Exploring Affective Properties of Emojis: Identifying the Persian Emoji Lexicon

Aims: The present study aimed to validate the Persian Emoji Lexicon (PEL) and examine gender and cultural differences in the perception of the affective properties of selected emojis. Method: The study consisted of two phases: emoji selection and an online survey. First, we identified the ۱۰۹ most frequently used emojis on Twitter. In the second phase, we assessed emotion and valence ratings from a sample of ۲۰۰ X users (۱۴۰ females; ۲۷.۳ ± ۳.۵ years). Results: Of the ۱۰۹ selected emojis, ۹۰ were perceived as having a positive valence. Gender comparisons revealed that women rated significantly higher emotional intensity across all eight emotion dimensions compared to men. We also compared our findings with a similar database validated among Canadians. The inter-rater reliability for emoji valence ratings between Iranian and Canadian participants showed a fair level of agreement (Kappa coefficient = ۰.۳۵۷), while also highlighting significant cultural differences in emotion perception. Conclusion: This database serves as a valuable resource for sentiment analysis of social media texts containing emojis, as well as for practical applications where emojis function as emotional cues to influence behavior (e.g., in marketing and education).

کلیدواژه ها:

Emojis ، Emotions ، valence ، Social media ، Lexicon