This volume gathers eighteen specially commissioned papers written by international specialists in linguistics, psychology, discourse and narrative analysis, culture and the arts, ethnography and pragmatics, representing a wide variety of approaches to the phenomenon of communicative silence. Among others, the book asks the following questions: What is the relationship between silence and speech? Is it polite not to speak? Can a person's status be enhanced by not speaking? How do people break taboos about death and dying? Why are some voices silenced and unheard? Why do women not give street directions? How is silence used in ritual communication? Are Finns really silent? How is listenership constructed cross-culturally? Silence in music? Can silence be painted? Can silence be taught? In a truly interdisciplinary approach to its subject, the book offers a view of silence not only from theorists but also from practitioners of silence (e.g., educators and artists). The collection, by its variety and holistic approach, presents a well-rounded picture of the research being done on silence today. Contents Acknowledgements * List of contributors * PART ONE: INTRODUCTORY * Adam Jaworski, Introduction: An overview * Adam Jaworski, Aesthetic, communicative and political silences in Laurie Anderson's performance art * PART TWO: LINGUISTICS AND PRAGMATICS * Wlodzimierz Sobkowiak, Silence and markedness theory * Maria Sifianou, Silence and politeness * PART THREE: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS * Richard J. Watts, Silence and the acquisition of status in verbal interaction * Nikolas Coupland and Justine Coupland, Discourses of the unsayable: Death implicative talk in geriatric medical consultations * PART FOUR: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS * Jeffrey L. Kallen, Silence and revelation in the English traditional ballad * Christopher Hall, Srikant Sarangi and Stefaan Slembrouck, Silent and silenced voices: Interactional construction of audience in social work talk * PART FIVE: ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION * Bessie Dendrinos and Emilia Ribeiro Pedro, Giving street directions: The silent role of women * Bohdan Szuchewycz, Silence in ritual communication * PART SIX: CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION * Kari Sajavaara and Jaakko Lehtonen, The silent Finn revisited * Noel Houck and Susan M. Gass, Cross-cultural back channels in English refusals: A source of trouble * PART SEVEN: BEYOND LANGUAGE * Andrew Edgar, Music and silence * Alina Kwiatkowska, Silence across modalities * Marcia Hafif, Silence in painting: Let me count the way * Stacie Withers, Silence and communication in art * PART EIGHT: Teaching silence * Karl Patten, Teaching "Discovering silence" * PART NINE: EPILOGUE * Adam Jaworski, "White and white": Metacommunicative and metaphorical silences * Index