The Meaning of Silence and its Functions in Politics

Abstract

This study deals with one of the essential topics in English linguistics and politics silence, which plays a significant role in politics given the numerous functions it serves. Particularly, it examines and analyses the meaning and function of silence of some well-known current politicians, namely former US presidents, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The rationale behind this choice stems from that these political figures tend to have silent pauses for particular purposes such as disagreement, and insulting. Drawing on Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's "Spiral of Silence" paradigm and van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis, this study also seeks to answer the following main question: what types of silence can be deduced from former US presidents and how can we explain silence from this and other perspectives. It also reviews the interpretation of silence in different contexts and discusses the functions and types of this concept. Results this study has obtained from analysing the data show that silence can showcase a range of categories of communicative functions. This study presents evidence for a number of functions that can be conveyed by the use of silence in speech in political discourse. These include face-saving, affecting, evaluating and linking. Results also suggest that since speakers (politicians) do not identify specific victims by name, they may want to achieve victim equity. This is due to the possibility that bringing up a certain name could bring up issues related to race, religion, politics, etc. Additionally, a speaker could appear depressed while attempting to avoid mentioning the name of a certain family member. As a result, that family’s sorrow can deepen.