Presentation

Topic: Phatic Communication

And Phatic Tokens.
M.Phil. 1st semester
Department of English
Subject Pragmatics
Dr. Mamona khan
Women University Multan
Phatic Communication:

Phatic communication is verbal or non-verbal communication that has a social function, such as to
start a conversation, greet someone, or say goodbye, rather than an informative function.

Example
Waving hello is non-verbal phatic communication and saying ‘How's it going?' is verbal.

Phatic communication is popularly known as small talk: the non referential use of language to share
feelings or establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas.

Phatic communication is different from core talk, as core talk is more focused and formal conversation.
Phatic communication is less focused and an informal conversation among people. phatic
communication is independent of the context while core talk is context bound.
Functions of phatic Communication: The term phatic communion was
coined by British anthropologist
The small talk or phatic communication has various functions: Bronislaw Malinowski in his
essay "The Problem of Meaning
(1) breaking the silence in Primitive Languages," which
(2) starting a conversation, appeared in 1923 in The
(3) making gossip, Meaning of Meaning by C.K.
(4) keeping talking, Ogden and I.A. Richards.
(5) expressing solidarity,
(6) creating harmony,
(7) creating comfort,
(8) expressing empathy, The Purpose of Small Talk:
(9) expressing friendship, Although the purpose of small talk is little
(10) expressing respect, and useful, it is but a bonding ritual and an
(11) expressing politeness. effective strategy to manage the
interpersonal distance. It serves multiple
functions to help define the relationships
between colleagues, friends and novel
acquaintances.
Linguists views on Phatic Communication:

Phatic communication is used in almost all interpersonal communication interactions.

Based on research by Malinowski (1923), Laver (1975) and Jacobson (1960), phatic
communication is defined as scripted communication interactions that function to ease
conversation and manage relationships.

For example, Ahmed greets a new employee for the first time
by saying, “Good morning, how are you?” The new employee responds, “Good thanks, how are
you?” Ahmed responds, “Good, see you around.”

This initial interaction is highly scripted, enabling

two strangers to interact with relative ease. Phatic communication is a universally used phase of
interaction, and according to Malinowski, it “…fulfills a function to which the meaning of its
words is almost completely irrelevant” (p. 313). The words are irrelevant because the function of
phatic communication is not about the content of the message, but the mere contact between the
interactants.
 Phatic tokens are the part of the conversation that have some social function and are not generally based on
content but mostly on initiative.

Phatic tokens are those units of language whose primary purpose is not their content
Phatic so much as their effect in social solidarity.
Token: Greetings, terms of address and farewells are the most obvious examples of phatic
token such as,
'good morning', 'how are you', 'nice to have met you', 'lovely weather we're having',
'beautiful view', 'yours faithfully', and so on, are all typical examples.

According to work done by Laver (1975), phatic choices reveal strong indicators of social status. Phatic tokens, by
definition:
1: Have positive polarity (they tend not to use negatives)
2: Are emotionally and ideologically uncontroversial (such as talking about the weather)
3: Expect a positive but fairly non-committal response (mild agreement is the norm)
4: Any alteration from these norms will (like implicatures) generate certain effects.
Kinds of Phatic Tokens:

Laver also developed a further social dimension to the token-type used. He identified three types of phatic
token:

1: Neutral tokens: reference is to the context of situation that is common to both participants.
('nice weather', 'great view', 'these trains need cleaning')

2: Other-oriented tokens: reference is to the addressee

('that looks like hard work', 'you're looking well', 'how do you do')

3: Self-oriented tokens: reference is to the speaker ( 'I'm warm today', 'I'm pleased to meet you').

In Laver's framework, neutral tokens are used between complete strangers.

When a socially more powerful participant speaks first, they will use an other-oriented token. When a
socially inferior person speaks first, they will use a self-oriented token.
 Social
status

Age gap. Factors: Gender

Difference

Relation
between
speakers
Social Status:

1: The neutral category remains always available to any speaker of any relative social status.

2: But the self oriented and other oriented category is normally governed by the status difference
between the two speakers.

3: In and upward interaction, where the inferior member of the society has to acknowledge the superior
member, he mostly use the self oriented phatic tokens and not the other oriented.

4: In a downward interaction, where the superior has to acknowledge the inferior member, he can use
the other oriented phatic tokens. Or he wither has a choice to used self–oriented tokens too.

5: the tokens being used, always depend on the person’s situation, status and context in which the talk is
being initiated.
The example of upward and downward interaction could be the clearly seen when the poor class needs help from
the bourgeoisie.

We see in the society the “Vadaira system”. When the poor people of the
Village come to head of their village whom they probably call their
saeen., and want to ask for help, they use self oriented phatic tokes. i.e

Villager: 1: I am in need of money Saeen.

2: My children are hungry Saeen.
3: my wife is ill Saeen.

They always use self oriented phatic tokens to persuade their Saeen.
As they belong to the inferior status.

