Abstract

A Pragmatic Analysis of Silence in an American Constitutional Issue This paper provides further evidence for a typology of silence, viz conversational, textual and situational silence. Some of the problems in the typology are dealt with, for example, a clearer distinction is made between conversational silence, on the one hand, and textual and situational silence on the other. The distinction between textual and situational silence is further illustrated against the background of controversial court cases in the United States concerning "moment of silence" legislation in a number of states.