Phatic expression

In linguistics, a phatic expression (Template:IPAc-en, Template:Respell) is a communication which primarily serves to establish or maintain social relationships. In other words, phatic expressions have mostly socio-pragmatic rather than semantic functions. They can be observed in everyday conversational exchanges, as in, for instance, exchanges of social pleasantries that do not seek or offer information of intrinsic value but rather signal willingness to observe conventional local expectations for politeness.

Other uses of the term include the category of "small talk" (conversation for its own sake) in speech communication, where it is also called social grooming. In Roman Jakobson's typology of communication functions, the 'phatic' function of language concerns the channel of communication; for instance, when one says "I can't hear you, you're breaking up" in the middle of a cell-phone conversation. This usage appears in research on online communities and micro-blogging.

Purpose

Phatic communion denotationally breaks Grice's conversational maxims, because it gives information that is unnecessary, untrue, or irrelevant; however, it has important connotational meanings that do not break these maxims and is best understood as an important part of language in its role in establishing, maintaining, and managing bonds of sociality between participants, as well as creating feelings of solidarity and familiarity, and putting participants at ease.

History

The term phatic communion ('bonding by language') was coined by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in his essay "The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages", which appeared in 1923 as a supplementary contribution to The Meaning of Meaning by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards. The term phatic means 'linguistic' (i.e. 'by language') and comes from the Greek ('spoken, that may be spoken'), from ('I speak, say').

Importance of context

Many expressions generally considered to be phatic (see below) may be a genuine request for information in certain contexts. For example, in British English, "How are you?" is a phatic expression used when greeting someone one knows, especially when a participant wants to initiate conversation. However, it can also be asked sincerely, inferrable from context, such as when a friend gives bad news, or tone, such falling intonation to show it as a genuine question (as is with w/h-word questions), or speaking more quietly. Authenticity of the question can also be emphasised by the addition of the word "feeling" ("How are you feeling?").

Phatic expressions in various languages

Danish

Danish has several phatic greetings:

• 'how goes it?'. Possible answers are: 'it goes good/fine'.
• 'how does it cut?' Informal greeting between close friends.
• 'what then?'. Similar to the English greeting what's up?. More often used in Jutland. A possible answer is 'not that much'.
• is a common informal greeting and equivalent to the English hi, pronounced almost the same. Single-word greetings with approximately the same meaning include (from combining with German from French ), , (both reduced forms of meaning 'day'), , , , (Pun greeting. Made by combining and 'onion sauce'), 'nice good day' is a more formal greeting.
• is only used when the speaker is not sure they can be heard. Examples when saying/yelling is appropriate: Trying to find out if someone else is in a seemingly empty room/building; using it as an initial phone greeting; checking if the person you're calling can still hear you (when experiencing a bad phone connection); trying to get the attention of a listener that appears to not pay attention.
• Mojn is only used in Southern Jutland. It comes from North German from the German word meaning 'morning'. Despite its original meaning it is used as a greeting throughout the day.
• or are common ways to say goodbye. 'we will see each other' is used as a farewell greeting in face-to-face conversations while 'we will speak each other'/ 'we will speak to each other by' are used in both face-to-face and phone/text conversations.
• 'drive safely' is said to a person leaving the place where the speaker is located and going to drive/bike to another location. 'come well home' is said in the same situation whatever the method of transportation.
• 'good lust for work' is said when parting with a person that is either currently at work or leaving to go to work.
• 'thanks for today' is often said in more formal contexts of prolonged interactions like at the end of a meeting or the end of a class.
• 'thanks for the last time that we were together' acknowledging that the people were together somewhere
• 'good recovery'. Said when leaving a sick person.
• 'have it good' or 'you (sg./pl.) may have it good' is a farewell phrase wishing for the other's well-being. A joke variant of this is 'have it as you look' (literally: 'have it as you look out'). By not saying the expected adjective 'good', the speaker is violating the maxim of quantity and thereby inferring that they do not think the listener looks good. This can be understood as an insult and is therefore mainly used informally between friends.

Some phatic greetings are only used in writings such as letters, e-mails and speeches read aloud:

• 'dear' followed by a name is a formalised way of beginning a letter, speech etc.
• Ways to end a letter or e-mail include 'greeting', '(with) friendly greeting', sometimes abbreviated to . Others include 'with loving greeting' abbreviated , 'hug'.

Some greetings like can be used throughout the day. Some are more specific, and the specific time of when to switch to the next greeting can vary from speaker to speaker. Time-specific greetings include ('good morning'), (literally 'good pre-noon'), ('good day'), ('good afternoon'), ('good evening'), and ('good night').

