arXiv:2508.00537v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Prosodic features such as pitch, timing, and intonation are central to spoken communication, conveying emotion, intent, and discourse structure. In text-based settings, where these cues are absent, emojis act as visual surrogates that add affective and pragmatic nuance. This study examines how emojis influence prosodic realisation in speech and how listeners interpret prosodic cues to recover emoji meanings. Unlike previous work, we directly link prosody and emojis by analysing human speech data collected through a controlled elicited product
The proliferation of text-based communication and the central role of emojis necessitate a deeper understanding of their impact on human interaction, especially as AI increasingly mediates communication.
This research provides insights into how text communication elements like emojis bridge the gap between written and spoken language, influencing human perception and interpretation of speech.
This study offers a novel direct link between prosody and emojis, moving beyond previous work by analyzing human speech data to understand emoji meanings.
- · AI language model developers
- · Communication researchers
- · Human-computer interaction designers
- · Text-only communication platforms (without emoji considerations)
- · Simplified text-to-speech systems
Refined understanding of how emojis convey emotion and intent in digital communication.
Improved AI systems capable of generating or interpreting speech with appropriate emotional and pragmatic nuance based on text cues.
New communication interfaces that dynamically adapt speech prosody to text-based emotional markers like emojis, enhancing user experience.
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