Taciturn
For the submarine, see HMS Taciturn (P314).
Le Silence (1842-1843), painted plaster sculpture by Antoine-Augustin Préault.
Silence is a relative or total lack of audible sound.
Silence in Social Interaction: Functions, Meanings, and Interpretations
Silence in social interaction is the absence of speech. Silence in this arena can be divided into three categories (Bruneau, 1973): mental, social, or both.
These are defined according to time, context, and perception.
Physiologically, silence is the result of hesitation, stutters, self-correction, or the deliberate slowing of speech for the purpose of clarification or processing of ideas. These are short silences.
Interactive silence occurs in interactive roles, reactive tokens, or turn-taking.
According to cultural norms, silence can be interpreted as positive or negative.
For example, in a Christian Methodist faith organization silence and reflection during the sermons might be appreciated by the congregation, while in a Southern Baptist church, silence might mean disagreement with what is being taught, or perhaps disconnectedness from the congregated community.
Gestures and symbols
No mobile phones are permitted in many designated quiet carriages such as this one on a train operated by First Great Western.
Placing the index finger in front of closed lips is the most widely recognized gesture of silence. The gesture can be used to demand silence without raising one's own voice.
The rose, sometimes depicted clasped by or on top of closed lips, is another well-recognized symbol of silence stemming from various mythologies.
In the Western cultures, it is sometimes difficult to interpret the message being sent by a person being silent (i.e. It can mean anger, hostility, disinterest, or any number of other emotions.
Because of this, people in Western cultures feel uneasy when one party is silent and will usually try their best to fill up the silence with small talk.
The Western Apaches use silence during times of uncertainty or anger in the way most people in Western cultures would be vocal. The goal is to observe and anticipate what the other party is going to do.
In Joy Kogawa's novel Obasan, silence is a symbol of victimization, a sign of the overbearing memories which burden us.
Its characters have been silenced by repression.
In music
Music inherently depends on silence in some form or another to distinguish other periods of sound and allow dynamics, melodies and rhythms to have greater impact. For example, most music scores feature "rests" denoting periods of silence.
Some composers take the use of silence in music to an extreme.
It consists of just over four and a half minutes of silence. Though first performed on the piano, the piece was composed for any instrument or instruments and is structured in three movements.
The title of the piece should reflect the timings chosen, and could therefore be different at every performance. The modern performance tradition of 4′33″ is to keep the total duration fixed as at the first performance.
In debate
Argumentative silence is the rhetorical practice of saying nothing when an opponent in a debate would expect something to be said.
Poorly executed, it can be very offensive, like refusing to answer a direct question. However, well-timed silence can completely throw an opponent and give the debater the upper hand.
An argument from silence (Latin: argumentum ex silentio) is an argument based on the assumption that someone's silence on a matter suggests ("proves" when a logical fallacy) that person's ignorance of the matter.
Violation of the right to quiet enjoyment is a common law tort.
In spirituality
A silent mind, freed from the onslaught of thoughts and thought patterns, is both a goal and an important step in spiritual development. Such "inner silence" is not about the absence of sound; instead, it is understood to bring one in contact with the divine, the ultimate reality, or one's own true self. Many religious traditions imply the importance of being quiet and still in mind and spirit for transformative and integral spiritual growth to occur.
In Buddhism, the descriptions of silence and allowing the mind to become silent are implied as a feature of spiritual enlightenment. In Hinduism, including the teachings of Advaita Vedanta and the many paths of yoga, teachers insist on the importance of silence for inner growth.
A commemorative silence may be held at a workplace, a school, and similar institutions. Sometimes a government will advertise a commemorative silence for a specific period at a specific time, which everybody is encouraged (but not forced) to honor.
One such example is after the events of 9/11, and on its anniversary several years afterward, when many governments around the world announced 3 minutes of silence in respect of the victims of the event.
Effects on humans and animals
Prolonged silence can often affect a person's state of mind, causing them to hear things and talk to themselves to break the silence.