Culturally-Situated Emoji as a Non-verbal Communication Created for Naxi Community, Lijiang, China

Abstract

The Naxi ethnic group is one of the ancient ethnic groups in China with the richest cultural legacy, comparatively the most distinctive cultures, and comparatively the most endangered cultural characteristics. Although there are many culturally distinctive aspects of the Naxi community, most of them are at risk of Sinicization and are currently on the edge of extinction. According to Palmer (1989), the meta-communicative value of non-verbal cues is higher than verbal cues in receiving information during conversation. As for efficiency, non-verbal signals amount to a more effective way of communicating than verbal signals. Accordingly, emojis as non-verbal signals on the Internet have been dramatically popular globally. This study aims to progressively figure out the situation of usage of non-verbal communication within the Naxi community, the habits of members within the Naxi community use emoji to interact online, the reason why creating a new set of emoji for the Naxi community is of great significance based on semi-structured interviews. In this study, exclusive emoji designs for the Naxi community are initially developed. The pictorial properties of emoji can facilitate the acquisition of more Naxi cultural knowledge by the general public, regardless of whether they are in-group or out-group members. In addition to its extraordinary disseminating capacity, akin to a swift vehicle, the Naxi culture can go viral on a global scale. This is the first study on the emoji designed for Naxi culture that contains culturally specific elements such as the Dongba Funerary Scroll, featured costumes for women, etc.