La larga ausencia del silencio en la historia de la lingüística hispánica

Abstract

Linguistic studies about silence have been for a long time ignored within the Hispanic tradition. Throughout the history of Spanish linguistics, these nonverbal signs have been considered very difficult to study and thereof the knowledge of these elements is still nowadays very fragmentary (Poyatos 1994; Cestero 1999; Mateu, 2001; Camargo and Mendez 2013). The delay in the development of research about silence within Spanish linguistics is, in fact, very remarkable compared to many other linguistic traditions which have considered silent acts as a fundamental and constitutive aspects of communicative interaction (Jensen 1973; Saville-Troike 1985; Scollon 1985; Jaworski 1993; Tannen 1993; Kurzon 1997; Ephratt 2008; Nakane 2010). The long silence about silence has been largely motivated by the late development of Pragmatics in the Hispanic world. The pragmatic perspective facilitates the typological, methodological and sociocultural approach to these nonverbal signs, which have also been difficult to analyze due to their multiple meanings. This article tackles the typological, methodological, social and cultural reasons that have exerted pressure in order to leave silence left untreated for decades from a linguistic perspective. The main objective of this work is, in short, to reflect on all these issues so they can be acknowledged and overcome. Also, we will propose some solutions that can contribute, at least partially, to the development of studies about silence within Spanish linguistics.