Are emoji taking over the world? As social media and the Internet have developed, the use of simple images — emoji — to express feelings has become increasingly common. Among these, the “<3” emoticon has been chosen as the most used word of 2014. This is the first time that a pictograph has captured Word of the Year honors.
The appearance of emoji is gradually expanding the global vocabulary. The British newspaper the Mirror reports that the Global Language Monitor has analyzed the usage frequency of emoji on the Internet and social media such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as in electronic and print media. The resulting list shows that there are now 722 emoji, and the organization says that this will be increased by another 250 this year. In addition, a further 37 are due for approval by the organization in June.
English is the most commonly used language in the world, but the characters used to write emoji can be used in any language and thus breaks down the language barrier. This is why <3 has become the number one emoji and the world’s most used word last year.
(Liberty Times)
Photo: Liberty Times
照片：自由時報
表情符號即將稱霸世界？隨社群網站和網路發達，簡單圖像就可以表達心情的「表情符號」（Emoji）使用更趨頻繁，其中「<3」這個愛心符號更成為二○一四年最常用的詞彙第一名，這也是第一次象形文字榮獲「年度最佳詞彙」殊榮。
表情符號的出現漸漸擴大了世界上的詞彙量，據英國《鏡報》報導，全球語言觀察機構分析網路、社交網站（推特、臉書等）、電子和平面媒體等平台的表情符號使用率後，歸結出ㄧ份表情符號名單，顯示現在已存在七百二十二個表情符號，並今年還會增加兩百五十個，另外還有三十七個在二○一五年六月前會被該機構通過認可。
英語已是全球最普便通用的語言，但表情符號的圖形文字更可運用在各項語言中、打破語言藩籬廣傳各地，因此「<3」榮登今年表情符號之首，成為年度國際最常用字彙第ㄧ名。
(自由時報)
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