Ways of saying thanks include 'thanks', 'thanks shall you have', 'many thanks', 'thousand thanks', 'thanks for that' and 'I thank'. A thanks can be answered with 'self thanks' or 'it was so little' (referring to the small amount of work that had to be done).

Other phatic expressions include ('luck and fortune'), equivalent to the English good luck, and ('crack and break') which has the same meaning as good luck similar to the English expression break a leg, mostly used by hunters, fishers, and theater crews.

English

"You're welcome", in its phatic usage, 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 acknowledge the receipt of a benefit.

Similarly, 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 and intonation.

Example: a simple, basic exchange between two acquaintances in a non-formal environment:

Speaker one: "What's up?" (US English. In UK English this more commonly means "Is there something wrong?")

Speaker two: "Hey, how's it going?" (In US English "Hey" is equivalent to "Hi", or "Hello". Adding "How's it going" returns the initial greeting-query, paraphrased, without offering any information about what is possibly "up". In short, the first speaker's token is replied to with the second speaker's equivalent token, not actually answering the first speaker's literal query.)

Or:

Speaker one: "All right?" (UK English. In US English this can only be a tag question, approximately meaning "Do you agree with or accept what I've said?" In the US, the longer question "(Are) you all right?" is possible to mean "Is something wrong?")

Speaker two: "Yeah, all right."

In both dialogues, neither speaker expects an actual answer to the question but rather it is an indication that each has recognized the other's presence and has therefore sufficiently performed that particular social duty.

Icelandic

There are several phatic greetings in Icelandic differing in formality:

• 'What say you (good)?'. Equal to English how are you?. To a foreign speaker it can seem strange that the preferred answer, 'good', is embedded in the question. A preferred answer can be 'I say everything good/fine'
• 'how goes?'.

Thanking:

• 'thanks for'.

Japanese

In Japanese, phatic expressions play a significant role in communication, for instance the backchannel responses referred to as aizuchi. Other such expressions include the ubiquitous ('please treat me well', used before starting work with someone), (lit. 'you must be tired', closer to 'thank you for your hard work'—used for leave-taking and sometimes as a greeting) and ('thank you for your support').

Mandarin Chinese

In China, the phatic expression (chīfàn le ma) 'have you eaten?' is equivalent to English speakers' how are you? Food culture is important in China and thus inquiring if one is well-fed implies the speaker's desire to know if the listener has this basic need met. This expression is most often used by older members of society toward younger people.

Persian

Taarof is a complex set of expressions and other gestures in Persian society, primarily reflected in the language.

Welsh

In Welsh, the general phatic is a regional and colloquial version of ('how is?'). The general pronunciation in southern Wales is and in the North, . The usual answer is ('OK') or, ('OK, thanks'), or maybe the more traditional ('quite good'), ('quite good, thanks'). Many native speakers do not answer like this, but simply say, or in response.

The use of phatic has been used as a Welsh language campaigners to encourage Welsh speakers to begin conversations in Welsh, and for non-fluent speakers to "give it a go". Shwmae Sumae Day was held for the first time in 2013 and is held annually on 13 October.

In fiction

Phatic expressions are often created by authors, particularly in science fiction or fantasy, as part of their worldbuilding.

• In A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, the people of Essos use the expression Valar Morghulis ('All men must die'), answered with Valar Dohaeris ('All men must serve').
• In the Star Wars series, "May the Force be with you" is used as a leave-taking phrase.
• In Star Trek, the expression "live long and prosper" is used phatically, accompanied by a Vulcan salute.
• In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Blessed be the Fruit is a common greeting exchanged between the people of the Republic of Gilead, responded to with May the Lord open.

Non-verbal phatic expressions

Non-verbal phatic expressions are used in nonverbal communication for emphasis or to add detail to the message that a person conveys or expresses. Common examples of these are smiling, gesturing, waving, etc. According to Dr. Carola Surkamp, professor at University of Cologne, non-verbal phatic communication can be expressed with involuntary physical features such as direction of gaze, blushing, posture, etc. and that these have a vital function in regulating conversation.

Online phatic expressions

Phatic expressions are used on different communication platforms on the internet such as social media networks where certain platforms require and prompt certain actions to be made between users to communicate or implicate certain messages between people without direct utterances. Examples for this would be: 'likes', comments/replies, shares/reblogs, emoji use, etc. These phatic posts as Radovanovic and Ragnedda like to call them, are again used with a social function of social communicative upkeep with the primary function of expressing social connection, relationships between users, and recognition of coparticipants.

See also

• Backchannel (linguistics)
• Filler (linguistics)
• High-context and low-context cultures
• Literal and figurative language
• Pragmatics (linguistics)
• Small talk
• Sociolinguistics