning of emojis in reliance on the text and apparently carried on by replying back smoothly in all groups either by texting, using emojis, reading the messages and not texting, or not using emojis at all as in the case of workplace groups. Emojis were used in different ways: (a) one emoji is used to express different emotions or communicative functions, (b) one emoji that stands for the intended meaning directly without any kind of ambiguity, (c) different emojis are used to express one emotion or one communicative function, (d) emojis which are culture-specific in their meaning, (e) emojis that get their meaning according to the user intention, (f) emojis that are used as a decorative sign and have no meaning at all, and (g) emojis that are used to surround a typed text. This is to show that the functions of emojis are complex, multi-layered, and serve various and overlapping functions according to the wish of the user (Al Rashdi 2018:123) and (Darics 2013). Also, this study has provided evidence that users use these emojis voluntarily as they wish and that the emojis they use might not represent real emotions or facial expressions; rather, they work as intentional communicative signals of emotion (Al Rashdi 2018:119). This study agrees with (Riordan 2017) in that face emojis are found to be more used than non-face emojis when the sender wants to clarify their intended emotion. Moreover, it has been found that emojis are used for many purposes: expressing emotions, indicating various communicative functions, beautifying the text with colors (Sampietro 2020), helping to frame the intended meaning with the accompanying verbal utterances to interactants, adding friendliness and humor (Danesi (2016), establishing alignments among members, as a decorative sign, indicating message tones, structuring exchanges of group interactions, managing interpersonal relationships among the members (Albawardi 2018), to feel connected (sisterhood-related and close friendship-related), to share intimate and detailed news (sisterhood-related), to abide with societal conventions and tasks (relative-related), creating a divine relation (religion-related), to reduce the seriousness and add some color to the text (workplace-related). It has been found that informants, including the researcher herself, are members of many social groups due to their simple technical creation. Al Rashdi (2018: 117) stated that WhatsApp has replaced the role of telephone calls for its low cost among Omanis. In the data analyzed, there are other important reasons for WhatsApp group preference among Saudi females: the availability of members in the group at all times (even if they are offline, they can still read the message/s anytime), the online duration of the message compared to oral utterances that expire once they are said, overcoming obstacles of not meeting members face to face, the easy connection with people while being in one's own place, and economizing time for the sender/s and receiver/s. This adds that WhatsApp groups made it possible for users to approximate daily face-to-face situations by using back-forward messages and emojis. Emojis, an essential marker of the digital world, made it possible to overcome non-verbal cues in most instances of WhatsApp interactions.

Limitations and Recommendations of the Present Study
This study is a contribution to the gap of literature on Arabic communication-mediated discourse (CMD) in general and to Saudi Arabic CMD, specifically in WhatsApp groups interaction. It is confined to Saudi females aged between  in twenty-five different social WhatsApp groups. More studies are needed to examine emojis in online interactions on different platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, etc. Studies on the young generation, since they are the internet generation Alajmi (2014), are needed to explore the kind of social platforms they use, the kind of emojis they use, and the emotions and communicative functions expressed. Also, studies are needed in relation to males-only and mixed males and females' groups. Such studies will contribute to the kind of emojis used, the meaning/s expressed, and whether there is any difference in relation to gender, age, and style. A sociolinguistic study is a great choice to explore how illiterates deal with WhatsApp and computer-mediated messaging applications. It is beyond this study to check the differences in the use of different emojis in different groups to express one emotion, such as happiness, greetings, etc. The use of ( ), ( ), to express deep appreciation and thanks is totally different from formal groups. Two questions need to be explored: Does each emoji have a different degree of expression? Are emojis capable of being classified as formal and informal? This study will also be available for universal comparative studies with different cultures, social media platforms, age groups, gender differences, solidarity levels, and formality levels. Such comparative studies will generate an established framework that will contribute to CMD in general.