Phatic - What does it mean?
phatic | |
(linguistics) Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship e.g polite mood, rather than meaning; for example, "How are you?" is often not a literal question but is said only as a greeting. (Similarly, a response such as "Fine" is often not an accurate answer, but merely an acknowledgement of the greeting.)
* 1978 , Anthony Burgess, 1985 :
* 2006 , Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day , Vintage 2007, p. 467:
phatic
English
(wikipedia phatic)Adjective
(en adjective)- Generally speaking, statements in WE are expected to be of a tautologous nature, thus fulfilling the essential phatic nature of speech.
- Dispensing with phatic chitchat, he began straightaway to tell the story of his “people.”