Phatic
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈfætɪk/
Origin
From Ancient Greek φατός (phatos, "spoken"), from φημί (phēmi, "I say")
Full definition of phatic
Adjective
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:Generally speaking, statements in WE are expected to be of a tautologous nature, thus fulfilling the essential phatic nature of speech.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 467:Dispensing with phatic chitchat, he began straightaway to tell the story of his “people.â€