The context of Jakobson’s phatic function
The context of Jakobson’s phatic function

Summary/Abstract: Bronisław Malinowski ’s phatic communion (1948[1923]) and Roman Jakobson’s phatic function (1981a[1960]) are two very different creatures. They share the neologism, “phatic”, and both have to do with speech that is not intended to convey information, such as greetings and small talk, but that is more or less where the similarities end. Aside from “phatic”, the only keyword that makes an appearance in both is formula: the phatic function “may be displayed by a profuse exchange of ritualized formulas” (Jakobson 1981a[1960]: 24) and “formulæ of greeting or approach” fulfil “a function to which the meaning of its words is almost completely irrelevant” (Malinowski 1948[1923]: 313–314).

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