Das Schweigen - eine verschwiegene Sprachhandlung? Überlegungen aus der Sicht der Kontrastiven Pragmatik

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

  • Peter Colliander
In my paper I shall argue that semiotically silence (i.e. nonverbal acting) like speaking (i.e. verbal acting) offers a way of expressing a speech act. Yet it must be emphasized that silence cannot always be interpreted as a speech act signifier. Thus pauses, intentional or unintentional ones, during the flow of speech and at the end of a turn normally carry no semiotic function. However, whenever silence occurs where speaking is expected, i.e. when verbal and nonverbal acting are forming a paradigm, silence does carry semiotic function. In this case, a clear distinction has to be made between intracultural and intercultural communication situations. In a certain communication situation silence might be intraculturally insignificant, whereas interculturally it might very well be significant and vice-versa. Therefore silence is also of high importance for the didactics of foreign languages.
Translated title of the contributionDet at tie - en fortiet sproghandling?: Set ud fra Kontrastiv Pragmatik
Original languageGerman
Title of host publicationSprachvariation und Sprachreflexion in interkulturellen Kontexten
EditorsCorinna Peschel, Kerstin Runschke
Number of pages13
Place of PublicationFrankfurt a. M.
PublisherPeter Lang
Publication date2015
Pages307-319
ChapterIII
ISBN (Print)978-3-631-65273-2
Publication statusPublished - 2015
SeriesSprache - Kommunikation - Kultur. Soziolinguistische Beiträge
Volume16
ISSN1618-159X

ID: 146449645