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Sperber and Wilson (1986, 1995) claim that it is possible to deal with all ostensive communication behaviors within the framework of Relevance Theory. Ostensive-inferential communication refers to the one in which a speaker is aware of having the intention to convey to a hearer and a hearer infers that intention. According to Sperber and Wilson, not only verbal but also non-verbal behaviors should be included in ostensive-inferential communication. On the other hand, Kihlstrom (1999) claims that implicit emotion affects people's behavior independent of his/her conscious awareness, which means that not all the human behaviors can be attributed to conscious intentions. In other words, there is a type of communication in which a speaker is unconscious of his/her intention. Integrating Sperber and Wilson (1986) and Kihlstrom's (1999) positions, the paper will explain silence from two perspectives: one as cognitive-oriented ostensive-inferential silence and the other as psychological-oriented non-ostensive silence. The functions of silence will be explained from these two perspectives with examples of silence taken from several movie scenes. By being exposed to the varieties of authentic examples in movie scenes, EFL learners will benefit from observing the universal aspects of communication in close relationships between family members. |
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