从语用学视角试析沉默现象及其文化差异
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摘要
沉默,同言说一样,是人类交际的手段之一,两者在本质上都是一种符号。但是长期以来,沉默现象一直被人们所忽视,并赋予了贬义—言语的缺乏,亦即交际的缺乏。然而沉默和言语共同实现了人类交际。有声语用是人类交流的重要手段,而无声语言也能传达着丰富的信息,甚至是有声语言无法表达的内容。Birdwhistell (1970)在广泛的调查研究的基础上得出结论：人们在社会交往中高达65%-70%的信息是通过无声语言获得的,有声语言传递的信息只占30%-35%。作为非语言交流手段之一的沉默(Silence),依据不同的情景,场合以及千差万别的社会文化规约,意义生动活泼,丰富多彩；于其千篇一律的形式而言,可谓“风景这边独好”。
对沉默的研究涉及社会学,人类学,语言学,心理学,哲学,美学等多种学科的综合运用。吸引着众多研究者的注意力。传统研究试图对沉默做出比较全面的定义并确定其在不同情况下的表现。语用学家比较关注沉默的交际功能,指出沉默的内在间接性决定了格莱斯的合作原则足以理解所有的沉默形式。语用学研究说话人如何说话及听话人如何理解话语,语用学与心理认知,社会文化有着千丝万缕的联系。认知学家在格莱斯的关联准则的基础上结合斯帕伯和威尔逊的关联理论对沉默进行研究,认为沉默与特定语境似乎缺少关联因而获得较小的语境效果。
本文通过综合运用语用学的相关理论,如话语分析理论,合作原则,礼貌原则,关联理论等,主要研究在具体的语境中如何理解沉默的涵义,同时也进一步验证了语用学的强大的解释力。
对于学习英语语言学的学生来说,最重要的便是把所学的语言学理论付诸于日常交流中。虽然人们的关注焦点多聚集于言语交流,作为交流方式之一的非语言行为也不容忽视。沉默是作为一种有效的交际策略,值得我们进行深入的研究,因为不管是在日常生活中还是在课堂教育等具体的实际环境当中对沉默的有效运用和理解都能促进交际,从而达到交流得目的,正确的理解这些信息将有助于增加交流的有效性。
然而,在不同的地区,不同的文化中,人们对“沉默”的看法也太不相同。总的来讲,东方人比西方人更经常使用沉默,更懂的其中的意义,更了解其重要性。在商业谈判上,在课堂上和日常生活中,我们都能找到不少的例子来证明这一观点。造成沉默在东西方意义不同的主要原因是它们不同的历史背景和不同的文化情境。为了在跨文化交际的过程中不产生误解,我们应该深入地了解沉默在东西方文化中的不同意义,并在交际过程中努力的习惯对方的交际习惯和说话方式,采取适当的交际行为以更好的促进跨文化交流,这也是本文的研究目的和实际意义所在。
全文共分六章。第一章即引言,首先介绍了本文的研究目的和意义,还有本文的研究范围。第二章从不同的角度回顾了国内外学者对沉默的研究现状,以便对沉默有一个大概的了解。第三章给出了研究沉默现象的一些必备基础知识,例如,定义,分类以及沉默与言语二者之间的密切关系。第四章也是本文的重点章节,引入相关的语用学理论如会话分析,合作原则,礼貌原则以及作为认知理论的关联理论。通过结合这些理论框架,使我们对沉默现象有了更加深刻全面的认识。第五章是将沉默现象与文化差异相结合,主要是东方与西方文化的对比分析,因而为了减少跨文化之间的摩擦与误解,我们有必要积极的了解文化差异,促进跨文化交流的有效性。第六章也是最后一章是本文的总结,以及认识到一些不足之处,同时提出一些对未来研究的建议和意见。
Just like speech, silence is also one of the mediums of human communication. Silence and speech are both signs in essence. But silence has traditionally long stayed out-of-awareness and been defined negatively—as merely the absence of speech, thus as absence of communication. It is the combination of silence and speech that realizes the human communication. Verbal language is an important way to communicate. At the same time, silence, a main act of nonverbal communication, can convey rich meanings, depending on situations, contextual and social-cultural norms of interpretation. Birdwhistell (1970) pointed out that 60%-70% information of our daily communication is conveyed by nonverbal language, and 30%-35% information depends on verbal language.
