A Discourse Study of Rhetorical Silence in Persian and English Literature

Silence is a complex phenomenon and embodies diverse concepts. It is not speaking, so it seems the very opposite of language. However, a closer examination of words and speech reveals that silence can also convey various meanings and perform a range of functions. The rhetoric of silence, either lacking or having form, has meaning and function and serves the communication. Its functions and meanings vary according to the context, culture, setting, topic and interlocutors in communication. This study is concerned with the effects and implications of silence in Persian and English languages. It is also aimed to investigate the pragmatic aspect of silence in the literary works of the two languages regardless of their history. In so doing, some cases of silence were derived from the literary works of Zoya Pirzad (1952), a contemporary Persian novelist, and Shakespeare (1564-1616), the English playwright respectively as samples of Persian and English literature. Jacobson’s model of communication (1960) was used as the theoretical framework to identify the functions of cases of silence. The results showed two criteria, one is the cultural and the other is the contextual dependency of silence realization and interpretation which strongly support the pragmatic concept of silence in Persian and English languages. The culture and context specific nature of silence in the given languages is closely linked to such attitude towards the aspects of rhetoric of silence within Persian and English literature.