phatic

English[edit]

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phatic

Wikipedia

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

Probably formally influenced by emphatic, which predates this term.

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)

(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.”

more polite than meaningful