1923, coined by Polish-born British anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski (1884-1942) from Greek phatos "spoken, that may be spoken," from phanai "to speak, say," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)) + -ic.
双语例句
1. The phatic function refers to language beingforaatmosphere or maintaining social contacts for exchanging imformation or ideas.
