New emoji appear every year, but where do

they come from?

By Haben Kelati, The Washington Post on 02.22.22
Word Count 552
Level MAX

There are more than 3,600 emoji characters, and new emojis are added every year. Photo: Alessio Liburdi/EyeEm Photo: Alessio Liburdi /
EyeEm

You've probably noticed that new emoji show up on your phone or other device every year. For
example, the ninja emoji, which was introduced in 2020, or the yawning face in 2019. This year is
no different, and if you have an Android device, you may have used a new emoji such as a troll or a
melting face. Other devices, such as Apple products, will have these new emoji soon.

The updates come from a California-based nonprofit called Unicode Consortium. Each year, the
emoji subcommittee releases new emoji that will update the existing keyboard.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Jennifer Daniel, chair of the subcommittee, says that it's not the organization coming up with
these new characters, it's the public. "It's important for people to understand that we're not
inventing language, that it's really the people who craft it and are inventive," Daniel says.

The first emoji keyboard was created in Japan in the 1990s by mobile phone company designer
Shigetaka Kurita. Kurita created emoji because the company offered email communications that
were limited to 250 characters and emoji are only one character each but can be used to say more.
Emoji have since become popular around the world — 92 percent of the online population uses
them, according to data that Daniel's subcommittee recently gathered.

"They aren't tied to any language. They aren't tied to any region of the world. They're a global
phenomenon," she says.

Anyone is allowed to submit a proposal for a new emoji, and if they make a strong enough case,
Unicode will accept it. "We do get proposals in lots of different languages from around the world,"
says Daniel. If your proposal is successful, it can take up to two years to create and release the new
emoji.

The process does not simply involve coming up with something that doesn't have an emoji
representing it. You might need the help of a parent, a teacher or your classmates to create a
successful proposal. An emoji idea has to meet certain criteria. These criteria include its
distinctness, whether it can be used with existing emoji and whether it can have multiple
meanings.

The popular face with "tears of joy" emoji, for example, is easy to identify, which makes it distinct.
You can pair it with many other emoji to convey how you are feeling. Additionally, this emoji has
adopted many meanings.

"Since the 10 years in the standard, we have anecdotally seen people use it from being really sad to
being really proud," Daniel says of the crying emoji. "A lot of it has to do with the evolution of
slang." For example, someone saying, "I'm crying," doesn't only mean they're sad but could also
mean they find something funny!

Kids today are very familiar with emoji and how to use them. As the keyboard has acquired more
than 3,600 emoji characters, it has been young people figuring out how to bend the accepted
definitions of these text aides to create something more.

"They became more and more comfortable and confident using emoji, which means they're more
willing to take risks," Daniel says of younger generations who grew up with the keyboard.

"I love seeing people go, 'you know what, the skull emoji doesn't mean goth anymore. That means
I'm laughing so hard, I have died,'" she says, "That requires imagination."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Quiz

1 Read the following statement.

The use of emoji has grown in the last 30 years; today a majority of people communicating online
use the icons.

Which selection from the article provides the BEST support for the statement?

(A) You've probably noticed that new emoji show up on your phone or other device every year. For
example, the ninja emoji, which was introduced in 2020, or the yawning face in 2019.

(B) Kurita created emoji because the company offered email communications that were limited to 250
characters and emoji are only one character each but can be used to say more.

(C) Emoji have since become popular around the world - 92 percent of the online population uses them,
according to data that Daniel's subcommittee recently gathered.

(D) “They aren't tied to any language. They aren't tied to any region of the world. They're a global
phenomenon," she says.

2 Which piece of evidence explains how emoji have come to have multiple meanings?

(A) These criteria include its distinctness, whether it can be used with existing emoji and whether it can
have multiple meanings.

(B) You can pair it with many other emoji to convey how you are feeling. Additionally, this emoji has adopted
many meanings.

(C) "A lot of it has to do with the evolution of slang." For example, someone saying, "I'm crying," doesn't
only mean they're sad but could also mean they find something funny!

(D) "They became more and more comfortable and confident using emoji, which means they're more willing
to take risks," Daniel says of younger generations who grew up with the keyboard.

3 One of the article’s central ideas is that there is a process behind the new emoji that appear on phones and devices every year.
How does the author introduce this central idea?

(A) by showing how Unicode has most recently rolled out a ninja emoji and a yawning face emoji

(B) by introducing the current chair of the Unicode subcommittee that updates the emoji keyboard

(C) by explaining how new emoji originate with people who submit their ideas to Unicode

(D) by sharing the rules Unicode uses to determine which proposals will be developed

4 Which statement would be MOST important to include in a summary of the article?

(A) Since the first emoji keyboard was developed in Japan in the 1990s, the number of icons available for
public use has grown to more than 3,600 emoji characters.

(B) Although anyone can submit a proposal to Unicode for a new emoji, they are looking for distinct images
that fit with other emoji and can adopt different meanings.

(C) Because kids have grown up with emoji, they are the ones who are developing new trends in how the
characters are combined and interpreted in clever, new ways.

(D) Since emoji provide a way to communicate without being tied to any particular language, they have
become a global phenomenon used daily by millions of people.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.