phatic

English

Etymology

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

Probably formally influenced by emphatic, which predates this term.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈfætɪk/
  • Rhymes: -ætɪk

Adjective
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

Translations

See also

Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.