A cross-cultural study of silence in Nigeria - an ethnolinguistic approach

摘要

It is becoming increasingly clear that many instances of silence in communication do not occur as 'failure' to appreciate either a topic of conversation or participants' roles in the exchange. Indeed, many such instances perhaps convey more meanings than are often appreciated. This study investigates the occurrences of silence as a communicatively valued piece of 'language' from a cross-cultural point of view. The main cultures represented by Nigeria's three 'national' languages (namely Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo) are examined for differences and similarities in the way silence is observed and interpreted, using tools of ethnography. Specifically, context, comprising elements such as setting, participants, code and channel, is regarded as being crucial to the interpretation of silence. The work reveals that silence is an integrative part of the communication process in Nigerian societies. This makes it not only functional but actually normative in many instances across the three cultures studied. Besides, silence clearly expresses group philosophies, the locus of which is to preserve the sanctity of communal existence. Again, the large number of group-mediated responses through silence across the three cultures indicates that individuals are guided by communal norms which are based on the dynamics of group culture. This means that the community plays a regulatory role on individuals in African societies.