Online communication has created new ways to express emotions. Emoji are often discussed as signs for meaning-making, adding emotional tone to communication. They are generally considered ‘to be a substitute for facial expressions, gestures, and other nonverbal cues.'

In contrast, GIFs, and reaction GIFs in particular, have attracted less scholarly attention. Reaction GIFs express emotions and attitudes in a playful manner.

Previous research provides a rich description of the uses of emoji or GIFs, it is not entirely clear how the addressee/recipient processes and interprets these visual cues. Moreover, despite the similarities in functions between emoji and reaction GIFs, they are often analysed separately. Little work has been done to account for their role in communication of emotion, and how recipients process such visually oriented ostensive stimuli. 

This DCU Research study shows that through the lens of cognitive pragmatics, the study of mental structures and processes involved in the use of language, these two communication methods are not distinct. Both are cases of non-verbal communication pointing to the communicator’s emotional state.

Using relevance theory, the attempt to provide a psychologically realistic, explicit account of communication, the paper argues that emoji and reaction GIFs can be used to convey expressive meaning, including attitudes and emotions which are difficult to put in words. As opposed to describe their meaning, an attempt is made to account for their contribution in communication.