Conversational silence and face in two sociocultural contexts

Abstract

This article aims to examine the relation between conversational silence and face and to identify communicative behaviour related to silence in Spanish and German. To this end, I will first briefly explain the concepts of conversation, culture and silence, as well as the concept of face. Second, I will analyse verbal and non-verbal activities of silence in transactional and colloquial conversations in Spanish and German conversation. Perceptions and conceptions of conversational silence rely on the situational context and, especially, on the face of each speech community. Therefore, depending on the social context and the characteristics of face in each culture, silence is considered as forming part of conversation.