Unsaid
The term unsaid refers what is not explicitly stated, what is hidden and / or implied in the speech of an individual or a group of people.
The unsaid may be the product of intimidation; of a mulling over of thought; or of bafflement in the face of the inexpressible.[1]
Linguistics
Sociolinguistics points out that in normal communication what is left unsaid is as important as what is actually said[2] — that we expect our auditors regularly to fill in the social context/norms of our conversations as we proceed.[3]
Basil Bernstein saw one difference between the restricted code and the elaborated code of speech is that more would be left implicit in the former than the latter.[4]
Ethnology
In ethnology, ethnomethodology established a strong link between unsaid and axiomatic. Harold Garfinkel, following Durkheim, stressed that in any given situation, even a legally binding contract, the terms of agreement rest upon the 90% of unspoken assumptions that underlie the visible (spoken) tip of the interactive iceberg.[5]
Edward T. Hall argued that much cross-cultural miscommunication stemmed from neglect of the silent, unspoken, but differing cultural patterns that each participant unconsciously took for granted.[6]
Psychoanalysis
Luce Irigaray has emphasised the importance of listening to the unsaid dimension of discourse in psychoanalytic practice[7] — something which may shed light on the unconscious phantasies of the analysand.[8]
Other psychotherapies have also emphasised the importance of the non-verbal component of the patient's communication,[9] sometimes privileging this over the verbal content.[10] Behind all such thinking stands Freud's dictum: "no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips...at every pore".[11]
Cultural examples
- Sherlock Holmes is said to have owed his success to his attention to the unsaid in his client's communications.[12]
- In Small World, the heroine cheekily excuses her lack of note-taking to a Sorbonne professor by saying: "it is not what you say that impresses me most, it is what you are silent about: ideas, morality, love, death, things...Vos silences profonds".[13]
See also
References
- ↑ Robyn Brandenberg, Powerful Pedagogy (2008) p. 104
- ↑ R. Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (2011) p. 310
- ↑ J. P. Gee/M. Handforthed., The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis (2013) Ch 10
- ↑ R. Mesthrie, Introducing Sociolinguistics (2009) p. 353
- ↑ A. Giddens, Positivism and Sociology (1974) p. 72
- ↑ Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language (1990) p. vii-viii
- ↑ S. Todd ed., Learning Desire (2013) p. 249
- ↑ M. Edelson, Language and Interpretation in Psychoanalysis (1984) p. 2
- ↑ Eric Berne, What Do You Say After You Say Hello? (1974) p. 314-7
- ↑ Fritz Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim (1970) p. 57-8
- ↑ Quoted in M. Argyle ed., Social Encounters (1973) p. 133
- ↑ Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language (1990) p. 33
- ↑ David Lodge, Small World (1985) p. 265
Further reading
S. L. Olnick, 'Meanings beyond Words', International Review of Psychoanalysis (1982) 9:461-72
External links
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