A Relevance-theoretical Account Of Phatics In Cross-cultural Communication

Phatics have been better studied since Malinowski advanced the term phatic communion. Here, the word "phatics" in the title of the present thesis means the words which are empty of meaning, in the sense that so long as conversational hiatus is filled, what one says matters little. The communication in which phatics are used is the communication between people which is not intended to seek or convey information but has the social function of establishing or maintaining social contact. Along with the increasing contact among people around the world, the study on cross-cultural communication is becoming more and more important, including the study on cross-cultural phatic communication. The present thesis is a tentative study of phatics in cross-cultural communication from the perspective of relevance theory, with the view to attesting the rationality of employing relevance theory in revealing the nature of cross-cultural phatic communication and the explanatory power of relevance theory to the interpretation of cross-cultural phatic communication, in the hope that it will be helpful in...