Phatic vs Photic - What's the difference?
phatic | photic |
(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:
of, related to, or irradiated by light; especially describing that part of the near-surface ocean is which photosynthesis is possible
As adjectives the difference between phatic and photic
is that phatic is (linguistics) pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship eg 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) while photic is of, related to, or irradiated by light; especially describing that part of the near-surface ocean is which photosynthesis is possible.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.”
