phatic

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek φατός (phatós, spoken) - from φημί (phēmí, I say) - +‎ -ic.

Probably formally influenced by emphatic, which predates this term.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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Examples
  • The question "how are you?" when used as a greeting.
  • "Fine" in response to "how are you?" as an acknowledgment instead of a description.

phatic (comparative more phatic, superlative most phatic)

  1. (linguistics) Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship.
    • 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, published 2007, page 467:
      Dispensing with phatic chitchat, he began straightaway to tell the story of his “people.”

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Noun

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phatic (plural phatics)

  1. (linguistics) A phatic utterance.

Anagrams

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