Phatic tokens

These are ways of showing status by orienting comments to oneself, to the other, or to the general or prevailing situation (in England this is usually the weather).

• Self-oriented phatic tokens are personal to the speaker: “I'm not up to this” or “My feet are killing me”.
• Other-oriented tokens are related to the hearer: “Do you work here?” or “You seem to know what you're doing”.
• A neutral token refers to the context or general state of affairs: “Cold, isn't it?” or “Lovely flowers”.

A superior shows consideration in an other-oriented token, as when the Queen says to the factory worker: “It must be jolly hard to make one of those”. The inferior might respond with a self-oriented token, like “Hard work, this”. On the surface, there is an exchange of information. In reality there is a suggestion and acceptance of a hierarchy of status. The factory worker would be unlikely to respond with, “Yes, but it's not half as hard as travelling the world, trooping the colour, making a speech at Christmas and dissolving Parliament.”