Silence has long enjoyed popularity among the scholars of various fields. Studies on silence have been carried out from sociology, anthropology, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, and esthetics points of view. The traditional research attempts to formulate an extended, ultimate definition and identify how it works under varied conditions. The pragmatic research concentrates on its communicative functions and argues that Grice's Principle (CP) is the whole story for its interpretation since silence violates the maxims. The cognitive research holds that silence seems to be irrelevant to the given context in light of Grice's maxim of relevance, and hence have very weak contextual effects. Thus, in order to provide a rather-new perspectives to explore the power of silence in human communication, such profound pragmatic principles as the Conversational Analysis, Grice's Cooperative Principle, Leech's Politeness Principle, as well as Sperber & Wilson's Relevance Theory are applied respectively.
For students of English and linguistic, it is very important to apply linguistic theories to daily communication. Though most of people's attention focuses on verbal communication, nonverbal language as a means of exchange should not be ignored. With its high position in the total framework of human communication, silence, along with its strategic uses and functions, merits to be studied. So correct understanding of these signals will help people improve effectiveness of communication.
However, in different areas and different cultures, people value silence in a totally different way. Generally speaking, eastern people use it more frequently, understand it more easily, and sometimes value it as being more important. We can find many examples in business negotiations, classrooms, and in daily life. This is mostly because of the different histories and the cultural-contexts of eastern and western culture. In order to avoid misunderstanding each other in international communication, people should pay more attention to the differences about silence and try to get used to other people's speaking habits and customs, and we should take appropriate action to make our international communication more effectively, which is just the purpose and practical significance of the thesis.
The thesis consists of six chapters. The first part introduces the phenomenon of silence, and sketches out the thesis about its aim, scope and significance. The second part gives a literature review of silence, which discusses different perspectives of silence from aboard and at home. The third part provides a basic knowledge of silence which deals with the notion by defining it, giving classification and discussing the relationship between silence and speech. The four part, as the most important one, introduces some related theories such as:conversation analysis, cooperative principle, politeness principle and relevance theory to increase our understanding of silence phenomenon in a broad and comprehensive perspectives. The five part is the combination of silence phenomenon and cultural difference, mainly discusses the cultural difference between eastern and western culture. In order to lessen the misunderstanding and conflict and improve effective interaction in international communication, we should know more about silence and cultural difference. The six part, that is last chapter, summarizes the whole thesis and states the deficiency of the study, at the same time, it put forward further suggestions in order to stimulate further research on the topic.
