Abstract
This paper considers how the notion of phatic communication can best be understood within the framework of Relevance Theory. To a large extent, we are exploring a terminological question: which things which occur during acts of verbal communication should the term 'phatic' apply to? The term is perhaps most frequently used in the phrase 'phatic communication', which has been thought of as an essentially social phenomenon and therefore beyond the scope of cognitive pragmatic theories. We suggest, instead, that the term should be applied to interpretations and that an adequate account of phatic interpretations requires an account of the cognitive processes involved in deriving them. Relevance Theory provides the basis for such an account. In section 1, we indicate the range of phenomena to be explored. In section 2, we outline the parts of Relevance Theory which are used in our account. In section 3, we argue that the term 'phatic' should be applied to interpretations, and we explore predictions about phatic interpretations which follow from the framework of Relevance Theory, including the claim that phatic interpretations should be derived only when non-phatic interpretations are not consistent with the Principle of Relevance. In section 4 we consider cases where cognitive effects similar to those caused by phatic interpretations are conveyed but not ostensively communicated. © 1999 Cambridge University Press.Citation
Žegarac V, Clark B (1999) 'Phatic interpretations and phatic communication', Journal of Linguistics, 35 (2), pp.321-346.Publisher
Cambridge University PressJournal
Journal of LinguisticsAdditional Links
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-linguistics/article/phatic-interpretations-and-phatic-communication/5F1ABE68829D39D0A48E3C433AC7DF01Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0022-2267ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1017/S0022226799007628