Open Access

Mihaela Parpalea

• Each language has its own silence, which is a mirror; one gets to see in it that the unsaid is not uttered. The fact that people from different cultures understand one another is not self-evident. Practice shows that understanding does not run smoothly. The way cultures can understand other cultures is to be pointed out with the help of conversation as the prototype of language use, as the source of all uses of language. The present article deals with silence in communication. He who is silent imparts something as well and the others react to it. They react differently, depending on the situation, on individually and culturally determined contexts. Words and silence are all of communicative nature. They influence people, who react to them. Every instance of communication contains a piece of information and reference to the communication partners. Each linguistic exchange involves a cultural exchange, and consists of the contribution of speaker and listener to the linguistic utterances, of the turn-taking of speakers. Silence can more precisely be defined in a conversation as ‘meaningful silence’ or as ‘the act of falling silent’, as ‘quietness’.