对沉默的研究涉及社会学,人类学,语言学,心理学,哲学,美学等多种学科的综合运用。吸引着众多研究者的注意力。传统研究试图对沉默做出比较全面的定义并确定其在不同情况下的表现。语用学家比较关注沉默的交际功能,指出沉默的内在间接性决定了格莱斯的合作原则足以理解所有的沉默形式。语用学研究说话人如何说话及听话人如何理解话语,语用学与心理认知,社会文化有着千丝万缕的联系。认知学家在格莱斯的关联准则的基础上结合斯帕伯和威尔逊的关联理论对沉默进行研究,认为沉默与特定语境似乎缺少关联因而获得较小的语境效果。
本文通过综合运用语用学的相关理论,如话语分析理论,合作原则,礼貌原则,关联理论等,主要研究在具体的语境中如何理解沉默的涵义,同时也进一步验证了语用学的强大的解释力。
对于学习英语语言学的学生来说,最重要的便是把所学的语言学理论付诸于日常交流中。虽然人们的关注焦点多聚集于言语交流,作为交流方式之一的非语言行为也不容忽视。沉默是作为一种有效的交际策略,值得我们进行深入的研究,因为不管是在日常生活中还是在课堂教育等具体的实际环境当中对沉默的有效运用和理解都能促进交际,从而达到交流得目的,正确的理解这些信息将有助于增加交流的有效性。
然而,在不同的地区,不同的文化中,人们对“沉默”的看法也太不相同。总的来讲,东方人比西方人更经常使用沉默,更懂的其中的意义,更了解其重要性。在商业谈判上,在课堂上和日常生活中,我们都能找到不少的例子来证明这一观点。造成沉默在东西方意义不同的主要原因是它们不同的历史背景和不同的文化情境。为了在跨文化交际的过程中不产生误解,我们应该深入地了解沉默在东西方文化中的不同意义,并在交际过程中努力的习惯对方的交际习惯和说话方式,采取适当的交际行为以更好的促进跨文化交流,这也是本文的研究目的和实际意义所在。
全文共分六章。第一章即引言,首先介绍了本文的研究目的和意义,还有本文的研究范围。第二章从不同的角度回顾了国内外学者对沉默的研究现状,以便对沉默有一个大概的了解。第三章给出了研究沉默现象的一些必备基础知识,例如,定义,分类以及沉默与言语二者之间的密切关系。第四章也是本文的重点章节,引入相关的语用学理论如会话分析,合作原则,礼貌原则以及作为认知理论的关联理论。通过结合这些理论框架,使我们对沉默现象有了更加深刻全面的认识。第五章是将沉默现象与文化差异相结合,主要是东方与西方文化的对比分析,因而为了减少跨文化之间的摩擦与误解,我们有必要积极的了解文化差异,促进跨文化交流的有效性。第六章也是最后一章是本文的总结,以及认识到一些不足之处,同时提出一些对未来研究的建议和意见。
Just like speech, silence is also one of the mediums of human communication. Silence and speech are both signs in essence. But silence has traditionally long stayed out-of-awareness and been defined negatively—as merely the absence of speech, thus as absence of communication. It is the combination of silence and speech that realizes the human communication. Verbal language is an important way to communicate. At the same time, silence, a main act of nonverbal communication, can convey rich meanings, depending on situations, contextual and social-cultural norms of interpretation. Birdwhistell (1970) pointed out that 60%-70% information of our daily communication is conveyed by nonverbal language, and 30%-35% information depends on verbal language.
Silence has long enjoyed popularity among the scholars of various fields. Studies on silence have been carried out from sociology, anthropology, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, and esthetics points of view. The traditional research attempts to formulate an extended, ultimate definition and identify how it works under varied conditions. The pragmatic research concentrates on its communicative functions and argues that Grice's Principle (CP) is the whole story for its interpretation since silence violates the maxims. The cognitive research holds that silence seems to be irrelevant to the given context in light of Grice's maxim of relevance, and hence have very weak contextual effects. Thus, in order to provide a rather-new perspectives to explore the power of silence in human communication, such profound pragmatic principles as the Conversational Analysis, Grice's Cooperative Principle, Leech's Politeness Principle, as well as Sperber & Wilson's Relevance Theory are applied respectively.
For students of English and linguistic, it is very important to apply linguistic theories to daily communication. Though most of people's attention focuses on verbal communication, nonverbal language as a means of exchange should not be ignored. With its high position in the total framework of human communication, silence, along with its strategic uses and functions, merits to be studied. So correct understanding of these signals will help people improve effectiveness of communication.
However, in different areas and different cultures, people value silence in a totally different way. Generally speaking, eastern people use it more frequently, understand it more easily, and sometimes value it as being more important. We can find many examples in business negotiations, classrooms, and in daily life. This is mostly because of the different histories and the cultural-contexts of eastern and western culture. In order to avoid misunderstanding each other in international communication, people should pay more attention to the differences about silence and try to get used to other people's speaking habits and customs, and we should take appropriate action to make our international communication more effectively, which is just the purpose and practical significance of the thesis.