On the other hand the Saeen will probably used Other Oriented Tokens.

Saeen: “You are here again” (urdu) (Tu phir a gyaa bheek mangne)
“ you did not do the work I assigned” …….
Gender difference and the use of phatic tokens clearly relates to each other.

1: Talking about the society w live in, wee see that male member of the society has more freedom to
communicate than a women.

2: Hence it is also related to initiating a conversation. Women are always hesitant to start a conversation
just because they are afraid of the interpretation the speaker will make of it.

3: talking about the difference among the two, women always seem responsible and cautious of her
words and whom to talk.

In our everyday life, we see various examples.

As in the office, when a men enters the office, he mostly use other oriented token when talking to a
female.
Just as “ Hello. Hi are you”. “You look nice today”.
On the other hand, women mostly used self oriented token in work places.
Just as “ I am thankful for the favor”. “ sorry I was late today” . They hardly seem to use other oriented
tokens.
Other example are the social media platforms

Either on Facebook Dms, Instagram, or snapchat. We find that the men use other oriented tokens more than the
self oriented tokens. While females on social media use less other oriented tokens and more self oriented tokens in
different context.

We all have been using social media, and everyone

has gone through these kinds of texts.
Social media platforms and phatic tokens:

In a conversation between to friends taking place at the occasion of Eid, one

is greeting the other. It is other-oriented token because the conversation is referring
to the addressee.

Friend 1: Happy Birthday!! Mubarak ho, May this day bring lots of happiness for
you and your family.

Friend 2: Khair Mubarak!

In another conversation, a friend uploads her picture from a wedding that

she attended recently. The other friend responds to her as

Friend 1: *Uploads her picture*..

Friend 2: Masha Allah! You are looking so gorgeous (other
oriented phatic token)

The picture at the side gives the example of how other-oriented

phatic tokens are used in comments of Instagram section.
Neutral Phatic Tokens:

A girl who posted a status on Whatsapp which

was a video of the view of Multan after rain. The other girl replies to her status as:

Friend,1: (Status of the view)

Friend,2: Wao!! The weather is so good today !

In this conversation, neutral token is used between two friends. As the

dialogues are not directed towards any particular participant so neutral tokens is
being used in this conversation.

Hence we can say, that each kind of phatic tokens are being used on social media by different people in different
context.
Use of phatic tokens is also governed by the age gap between individuals and relationship between the
speakers.

We see in a society, the older member of the family use more self oriented tokens than the younger
member in certain context.
Just as being younger they always ask from their elders.

Grand daughter: R u hungry maa? (other oriented)

Grandma: I need a cup of milk. (self oriented)

Daughter: would you give me permission to go out?

Mother: I will think about it.

Son: can u give me some money baba?

Father: I don’t have enough right now.

These fine examples may would have given the idea of the concept of how phatic tokens are being used.
In a relationship of student and teacher, phatic tokens differ.
In the relationship of student and teacher we see the sum of almost all kinds of phatic tokens.
either neutral, self oriented or other oriented.

It may be clear with the given examples:

Teacher: we have completed chapter 5, it was difficult. (neutral phatic token)

Student: Yes mam.

Teacher: I would like u to open page 6. (self-oriented)

Student: I have opened mam. (self oriented)

Student: how r u ma’ma?? (other)

Teacher: I am good (self)

Teacher: have you done your homework? (other)

Student: I have done my homework. (self)
Opening and closing conversation with phatic talk.

We do not directly start the conversation or move directly towards the topic.
Phatic tokens are used to start a conversation. We can have certain examples. Just as,
1: talking about the Weather
2: ask about healthy, or
3: talking about the journey that someone is covering.

Conversations are also closed by using phatic talk.

. Just as,
1: saying goodbye
2: take care.
3: Start looking around.
1: Laver (1974/1975, 1981) was probably the first author to defend that phatic utterances are
extremely important linguistic devices for social interaction because they convey indexical information
about the interlocutors’ social roles.

2: Phatic utterances can achieve an optimal level of relevance because of the information they can
convey about the politeness system in which interlocutors carry out social interaction.

3: Phatic communication also has a number of defining features: it is culturally embedded, non
contextual, and ritualistic.
Conclusion:

Phatic Communication and phatic tokens, both play

An important role in every day life of every individual.
Different factors though govern the way phatic tokens are used.

"Phatic communication, or small talk, is an important social lubricant.

In the words of Erving Goffman,
'The gestures which we sometimes call empty are perhaps in fact the
fullest things of all”
References:

González Manzo, F. (2014). Talking big about small talk: A contemporary theoretical
model for phatic communication (Doctoral dissertation, Mount Saint Vincent
University).

1: Social media sites.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264333188_Phatic_Utterances_and_the_Communication_of_Social_I
nformation

https://library.ndsu.edu/ir/bitstream/handle/10365/28146/Hanson_ndsu_0157N_11395.pdf?sequence=1&isAllo
wed=y