“How are you?”: Negotiating phatic communion

TLDR

Phatic communion, introduced by Malinowski, is a conventionalized, desemanticized discourse mode studied across sociolinguistics, semantics, stylistics, and communication, but a negotiation perspective better captures its multidimensional role where relational goals outweigh factuality. The study analyzes how elderly patients respond to a scripted “how are you?” opening in medical interviews to illuminate issues relevant to gerontological and medical research. The authors conduct discourse analyses of elderly responses to the scripted greeting within medical interview settings, focusing on phatic communion, small talk, and preference structures.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since its introduction by Malinowski in the 1920s, “phatic communion” has often been appealed to as a concept in sociolinguistics, semantics, stylistics, and communication, typically taken to designate a conventionalized and desemanticized discourse mode or “type.” But a negotiation perspective, following the conversation analysis tradition of research on greetings and troubles telling, fits the discursive realities better. Phaticity is a multidimensional potential for talk in many social settings, where speakers' relational goals supercede their commitment to factuality and instrumentality. We then analyze phatic processes in elderly people's responses to a scripted how are you? opening in interviews about their medical experiences. Discourse analyses of phatic communion can raise important issues for gerontological and medical research. (Phatic communion, small talk, greetings, elderly talk, medical talk, preference structure)