Recognizing, conceptualizing, and transforming silence: toward a new theoretical model

Abstract The article discusses several issues related to silence as a potential carrier of meaning. It explores the semiotic environments in which instances of “meaningful silence” occur and proposes a theoretical model of silence as a carrier of a message. This model is then used to develop a typology of possible conceptualizations of silence, with different classes related to a series of recognizable or typical cases. The article also examines the transformation of messages that use silence as a sign or attribute, leading to the objectification of their meanings within a different semiotic environment. Central to this analysis is the role of pragmatic scripts (specific sets of reception factors) in attributing possible meanings to silence or decoding messages in which silence serves as a building block. An important reference point in the theoretical analysis is the use of silence as a means of artistic communication, specifically in Alexander Pushkin’s historical drama Boris Godunov and John Cage’s composition 4′33” .