Discourse of Silence

Discourse of Silence Synopsis

The book deals initially with the interpretation of the silent answer to a question. From a semiotic approach to the contrast between silence and speech mainly within a Greimasian framework, the discussion turns to the application of pragmatic tools such as conversational analysis and adjacency pairs to the interpretation of silence. A model is presented which attempts to explain the observer's cognitive competence, and its limits, in being able to interpret the silent answer. A basic distinction is also made between intentional silence (the refusal to answer) and non-intentional silence (the psychological inability to answer). The interpretation of silence is extended from a theoretical viewpoint to an analysis of various discourse types. Firstly, silence in the legal world: the accused's and the witness's right of silence, the right of legal authorities to silence the broadcasting of direct speech. The author then analyzes the silencing of characters in a literary text (Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice ), in a biblical text (Moses and his speech impediment in Exodus), in opera (Moses' silence in Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron ) and in the cinema. Here, after the initial discussion of Ingmar Bergman's The Silence , focus is shifted to the generation gap and the representation of silence by song in Mike Nichols' The Graduate .