Phatic Expressiveness

Definition

'In linguistics, a phatic expression is one whose only function is to perform a social task'; The term was coined by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in the early 1900s.

“For example, the expression "you're welcome" is not intended to convey the message that the hearer is actually welcome; it is a phatic response to being thanked. This in turn is a phatic whose function is to be polite in response to a gift. No speaker actually feels welcome; they just sort of are welcome”

“The first is a simple, basic exchange, often shared by many individuals that see each other daily. It is important to meet social obligations each morning, to begin the day with a well-worn ritual. Sandy: "How are you?" Bob: "Hey, fine?"

Neither participant really expects an answer to his/her question. Much like a shared nod, it's an indication that each has recognized the other's existence and has therefore performed sufficiently that particular social duty. The utterance of a phatic expression is a sort of specific linguistic existence verification” [1]

Phatic expressiveness for virtual spaces

Text messages remove the “small change” of conversation, remark that, while not very meaningful, keep a conversation going (such as cool, yeah, uh huh). - Source: (look in google for a flashcard site).

American Programmer Tantek Çelik has a section on his wiki called Communication Protocols to help prevent unnecessary and often stagnating phatic expressions from hindering his everyday reality.

Electronic Small Talk

Technologies that reduce the space and time between actions are actually reducing what could now be considered phatic expressiveness. The idea of “how are you?”, or “have a good day” are not needed through SMS messages or on Twitter, as they formerly were through the phone.

See Electronic Small Talk (PDF) Page 3