Are you talking to me?

You Talking To Me? - Taxi Driver 1976 in HD

From Bores, Babblers and Buffoons by JMSMITH

We speak for two reasons. One is to convey information, but what we say is often phatic, meaning that what we say is said to affirm that we are on some sort of “speaking terms” with the one we say it to. If I were to meet you on a sultry street, both of us bearing the sheen and stains of ample sweat, and if I (mopping my brow with a sodden handkerchief) were to observe that the day was a mite warm, the remark would be phatic. Insofar as information goes, this would be “needless to say.”
But I would not be talking about the weather. I would be talking about us.
My remark would serve to acknowledge that I knew you, and that our connection was of the sort were meteorological pleasantries are not out of order. They are neither offensively forward, as they might be if offered to a perfect stranger, nor offensively reserved, as they might be if offered, without embellishment, to a dear friend.
Now there is a portion of our race, predominantly male, who do not understand, and are often intensely irritated by, phatic speech. And there is another portion, predominantly female, who seem not know there is any other kind.

He goes on a little more. The whole thing is pretty great.

Phatic is new to me.

Taxi Driver blew me away when I saw it way back then.

P.S. I eventually realized that emphatic is just phatic with an 'em' tacked on the front. Does this mean they are related?