New emojis may arrive in June, include mermaid, man fairy, breast-feeding woman and more

The Unicode Consortium has released a full list of 69 new emojis which are expected to arrive this year. Among new emojis are tyrannosaurus rex, a mermaid, a breast-feeding woman, a man fairy which can be selected in every sex and skin tone and other new ones. These new emojis may hit mobile devices by June.

In November, the organisation has previewed 51 emojis that were part of Unicode 10 later this year. The update includes emojis from Unicode 10.0, including flags for England, Scotland and Wales. It also features gender variations for characters like Mage, Vampire and Person Climbing. The update is currently in draft status.

According to Emojipedia.org, the new emojis from Emoji 5.0 were created in an Apple-like style. It said food types were well represented, which include broccoli, coconut and sandwich. Sauropod3 and T-Rex, two dinosaur types, are also part of the list.

Activities such as rock climbing, sauna, meditation, as well as clothing like socks, gloves and a coat are also part of the update. Meanwhile, there were emojis that did not make it to the cut, such as almond, leafy greens, face with lightbulb and face banging against wall. The emoji list for this year would be finalised when Unicode 10.0 is released in mid-2017.

Jenny Davis, a social psychologist and professor at The Australian National University, explains why people, specifically women, are using emojis in communicating. She described emojis and exclamation points as textual versions of body language. “Traditionally, women’s speech styles tend to be about “about making space for others’ expressions so the love hearts and winky face emojis are [also] forms of deference and affection that show care for those with whom a person communicates,” Quartz Media quotes her.

Last week, Macworld reported that Facebook added new features into its Messenger app, allowing its users to add emoji reactions to individual messages. The social media platform also allows its users to include @mentions in their messages. Mentions in Messenger will set off a new kind of notification for the recipient, as well as more details about the specific message mentioned.

Apple’s “emojification” of iMessage, on the other hand, allows users to add reactions to individual messages. These reactions are called Tap Back. It’s similar with Messenger app’s new feature. The only difference is that it is available on Android too. Apple has also also unveiled Clips, a new iOS app for making quick stylized videos to share on iMessage.