Conversational silence, reconsidered

Klieber, Anna 2024. Conversational silence, reconsidered. Theoria 90 (6) , pp. 652-668. 10.1111/theo.12566

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Abstract

In “Conversational Pressure. Normativity in Speech Exchanges” (2020), Sanford Goldberg discusses the significance of conversational silence, arguing that, absent certain defeating conditions, we have a general entitlement to assume that somebody who remains silent in a conversation doesn’t reject what was said. Call this “No-Silent-Rejection” (NSR). I reconsider Goldberg’s account of conversational silence by arguing that silence cannot be explained via a universal claim like NSR: I show that there are at least some examples where, absent defeating conditions, silence doesn’t communicate assent - argue that my account of silent conversational implicature can meet and better capture the complexity of silences.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0495-4548
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 October 2024
Date of Acceptance:	10 September 2024
Last Modified:	21 Jan 2025 12:27
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/172351

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