DR. VYVYAN EVANS
Language Expert, Digital Communication Technologist, & Author
I am an expert in language and digital communication. In my writing and my research I explore the prodigious capacity of our species, Homo sapiens, to mean during the course of spoken interaction, and the impact of technology on language and mind. I have written numerous books on language, non-linguistic communication, meaning, mind, imagination, their evolution, the impact of technology on language and the future of language and communication; I discuss these topics regularly in the popular written and broadcast media.
My exploration of common questions and issues about language can be found in my Psychology Today blog: "Language in the mind", in my popular science writing (links below), and in my podcasts and TV/video appearances:
NEWS
The Babel Apocalypse, now available for pre-order
1 June 2022
Why Longhorn Steakhouse Is Petitioning For A New Emoji
21 August 2022
People who use emoji are more empathetic,study finds
23 September 2022
The Emoji Code
The Emoji Code
The Emoji Code book interview: Cheddar TV, the full interview with Vyvyan Evans, August 7th 2017,
Breaking The Emoji Code with author Vyvyan Evans (Chedddar News, August 7th 2017)
A guide to mastering emoji
FORTHCOMING AND RECENT BOOKS:
THE BABEL APOCALYPSE:
To be published May 2nd 2023
Language is no longer learned, it is streamed to neural implants regulated by lang-laws. Those who cannot afford monthly Language Streaming services are feral, living at the fringes of society. Big tech corporations control language, the world’s most valuable commodity. But when a massive cyberattack causes a global language outage, catastrophe looms.
Europol detective Emyr Morgan is assigned to the case. Suspect number one is Professor Ebba Black, the last native speaker of language in the automated world, and leader of the Babel cyberterrorist organization. But Emyr soon learns that, in a world of corporate power, where they who control language control everything, all is not as it seems. After all, if the mysterious Ebba Black is to blame, why is the Russian Federation being framed for an outage it claims to have no responsibility for? And why is Ebba now targeted for assassination?
As he and Ebba collide, each with their divergent agendas and value systems, Emyr faces an existential dilemma between loyalty and betrayal, when everything he once believed in is called into question. To prevent the imminent collapse of civilization, and a deadly war between the great federations, he must figure out friend from foe, as his life may very well depend on it. And with the odds stacked against him, he must find a way to stop the Babel Apocalypse.
THE babel Apocalypse is a SONGS OF THE SAGE Book
To be published in digital and paperback formats, by Nephilim Publishing. See publisher website here.
(see more popular science books here)
THE EMOJI CODE:
US edition -- Aug 2017
UK edition -- May 2017
Since 2011, the use of emoji - deriving from the Japanese, meaning picture character - has become a global phenomenon. We send over 6 billion emoji every day and regularly send emoji-only messages, and, when Oxford Dictionaries named the 'Face with Tears of Joy' emoji as their 'Word of the Year 2015', it received an enormous amount of criticism.
Whenever emoji are covered in the popular media the same burning questions come up: Can an emoji really be a word? How language-like is it? Will emoji make us dumber? Or more lazy? Will they make us less adept at communicating with our nearest and dearest? And does this signal the death knell for language as we know it?
Drawing on findings from disciplines as diverse as linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, archaeology and anthropology, this groundbreaking book explores human capacity to communicate, and addresses these questions in the process. The Emoji Code sheds light on emoji's vital role in the expression of emotion in digital communication and more, pointing the way for the future of international communication in a provocative and entertaining way.