Emoji use in Saudi university students’ WhatsApp communication: An interview-based discourse analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol11iss2pp55-70Abstract
Background and Purpose: WhatsApp is widely used for academic and social communication among EFL university students, where emojis frequently accompany written text. While previous research has often classified emojis according to broad pragmatic functions, less attention has been given to how users themselves explain and construct emoji meanings in situated communication. This study therefore examines how Saudi female EFL university students discursively construct emoji use in WhatsApp communication.
Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative interview-based discourse analysis approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with fourteen Saudi female undergraduate EFL students enrolled in a Discourse Analysis course in 2023. The analysis focuses on participants’ accounts of emoji use in relation to relationship closeness, formality, group and private chat settings, cultural and religious identity, social expectations, gendered norms, and the risk of misinterpretation.
Findings: The findings show that emojis are constructed not as decorative additions to text, but as socially regulated and culturally embedded semiotic resources. Participants described emojis as useful for expressing warmth, softening messages, maintaining politeness, signalling closeness, and indexing cultural belonging. However, emoji use was also viewed as risky in formal, hierarchical, group, cross-cultural, and mixed-gender contexts.
Contributions: The study contributes to digital discourse research by showing how emoji meanings are negotiated through local cultural norms, academic expectations, and interpersonal relationships in Saudi EFL WhatsApp communication.
Keywords: Emojis, discourse analysis, WhatsApp communication, Saudi EFL students, multimodal communication, cultural norms.
Cite as: Abdel Rahman Fakhouri, S. A., Mahfoodh, O. H. A., Jamal, M., & Abdel Rahman Fakhouri, S. A. (2026). Emoji use in Saudi university students’ WhatsApp communication: An interview-based discourse analysis. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 11(2), 55-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol11iss2pp55-70
References
Abu-Rumman, M. A., Altakhaineh, A. R. M., Al-Badawi, M., & Hammouri, Y. (2024). Undergraduate and postgraduate students’ emails to faculty members: An impoliteness perspective. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 20(1), 175–201. https://doi.org/10.1515/lpp-2024-2006
Ali-Chand, Z., & Naidu, R. (2024). Exploring the impact of emojis on paralanguage in social media communication among university students. English Language Teaching, 17(9), 84-84. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v17n9p84
Al-Jahdali, N. A. (2023). Are you emojically a mom? Age, social role, and emojis in Saudi mother-daughter WhatsApp groups. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 6(9), 13–29. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2023.6.9.2
Al Rashdi, F. (2018). Functions of emojis in WhatsApp interaction among Omanis. Discourse, Context & Media, 26(2), 117–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.07.001
Annamalai, S., & Salam, S. N. A. (2017). Undergraduates’ interpretation on WhatsApp smiley emoji. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 33(4), 89–103. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2017-3304-06
Bai, Q., Dan, Q., Mu, Z., & Yang, M. (2019). A systematic review of emoji: Current research and future perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(1), Article 2221. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02221
Danesi, M. (2017). The semiotics of emoji: The rise of visual language in the age of the internet. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Dresner, E., & Herring, S. C. (2010). Functions of the nonverbal in computer-mediated communication: Emoticons and illocutionary force. Communication Theory, 20(3), 249–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01362.x
Gee, J. P. (2014). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method (4th ed.). Routledge.
Halverson, C. M. E., Donnelly, C. E., Weiner, M., & Lee, J. L. (2023). Content analysis of emoji and emoticon use in clinical texting systems. JAMA Network Open, 6(6), Article e2318140. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.18140
Herring, S. C. (2019). The coevolution of computer-mediated communication and computer-mediated discourse analysis. In P. Bou-Franch & P. Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (Eds.), Analyzing digital discourse: New insights and future directions (pp. 25–67). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92663-6_2
Jewitt, C. (2009). The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. Routledge.
Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. Arnold.
Logi, L., & Zappavigna, M. (2023). A social semiotic perspective on emoji: How emoji and language interact to make meaning in digital messages. New Media & Society, 25(12), 3222–3246. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211032965
Rashid, R. A. (2026). Digital discourse studies: Analysing communication in platformed and algorithmic publics. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 1(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2026.2671938
Sampietro, A. (2019). Emoji and rapport management in Spanish WhatsApp chats. Journal of Pragmatics, 143(1), 109–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.02.009
Suliman, W. M. M. (2024). Emojis in EFL communication: An analysis of the language-like functions in emoji use by Saudi female learners. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 14(1), 154–159. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1401.18
Telaumbanua, Y. A., Telaumbanua, N. T. N., Halawa, M. D., Gulo, B., Halawa, D. M. E., & Waruwu, E. K. (2024). The use of emojis in language communication on social media platforms. Journal of English Language and Education, 9(4), 118–130. https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v9i4.524
