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This paper aims at investigating the communicative functions of eloquent silence in Persian. It also investigates how contextual and pragmatic factors pave the way for silence to have such functions. In this regard, “A Separation” (2011), a widely known Oscar-winner Iranian movie by Asghar Farhadi was selected, and analyzed. This movie has been met with universal acclaim from film critics, and seemingly has utilized silence successfully in order to carry and convey some hidden messages. Instances of eloquent silence were collected and then analyzed based on Ephratt (2008) in an attempt to determine the communicative functions of each case. Our main argument has been that eloquent silence can convey different communicative hints in the course of linguistic exchanges in Persian. The results showed that eloquent silence usages do play a key role in communication in this movie and accordingly in Persian. These usages also have different types of function for the realization of which different contexts of situation seem to be at work. We also tried to analyze and explain the way contextual and pragmatic factors impact upon determining these communicative functions. In this regard, the study depicts that aim of communication, context of situations, target of communication, and power relations between interlocutors, as well as cultural and social norms are among the most important contextual and pragmatic factors, active in preferring silence over speech.

Keywords: Silence, Eloquent silence, Communicative functions, “A Separation”

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