Are Emojis the new Hieroglyphs?
Why is it that the emoji is the fastest growing language in the UK when we can express so much more with words?
According to a survey by TalkTalk, 72% of 18-25 year olds prefer to express their feelings through emojis over words.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs are traced back to 3300 BC. They were used on monumental inscriptions and religious texts; as can be seen below on a temple wall, Karnak, Egypt.
Accounts, letters, and literary texts were written using pen and hieratic on papyrus.
Hieroglyphics can be divided into three categories: phonetic glyphs, logographs, and determinatives. Phonetic glyphs are used to represent specific speech sounds.
Accounts, letters, and literary texts were written using pen and hieratic on papyrus.
In 1822, Jean-François Champollion deciphered hieroglyphs when he published a breakthrough document with the decipherment of the Rosetta stone, 196 B.C., which was found in 1799 by French soldiers.
The Rosetta Stone can now be found in Room 4 of the British Museum, or you can play with a 3d scan here. It’s a stone written in Egyptian and Greek. Three scripts were used at the time it was written in Egypt–hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek. It's written by Egyptian priests and it lists the things that the Pharaoh did to benefit Egyptian society.
“Emoji is the fastest growing form of language ever based on its incredible adoption rate and speed of evolution. As a visual language emoji has already far eclipsed hieroglyphics, its ancient Egyptian precursor, which took centuries to develop….”
–Professor Vyv Evans, Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University
Image Credit: Emma Brown
Designer Joe Hale, has translated the stories of Alice in Wonderland, Pleasureland and Neverland into 2500+ character emoji lattice posters. He describes his work as ‘a venture in experimental writing’.
Whilst in London
Read a 🗞️ newsletter on this theme by Sonder & Tell.
More references on decoding hieroglyphics can be found here, here, and here
Also, test typing in ‘smiling face’ into the Google search bar and see what comes up!
