28 января 2017г.
The aim of this research is to study the phenomenon of silence and its pragmatic meanings which include the break of behavior stereotype, intentional opposition, as well a manifestation of a tactful attitude to the speaker in situations involving death or related to death circumstances. The phenomenon of silence in linguistics is often regarded as the description of the zero communication act. It is also studied as a motive widely used in literary and poetic texts where it functions as a necessary background to word.
Approaching the problem of silence from linguistic point of view N.Arutnyunova considers this phenomenon as the description of the zero speech act and claims that the pragmatics of silence is different from the pragmatic meaning of any other utterance as the expression “to keep silent” (or derivatives) is used when the behavior stereotype has been questioned. As non-standard behavior is the result of a conscious decision, silence is normally a controlled choice of action. Its deviation from the norm is represented in the semantics of expressions such as “to be silent”, “to keep silent”, etc. (Arutyunova, 1994: 106-116). If we consider the definition of the English expression “to be silent”, we see that it means “not speaking, not uttering or making any sound” (The Сoncise Oxford Dictionary). The analysis of examples of English texts shows that a common pragmatic meaning of silence is a conscious participation in this or that opposition:… an American woman tried to sit here the other night with bare shoulders and they drove her away by coming to stare at her, quite silently; they were like circling gulls coming back and back to her until she left (Brideshead: 59-60). In this example English aristocrats (the participants of the situation) made the American woman leave the hall as her shoulders were bare. They did it only by way of looking at her, in silence.
Silence often shows the opposing attitude to the situation that the participant can’t express directly (whether it is an opinion different from the common one, hidden restatement of one’s identity or the feeling of offence). In the majority of cases the participant could verbalize the opinion different from the one he believes in. Therefore in such cases there is a clash between the speaker’s intention, illocutionary force of the utterance and what the participant of the situation actually says: “I am told, Miss Woodruff, that you are always to be seen in the same places when you go out. Sarah looked down before the accusing eyes. "You look to sea." Still Sarah was silent. "I am satisfied that you are in a state of repentance. Indeed I cannot believe that you should be anything else in your present circumstances." Sarah took her cue. “I am grateful to you” (Fowles: 27). In this example Sara, the main character of the novel French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles keeps silent as a reaction to the accusations of being seen by the sea shore waiting for the lieutenant. Sara speaks out words of gratitude yet her utterance is coined by the author as ‘a cue’ thus showing that there is a difference between the participant’s words and her thoughts.
Silence does not always relate to the opposition, it could be realized in the text as a sign of respect. In English speaking cultural context silence could accompany everything which is related to death, church or religious traditions, spiritual purity, etc.: Miss Kenton was still standing out in the hall where I had first spotted her. As I emerged, she walked silently towards the staircase, a curious lack of urgency in her manner. Then she turned and said: "Mr Stevens, I'm very sorry. Your father passed away about four minutes ago." "I see." (Ishiguro: 79). The main character of the novel Remains of the Day by Ishiguro is telling her interlocutor about his father death before saying that she walks silently.
Silence and quietness are two different notions. Quietness is a natural phenomenon which is applied to the study of man. Silence is a human phenomenon applied to the natural world. Silence is a sign with its own meaning. Quietness is not a sign and the meaning of it comes from accompanying sources. Emptiness is another notion similar to silence and quietness and could have negative connotations. Quietness and emptiness are related to something less definite or precise than silence. In the English language the notion of quietness could be realized by lexemes “quite”, “quietly”, etc. The definition given to the lexeme “quiet” by The Concise Oxford Dictionary is “with little, or no sound or motion”. Very often the actualization of the notion quietness has the meaning of “being at peace and being calm”.
The contrast between the notion of sound and that of silence is realized in literary texts when the author describes the inner state of the character. Then a metaphorical meaning of silence is often expressed: … The great paved jaws of the bridge had been opened to let through an invisible fog-bent boat. I heard the clang of the bell and the slow clatter of the bridge on its huge chains. I thought I heard drumming, drumming, footsteps marching in dead motion to the Tower. I could see the thin grills fixed in the thick stone. Did I see a face? (Winterson: 16). The metaphor is realized in the text as the musical instrument is related to the human body, in a similar fashion the abundance of noises and sounds is opposed to silence. The author talks about London and describes the sounds he hears, those that could be heard against the background of silence (I heard the clang of the bell and the slow clatter of the bridge on its huge chains. I thought I heard drumming, drumming, footsteps marching in dead motion to the Tower).
The analysis of examples has revealed that when the contrast between sound and silence, noise and silence is realized in the text, then a special attention is paid to the smallest almost minuscular detail of sound and its transformations, such as echo-elements, for example. Special attention is paid to punctuation marks, intervals between words, rhythmic deformations and pauses. This tendency, widely observed in post-avant-garde music (Lavrova, 2013), is widely common for prosaic as well as poetic texts when the notion of silence is used as a motive and text organizing pattern:
Words move, music moves
Only in time; but that which is only living Can only die. Words, after speech, reach
Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach
The stillness, as a Chinese jar still
Moves perpetually in its stillness (T.S. Eliot 1994)
In this fragment T.S Eliot is describing the way to God the character is undertaking. The motives of speech and music are related and mingled together. The author is using a great number of sound transformations, tch – elements, echo repetitions, as well as the opposition pairs of sounds (stillness, still, Chinese). The realization of the silence motive is realized through the description of the inner state of the character and a thorough manifestation of the accompanying sounds the main hero is hearing and observing (including their metaphorical meaning realization).
To sum up, silence is a powerful participant in communication. It is studied as a zero speech act and its pragmatic meaning could include that of opposition, respect, mourning, humility. Its realization could be the result of an indirect speech act. When the motive of silence or quietness is realized in prosaic and poetic texts it is often accompanied by the description of sounds and noises when it takes metaphorical meanings. The motive of silence helps to reveal the feelings of the lyrical characters’ inner self.
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