Kawaii in tweets: what emotions does the word describe in social media?

Abstract

The Japanese word kawaii is a particular word that represents a kind of emotion. It is similar to “pretty” or “cute” in English. However, there is some difference between kawaii and these English words. This study reveals how the word kawaii is used in message exchanges over social networking services (SNS) and in what context it is used. The experiment compared two sets of tweets: one set with the word kawaii and the other without it. Also, it compared several sets of words within five predetermined emotional categories. The experiment revealed that there was a marked difference between the two groups, especially in the context of expressing the emotions of “enjoy, ” “happy,” and “like.”