ABSTRACT
B. Malinowski introduced the concept of 'phatic communion' in 1923, and this is both die earliest and the prototypical formulation of small talk as a communicative mode - the establishment of human bonds or communion, 'merely', as Malinowski wrote, by talking. Small talk is sociolinguistically more interesting and more diverse than being a generic baseline for the analysis of 'big talk' in specific situations. The ritualised character of conversation openings and closings is only apparent through detailed micro-analysis, but the variability of mini-rituals of small talk is apparent only when we closely examine many different sociolinguistic environments. A recurrent trend in feminist sociolinguistics has been to invest talk which is primarily geared towards 'communion' and the fulfilment of social goals, rather than in pursuit of 'task' or instrumental or transactional goals, with positive communicative. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
