xIlkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online, 2021; Vol 20 (Issue 5): pp.2409-2425 http://ilkogretim-online.org doi: 10.17051/ilkonline.2021.05.263 2409| Faryal Qureshi An Analysis of the Emoji’s Impact on the Language and Expressions of Youth on Social Media An Analysis of the Emoji’s Impact on the Language and Expressions of Youth on Social Media Faryal Qureshi, Student, Department of English, Women University Mardan, Pakistan Shagufta Gul, Chairperson, Department of English, Women University Mardan, Pakistan (email: shaguftagul@wumardan.edu.pk ) HaleemaAkber, PhD scholar, Qurtuba University of Science and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan Dr. Zainab Qazi, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Malakand, Pakistan Zubaida Shakir, Lecturer, Department of English, University of Science and Technology, Bannu, Pakistan Abstract- The enormous growth of internet gave birth to a sign language in digital textual communication called emoticons, which late evolved to present colorful emoji’s. Now emoji’s have become the shortest way of expressing feelings in textual communication. The aim of this study was to find the impact of emoji’s on people’s language, thoughts and expressions in social media, and their day-to-day life. The tools used in this research was questionnaires. Data was represented graphically. Total of 130 participants between the age group of 16-35 participated. The result of the findings highlighted that increased use of emoji’s in digital communication on social media has transformed it into a type of colorful friendly interface, besides reducing the use of written language on social media. Emoji’s serve as a tool which express a person’s expression, thought and feelings in text messages. And it has now turned into a necessity without which conversation seems boring and less colorful. Key words: Emojis, forms of expressions, youth,social media, language, CMC. I. INTRODUCTION We are living in a post-modern age where globalization is on its peak and the lives of people have been made easy and advanced due to technological advancements. The whole world has become connected due to enormous scientific advancements and internet. Social media is getting advanced which is a very powerful tool. It has huge impact on teenagers and youth. The ratio of use of social media is high in youth. They use it to interact with other people worldwide. It is shapeing their lives, personality and identity (Ida & Saud, 2020). Almost similar views were expressed by Sadia (2018) who opined that the era in which we are living is technological, it plays an important role in modifying and changing our communication in written as well as in spoken form. Herring (2010) expressed his views that technological advancements gave birth to internet and then to CMC (Computer-Mediated-Communication) in computers in late 1980s (Herring, 2010). CMC is based on written form and text messages are widely sent and received by the people through online applications. Rahim, et. Al (2019) states that signal of speech is the most psychological, intuitive and natural way of interaction between humans. Although, exploitation of speech signals to interact naturally and intuitively with machines entail a lot of efforts.The widespread of emoticons was observed by Williams (2007). He added that in late 1990s, with the spread of internet and SMS, the emoticons were also widely in use. People started using it in SMS, emails and internet forums.According to Encyclopedia Britannica, between 1960s-1990s, internet was based only on textual language. In 1982, an American computer scientist first used emoticons “:-( ”“:-)” also known as the smileys for the first time in order to add emotions in CMC. An emoticon is a portmanteau of emotional and icon, which means emotional representation. Emoticons got popularity in the whole world with different varieties in form and styles like Western style, Asian style, and Korean style. Sampietro (2016) highlighted that emoticons are inspiration for emojis andthey are considered the descendants of emoticons which has little pictographic structure.