The Semiotics of Emoticons and Animated Pictures in the Aspect of Forensic Linguistic Expertise

Abstract

The article considers emoticons and other graphic elements used in internet communication as signs that change the semantic understanding of a text message as objects of forensic linguistic expertise. The author makes a conclusion about the polyfunctionality of pictograms that form the polycode character of the text through the increment of meaning, transformation of the emotional and content-semantic orientation of verbal elements, or masking the communicative intention of the author of the text, which should be taken into account when solving the tasks of forensic linguistic expertise in cases of insult, extremism, threats, etc.