The thesis consists of six chapters. The first part introduces the phenomenon of silence, and sketches out the thesis about its aim, scope and significance. The second part gives a literature review of silence, which discusses different perspectives of silence from aboard and at home. The third part provides a basic knowledge of silence which deals with the notion by defining it, giving classification and discussing the relationship between silence and speech. The four part, as the most important one, introduces some related theories such as:conversation analysis, cooperative principle, politeness principle and relevance theory to increase our understanding of silence phenomenon in a broad and comprehensive perspectives. The five part is the combination of silence phenomenon and cultural difference, mainly discusses the cultural difference between eastern and western culture. In order to lessen the misunderstanding and conflict and improve effective interaction in international communication, we should know more about silence and cultural difference. The six part, that is last chapter, summarizes the whole thesis and states the deficiency of the study, at the same time, it put forward further suggestions in order to stimulate further research on the topic.
引文
Adam Jaworski, Itesh Sachadev. M.(1998). Beliefs about Silence in the Classroom. Foreign Language Press,173-288.
Blimes, J. M.(1994). "Constituting Silence:Life in the World of Total Meaning". Semiotica,73-87.
Brown, Penelope and Stephen, Levinson. M.(1978).Universals in Language and Usage:Politeness Phenomenon. Questions and Politeness, ed, by Esther Goody. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,56-289.
Bauman, Richard. M.(1974). Speaking in the light:The Role of the Quaker Minister. Explorations in the Ethnography of. Speaking, eds. By Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer. New York:Cambridge University Press.
Birdwhistell, R. L.M.(1970). Kinesics and Context. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press.
Brown, P.& S. Levinson M.(1987). Politeness:Some universals in language usage. Cambridge, JK:Cambridge University Press.
Bruneau, T. J.(1973). Communicative Silences:Forms and Functions. The Journal of Communication 23:17-46.
Basso, K. H.J. (1970). "To give up on words":Silence in Western Aache culture. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 26(3) 213-230. Quoted from D. Tannen and M. Saville-Troike (eds.)
Brown, G & G Yule.M.(2000). Discourse Analysis. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research, London:Cambridge University Press.
Crown, C. L.& Feldstein M.(1985). Psychological Correlates of Silence and Sound in Conversational Interaction. In D. Tannen & M. Saville-Troike (Eds.), Perspectives on Silence.
English and Modern Chinese Versions authored(compiled and edited by John, Vicente, William and Jose.) M.(1997). The Confucian Bible by Coufucius [M] World Affairs Press, p57.
E. T. Hall & M. R. Hall, M.(1990). Understanding Cultures Differences[M] Germans, French and Americans Yarmouth, ME:Intercultural Press,7.
Enninger, W. (1991). Focus on silence across cultures. International Communication Studies,1(1),1-37.
Grice, H. P. M.(1975). Logic and Conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and Semantics 3:Speech Acts. NY:Academic Press.
Grice, H.P. M.(1975). Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard University Press.
Gudykunst, W. B.& Kim, Y. Y. (2003). Communicating with Strangers. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Hall, Edward.(1959). The Silent Language. New York:Doubleday.
Jaworski, Adam. M. (1993). The Power of Silence:Social and Pragmatic Perspectives. Newbury Park, CA:Sage.
Jaworski,A. (ed.) M.(1997). Silence:Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Berlin; New York:Mouton de Gruyter.
Jaworski, A.& Stephens, D. (1998). Self-reports on silence as a face-saving strategy by people with hearing impairment. International Journal of Applied Linguistics,8 (1),61-80.
Jensenm J. Vernon. J.(1973). Communicative functions of silence. ETC:A Review of General Semantics (30):249-257. Quoted from Duston Emma Munoz and Judith Kaplan.1985. A sampling of Sources on silence. In D. Tannen and M. Saville-Troike (eds.). (1985):238-239.
