Summary: | Emoticons represent the best materialization of the particular aspects the digital language features. The use of emoticons on the hand have been subjected to var ious kinds of analyses which have singled out their joint representation of both oral and written language. This article proposes, using the indexical sign theory to understand the emoticons not simply as combination of other types of language but as the i nnovative form of the digital language. Looking more at the poietics of the emoticon use and less at its poetic, the article distinguishes among the types of usage depending on types of texts and, at the same time, between two categories or digital languag e practice consumers who understand emoticons rather differently in terms of coding and usage.
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