The Functions of Silence

Journal of Pragmatics (v.40-11)
by Michal Ephratt

Abstract:

The roles of eloquent silence in each of the six functions of language in Roman Jakobson's communicative model (1960) are considered. First, pause, being outside language, is differentiated from (eloquent) silence, a means chosen by the speaker for significant verbal communication alongside speech; it is not the listener's silence nor the silencing of the speaker. Linguistic and non-linguistic contributions to the study of eloquent silence are then briefly reviewed. Next, the roles of eloquent silence in Jakobson's model are analyzed. (Eloquent) silence, as a linguistic sign, conveys information in the referential function (zero-sign and passive constructions); it is an iconic affective way of expressing emotions (e.g., emptiness, intimacy) in the emotive function. In respect of the conative function, (eloquent) silence performs direct and indirect speech acts. Caesura, metaphors and ellipses are just a few examples of poetic silence. Silence is a means of maintaining contact and alliance in the phatic function. The various roles of silence in the metalinguistic function range from its being a discourse marker to reflecting the ‘right to silence’.

This one comes from our "I never thought about that, but now that I have I wished that I hadn't" dept. How awesome is this? A whole paper in the Journal of Pragmatics that's simply about the use of silence in discourse! Boy, I wish that I had that kind of time: To spend a few weeks thinking about the times that we shut up rather than when we're talking and then to do some research, write out an article, send it to a journal etc.

I bet most linguists forget that there is a communicative purpose to silence. I think we oughtn't because it might provide some useful CV padding.

I think, if I'm ever crazy enough to work in syntax, I'm going to attempt to create a theory of syntactic structure which incorporates deliberate pauses. I will not call these pauses overt null elements. But their leaf nodes will be labeled with a lower case 'p'.