Levinson, Stephen C.(1989). A Review of Relevance. Journal of Linguistics, (25):455-472.
Levinson, (2001).S.C. Pragmatics. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, London:Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Leech, Geoffrey N. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. London:Longman.
Maria. Sifianou (1997). Silence and Politeness. In Adam Jaworski(ed.) 63.
Saville-Troike, Muriel.M.(1985). The Place of Silence in an Integrated Theory of Communication. Perspectives on Silence, eds. By Deborah Tannen & Muriel Saville-Troike. Norwood, NJ:Ablex,3-18
Sperber, D.&Wilson, D.(2001). Relevance:Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, (1986).
Sperber, Dan & Wilson, Deirdre. J.(1987). Response toMorgan and Green. Behavioral and Brain Science,10(2):746-747.
Sack, H. Schegloff, E.& G Jefferson M.(1974). A Simplest Systematic for Organization of Turn-taking in Conversation. Language 50:696-735.
Saville-Troike, M.(1982). The Ethnography of Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.—(1985).The place of silence in an integrated theory of communication. In D. Rannen and M. Saville-Trovike (eds.).3-17.
Saville-Troike, M.(1985). The Place of Silence in an Integrated Theory of Communication. In D. Tannen & M. Saville-Troike (Eds.), perspectives on Silence. Norwood, NJ:Ablex.
Samovar, L.A.& Porter, R.E.& Stefani, L.A. (1998). Communication between Cultures. New York:Wadsworth Publishing Co.
Tannen, Deborah. M.(1985) Silence:Anything But. Perspectives on Silence,eds. By Deborah Tannen & Muriel Saville-Troike. Norwood, NJ:Ablex,93-109.
Tarone, E. (1980). Communication strategies, foreigner talk and repair in inter-language. Language Learning 30:417-431.
Taylor, I & Taylor, N.N. (1990). Psycholinguistics:Learning and Using Language. Prentice-Hall International, Inc.
The Bible (Today's English Version) M.(1981). United Bible Societies,1-200.
Wayne, S.J.(1974). Investigating the American Political System:Problems, methods, and projects. Cambridge, Mass.:Schenkman Pub.Co..
Zuo Yan. M.(1985)." Conversational Silence:a Functional Approach". Paper presented at ISFC22. Beijing:University.
姜望琪.当代语用学[M]北京：北京大学出版社,2003.
汪曾祺,《汪曾祺小说选》[M]中国文学出版社,1999。
宋莉,沉默中的不同“声音”---静默与跨文化浅析,《外语学刊》[J]第1期：1998,56-59。
杨平,沉默的语用功能和文化内涵,《山东外语教学》[J]第2期：1996,72-76。
杨平,非语言交际评述,《外语教学与研究》[J]第3期1996,1-6。
左岩.英语会话中沉默的研究.[M]外国语言学,1996(2)：13-21
Blimes, J. M.(1994). "Constituting Silence:Life in the World of Total Meaning". Semiotica,73-87.
Brown, Penelope and Stephen, Levinson. M.(1978).Universals in Language and Usage:Politeness Phenomenon. Questions and Politeness, ed, by Esther Goody. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,56-289.
Bauman, Richard. M.(1974). Speaking in the light:The Role of the Quaker Minister. Explorations in the Ethnography of. Speaking, eds. By Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer. New York:Cambridge University Press.
Birdwhistell, R. L.M.(1970). Kinesics and Context. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press.
Brown, P.& S. Levinson M.(1987). Politeness:Some universals in language usage. Cambridge, JK:Cambridge University Press.
Bruneau, T. J.(1973). Communicative Silences:Forms and Functions. The Journal of Communication 23:17-46.
Basso, K. H.J. (1970). "To give up on words":Silence in Western Aache culture. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 26(3) 213-230. Quoted from D. Tannen and M. Saville-Troike (eds.)
Brown, G & G Yule.M.(2000). Discourse Analysis. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research, London:Cambridge University Press.
