A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PHATIC EXPRESSIONS ACROSS DIFFERENT CULTURES IN ESTABLISHING SOCIAL BONDS AND POLITENESS

Abstract

The present study means to explore phatic functions and  the role of these phatic expressions in establishing social bonds and politeness in Pakistani culture with respect to the perspective of pragmatics. The research aims to analyze the use of phatic expressions in digital conversation especially with respect to maintaining social bonds and intimacy. It also focuses on the pragmatic functions of phatic expressions in maintaining politeness towards hearers' positive face. The study is qualitative in nature. The data for this research is conducted through online platforms such as WhatsApp and then analyzed using laver's theory of phatic expressions and Scheff's Bond theory in order to put social interaction. The data analyzed in accordance with the theoretical rationale and results show positive and possible answers that these small talk interactions place an important role in the establishment of social interaction and politeness in online conversations among different people with the use of emojis and other small talk words.