I believe that it is more convenient to think about phatic utterances
in terms of the perlocutionary effect they produce (a la Fraser),
rather than as the "establishment of politeness systems".
For a truly unified account of phatic utterances we have to consider
such cases as metanarrative in literary works as well as, like, you
know - metacommunicative signals and parentheticals - all the
rapport-establising devices. Here are some examples of phatic use of metanarrative:
1. From Winnie-the-pooh :)
"IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE READ another book about Christopher Robin,
YOU MAY REMEMBER that he once had a swan (or the swan had Christopher Robin, I don't know which)
and that he used to call this swan Pooh.
2. From "The Hobbit":
"The mother of our particular hobbit … WHAT IS A HOBBIT?
I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People,
as they call US"
"I imagine you know the answer, of course, or can guess it as easy as winking, since you are sitting comfortably
at home and have not the danger of being eaten to disturb your thinking. Bilbo sat and cleared his throat once or
twice, but no answer came".
Thus, I propose a new definition: phatic utterances are utterances, which produce a phatic perlocutionary effect
(cf. Zegarac and Clark (1999)) A phatic perlocutionary effect is an
effect which manages interpersonal relationships.
Thus, the perlocutionary effect of all of my phatic postings to the RT
list (they ARE phatic, as things I talk about are already manifest to all of you
and don't yield any cognitive effects whatsoever :))), is not to
establish politeness systems... (disclosure of real reasons through
off-list mails only :))) Well, one of the reasons is that I hate to see that
this wonderful opportunity of an international RT forum is idle most
of the time and of late has been used exclusively as a "Conference
Announcement List".
Apologize for this lengthy message.
Have a nice week-end, everybody!
Cheers,
Andre
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