The role of emojis in emotional language communication: emotional valence and cognitive-affective processing in digital discourse

Abstract

This paper examines the role of emojis in contemporary emotional language communication, placing them within digital discourse as meaningful semiotic resources that shape both emotional expression and interpretation. Building on current research in emoji studies, the paper synthesizes existing findings on their semantic and affective functions in computer-mediated communication. It further introduces the theoretical construct of emotional valence, outlining its relevance for understanding how affect is encoded, perceived and interpreted in linguistic contexts. Finally, the paper engages with frameworks of emotional language comprehension, highlighting how multimodal emotional cues, particularly emojis interact with textual information to influence cognitive and affective processing during language understanding. By integrating perspectives from pragmatics, psycholinguistics and digital communication studies, the paper argues that emojis function not merely as paralinguistic elaboration but as integral components of emotional meaning construction in online interaction.