DISCOURSE OF SILENCE -- Editorial page -- Title page -- Dedication -- Copyright page -- Table of contents -- PREFACE -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter One. The Semiotics of Silence -- 1. Silence as a sign -- 2. Silence and non-verbal communication -- 3. Survey of research on silence -- 4. Review of book -- Chapter Two. The Modality of Silence -- 1. Question-answer adjacency pair -- 2. Unintentional silence -- 3. Knowledge and ability -- 4. The basic model of silence -- 5. The interpretation process -- Chapter Three. The Transitivization of Silence: Legal Discourse -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Silence in Anglo-American criminal proceedings -- 3. Changes in the law on the right of silence -- 4. Silence in French and Israeli law -- 5. Talmudic discussions of silent legal parties -- 6. Transitivization of silence and reported speech -- Chapter Four. The Silence and Silencing of Darcy -- 1. Authorial power -- 2. The Netherfield ball scene -- 3. "So easy a distance -- Chapter Five. The Silence and Silencing of Moses -- 1. The textual status of Exodus -- 2. The revelation and its aftermath -- 3. From uncircumcised to circumcised lips -- 4. Moses' anger -- 5. Schoenberg's Moses und Aron -- 6. Silence and music -- Chapter Six. The Sounds of Silence -- 1. Silence and Bergman's The Silence -- 2. The generation gap -- 3. Silence and song in The Graduate -- 4. Local music -- 5. Benjamin's silence -- POSTSCRIPT -- Notes -- APPENDIX I -- APPENDIX II -- APPENDIX III -- Bibliography -- Indexes.

The book deals initially with the interpretation of the silent answer to a question. From a semiotic approach to the contrast between silence and speech mainly within a Greimasian framework, the discussion turns to the application of pragmatic tools such as conversational analysis and adjacency pairs to the interpretation of silence. A model is presented which attempts to explain the observer's cognitive competence, and its limits, in being able to interpret the silent answer. A basic distinction is also made between intentional silence (the refusal to answer) and non-intentional silence (the psychological inability to answer).The interpretation of silence is extended from a theoretical viewpoint to an analysis of various discourse types. Firstly, silence in the legal world: the accused's and the witness's right of silence, the right of legal authorities to silence the broadcasting of direct speech. The author then analyzes the silencing of characters in a literary text (Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice), in a biblical text (Moses and his speech impediment in Exodus), in opera (Moses' silence in Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron) and in the cinema. Here, after the initial discussion of Ingmar Bergman's The Silence, focus is shifted to the generation gap and the representation of silence by song in Mike Nichols' The Graduate.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.