Crown, C. L.& Feldstein M.(1985). Psychological Correlates of Silence and Sound in Conversational Interaction. In D. Tannen & M. Saville-Troike (Eds.), Perspectives on Silence.
English and Modern Chinese Versions authored(compiled and edited by John, Vicente, William and Jose.) M.(1997). The Confucian Bible by Coufucius [M] World Affairs Press, p57.
E. T. Hall & M. R. Hall, M.(1990). Understanding Cultures Differences[M] Germans, French and Americans Yarmouth, ME:Intercultural Press,7.
Enninger, W. (1991). Focus on silence across cultures. International Communication Studies,1(1),1-37.
Grice, H. P. M.(1975). Logic and Conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and Semantics 3:Speech Acts. NY:Academic Press.
Grice, H.P. M.(1975). Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard University Press.
Gudykunst, W. B.& Kim, Y. Y. (2003). Communicating with Strangers. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Hall, Edward.(1959). The Silent Language. New York:Doubleday.
Jaworski, Adam. M. (1993). The Power of Silence:Social and Pragmatic Perspectives. Newbury Park, CA:Sage.
Jaworski,A. (ed.) M.(1997). Silence:Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Berlin; New York:Mouton de Gruyter.
Jaworski, A.& Stephens, D. (1998). Self-reports on silence as a face-saving strategy by people with hearing impairment. International Journal of Applied Linguistics,8 (1),61-80.
Jensenm J. Vernon. J.(1973). Communicative functions of silence. ETC:A Review of General Semantics (30):249-257. Quoted from Duston Emma Munoz and Judith Kaplan.1985. A sampling of Sources on silence. In D. Tannen and M. Saville-Troike (eds.). (1985):238-239.
Levinson, Stephen C.(1989). A Review of Relevance. Journal of Linguistics, (25):455-472.
Levinson, (2001).S.C. Pragmatics. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, London:Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Leech, Geoffrey N. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. London:Longman.
Maria. Sifianou (1997). Silence and Politeness. In Adam Jaworski(ed.) 63.
Saville-Troike, Muriel.M.(1985). The Place of Silence in an Integrated Theory of Communication. Perspectives on Silence, eds. By Deborah Tannen & Muriel Saville-Troike. Norwood, NJ:Ablex,3-18
Sperber, D.&Wilson, D.(2001). Relevance:Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, (1986).
Sperber, Dan & Wilson, Deirdre. J.(1987). Response toMorgan and Green. Behavioral and Brain Science,10(2):746-747.
Sack, H. Schegloff, E.& G Jefferson M.(1974). A Simplest Systematic for Organization of Turn-taking in Conversation. Language 50:696-735.
Saville-Troike, M.(1982). The Ethnography of Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.—(1985).The place of silence in an integrated theory of communication. In D. Rannen and M. Saville-Trovike (eds.).3-17.
Saville-Troike, M.(1985). The Place of Silence in an Integrated Theory of Communication. In D. Tannen & M. Saville-Troike (Eds.), perspectives on Silence. Norwood, NJ:Ablex.
Samovar, L.A.& Porter, R.E.& Stefani, L.A. (1998). Communication between Cultures. New York:Wadsworth Publishing Co.
Tannen, Deborah. M.(1985) Silence:Anything But. Perspectives on Silence,eds. By Deborah Tannen & Muriel Saville-Troike. Norwood, NJ:Ablex,93-109.
Tarone, E. (1980). Communication strategies, foreigner talk and repair in inter-language. Language Learning 30:417-431.
Taylor, I & Taylor, N.N. (1990). Psycholinguistics:Learning and Using Language. Prentice-Hall International, Inc.
The Bible (Today's English Version) M.(1981). United Bible Societies,1-200.
Wayne, S.J.(1974). Investigating the American Political System:Problems, methods, and projects. Cambridge, Mass.:Schenkman Pub.Co..
Zuo Yan. M.(1985)." Conversational Silence:a Functional Approach". Paper presented at ISFC22. Beijing:University.
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