Communicative Functions of Pause and Silence in Speech

This article deals with the issues based on analyzing the communicative functions of pause and silence in speech from linguistic, pragmatic, sociolinguistic, and intercultural perspectives. Although pauses and silence may appear to be the absence of speech, they perform important communicative functions in oral interaction. They can indicate hesitation, planning, emotional tension, politeness, disagreement, reflection, turn-taking, emphasis, and implicit meaning. The article analyzes theoretical approaches to silence in discourse, including conversation analysis, pragmatics, discourse studies, and intercultural communication. Special attention is given to how pause and silence organize speech, regulate interaction, and influence interpretation.

Hali tarjima qilinmagan