A Cognitive Pragmatic Analysis Of Turn Silence In The Film Waterloo Bridge

Silence is a prevalent phenomenon and occupies an important position in wholeframework of human communication. The correct understanding of it is very importantin interpersonal communication. In recent years, the study of silence has been a hotissue in different disciplines at home and abroad. However, in the field of linguistics,the research on silence has not yet come to agreement. Therefore, a study of silenceshould become a piece of important task in linguistics.The theoretical framework of this study is relevance theory proposed by Sperber&Wilson. Relevance theory, a cognitive psychological theory, treats humancommunicational act as a cognitive process. And it states that communicative process isan ostensive-inferential act. Turn silence in conversation can convey the communicativeintensions of communicator by processing efforts, from which contextual effect yields.Some instances of turn silences in the film Waterloo Bridge are presented and analyzed.In the first place, turn silences in the film are analyzed, including its relevance andcommunicative intentions conveyed by their hidden information. Then, three kinds ofcontext effects are presented: contextual implication; strengthening former informationand eliminating the formation. What’s more, some important factors affecting the useand interpretation of turn silence are discussed. In addition, communication strategy ofturn silence is mentioned, which is an effective way for communication in some context.The safe conclusion can be drawn that turn silence holds specific pragmatic functionsand it is an indispensable strategy in communication.The thesis consists of five parts. In the first part, it states the scope, the significanceand research questions of the study. The second part is a review of previous studies onsilence, discussing the definition, classifications and communicative functions andrecalling the relevant research conditions. The third part is the theoretical framework.Relevance theory and cognitive context are employed in this thesis as the theoretic basisof study. It discusses the degree and principle of relevance, cognitive context and itsextension and selection, to hope to guide the application of the theory into the analysis.The fourth part is the key part of the thesis. Under the guideline of relevance theory, a detailed analysis is adopted from a new approach. The answers of the research questionsare found out:(1) Turn silence is an ostensive-inferential act, which is mutual manifestto communicators.(2) Turn silence plays an important role in the conversation of thefilm. Turn silence is a means to convey communicative intentions. It is an agency toinfer contextual effects. And it is an effective communication strategy in interpersonalcommunication.(3) Those factors which can influence the use and interpretation of turnsilence are varied, such as emotional factors, social factors, individual factors andcultural factors. The last part is the conclusion. It sums up the findings and implicationsof the study. This research on turn silence might be conducive to further study of silencein classroom teaching and cross-culture communication. Finally, the limitations and thesuggestion for further study are pointed out. The study hopes to improve people’scommunicative awareness and skills to reduce communicative misunderstanding andfailure.