Ineffectual Words

Abstract This chapter explores the possibility of impact silencing, where a speaker has her communicative intentions recognized but the speech act is prevented from having the impact in the world that it ought to have. Focusing first on cases where a speaker is not being believed, the chapter distinguishing between not being believed because one is thought to be lying and not being believed because the speaker suffers a credibility deficit. The notion of impact is further explored and clarified; it is also shown to be unavoidably normative. Finally, this chapter concludes with a discussion of impact prevention silencing in cases of sexual assault.