The phatic function in discourse

The phatic function is a means of expressing opinion that explicitly or implicitly responds to the speaker’s ambition to establish discursive symmetry with the audience. This notion reflects the speaker’s desire to perform a successful discursive activity. But how does the speaker use this linguistic device to tame the listener, while at the same time imposing the value of his arguments? It’s this desire to be understood that drives a third party to use the phatic function in all its forms. The interest here lies in the ability of the phatic code to participate in the construction of a resistant discourse and to influence the semantic scope of any discourse. This raises the question of the true role of this linguistic function in a discursive situation. Our analysis of the strategic aspect of this question shows both its social value and the various pragmatic issues it raises. The approach to the phatic code and its relationship to the semantic construction of political discourse, following a theoretical study, was thus the subject of a practical study.