- Phatic
In
linguistics , a phatic expression is one whose only function is to perform a social task, as opposed to conveying information. [ Malinowski, B. (1923) "The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages”, in: Charles K. Ogden / Ian A. Richards (eds.), "The Meaning of Meaning", 146-152, London: Routledge ] The term was coined by famous anthropologistBronislaw Malinowski in the early 1900s.For example, "you're welcome" is not intended to convey the message that the hearer is welcome; it is a phatic response to being thanked, which in turn is a phatic whose function is to be polite in response to a gift.
Similarly, in the
English language , the question "how are you?" is usually an automatic component of a social encounter. Although there are times when "how are you?" is asked in a sincere, concerned manner and does in fact anticipate a detailed response regarding the respondent's present state, this needs to be pragmatically inferred from context andinflection .The utterance of a phatic expression is a kind of
speech act .In
speech communication the term means "small talk" (conversation for its own sake) and has also been called "grooming talking". ["Teach Yourself Linguistics", by Jean Aitchison, ISBN 978-0340870839]ee also
*
Etiquette
* Stock phrase
*Sociolinguistics References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
