A Cross-Cultural Study of Pinter's Mountain Language
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International Journal of Research ISSN NO : 2236-6124 Communicative Silence: A Cross-Cultural Study of Pinter’s Mountain Language Dr.C.Vairavan Assistant Professor Department of English, Academy of Maritime Education and Training Kanathur, Chennai, India -603 112 [email protected] Abstract: This paper attempts a cross-cultural analysis of communicative silence and struggle of power in Pinter’s Mountain Language. Pinter was an absurd dramatist in the 20th century. In his plays, who has focused on power through non-verbal communication (silence). In the play Mountain Language, who has brought out the impact of the power of language used in three dots and the powerless people succeed their target through their voiceless interaction. The aim of this paper is to discuss how Pinter has used the language of power through non-verbal communication. Keywords: cross-culture; communicative silence; language; non-verbal; power INTRODUCTION Harold Pinter (1930-2009) is one of the exponents of the British Drama. Pinter’s plays are well-known from all other by their sense of confusion, nervousness, and ambiguity. His plays focus on power strategies to demonstrate the human struggle in society. As there are certain traces of communicative silence power in Pinter’s Mountain Language. The part of silence is considered in the function of dialect by Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language. Pinter’s silence is outside dialect and is separated from pause, methods picked by the character for significant verbal and non-verbal correspondence close by the method for acting and discourse; it is neither the audience’s silence nor the silencing of the character. Pinter's presented the smooth silence, as a phonetic sign and psychoanalysis, passes on information in the referential function of zero sign and positive exchanges; it is a famous full of the feeling method for communicating feelings and vacancy in the emotive capacity. In regard to the demonstrative capacity, open quiet and the battle of energy in the execution of immediate and aberrant discourse acts. Silence can impart a state of mind of insightfulness and thought or a nonappearance of thought or sentiment. The different part of communicative silence in a role cross-cultural function range from its being a discourse marker to mirroring the right to silence. One function of communication is to develop an expressive theory of speech formulate a descriptive theory of silence is not enough. Pinter’s (1991) stated that when true silence falls, people are still left with resonance, but are nearer nakedness. In one direction of looking at speech is to articulate that it is a constant feint to cover nakedness. Again he mentioned that the life is much more mysterious than plays make it select. And it is this mystery which fascinates him. Pinter talked about with vagueness to illuminate in the larger piece of his silence utilization of the implicit and the unspeakable. In his plays particular procedures utilized and inspire the secret and variety of life and of human connections. In his plays are The Room (), The Birthday Party (1957), The Caretaker (1960), The Homecoming (1964), Old Times (1970), and No Man’s Land (1975) considered to illustrate “What happens between the words, what happens when no words are spoken at all”. Volume 7, Issue VII, July/2018 Page No:158. International Journal of Research ISSN NO : 2236-6124 Pinter’s Mountain Language depends on the theme of power, its sources and demonstration. Silence can represent respect, kindness, and acceptance, and bring about a time for reflection and a healing period after a ‘confrontation’. Then again it can be viewed as typifying despise, threatening vibe, coldness, disobedience, or even detest. According to Hymes (1972), the giving out of required and preferred silence, indeed perhaps most immediate reveals in outline form a community’s structures of speaking (p-40). From this linguistic point of view, cultural people are not open their mouth in a particular community. Here, Pinter stated that two cultural communities and their conversation in the play of Mountain Language. His inspiration from the long history of oppression the Kurds suffered under Turkish rule, he centered his play in a prison controlled by unnamed guards in an unnamed country. As the Turkish did to the Kurds, the guards ban the prisoners’ native language as they imprison them for unnamed crimes against the State. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Quigley (1975) portrayed that the language is obviously important in Pinter’s effort to get himself across to us but must also recognize the many occasions when it is through the silence that he communicates: Silence itself is defined in relation to words, as the pause in music receives its meaning from the group of notes round it. The silence is a moment of language; being silent is not being dumb, it is to refuse to speak and therefore to keep on speaking. Kane’s (1984) pointed out that the Pinter’s Silence is indirect, disjunctive speech, colloquial dialogue implicitly conveying more than in superficially and explicitly communicates, unanswered questions, repetitions and echoing, pauses, silences, counterpointing through overstatement and understatement, mute characters, silence as a metaphor for isolation, Silence as a metaphor for absence, and silence of the playwright. Perkins (2002) also discussed Pinter techniques of silence, in this play as he does in other plays as a form of language that reflects the character’s interaction with each other: Pinter often uses silences in his plays as verbal acts of aggression, defense, and acceptance that often speak more loudly than words. Pinter exploited the technique of silence in this play as he does in others as a form of language that reflects the characters interact with each other. The same silence has to be followed by Cahn describes that (1998) “Pinter’s characters is proceeded tenuously, creating a stage environment in which every word, every hesitation, and gesture, demands attention from both actors and audience. The characters often speak minimally, amid frequent pauses, as if wary of revealing a tidbit about themselves or their background that might create a point of vulnerability. The language is therefore dominated by unanswered questions that lead to repeated questions, awkward pauses, silence, and repetitions. To further shelter themselves, the characters rely on colloquialisms, professional jargon, and convoluted word patterns. The result is the dialogue that often lacks the coherence and logic of traditional stage language but that in its disjunction reflects the mind and emotions of the speaker.” Pinter’s introduced the characters dominated by the language and power and tries to trap each other to speak their own mother tongue. But peculiarly, the power, the play underscores the silence more through the conversation with dialogue their community people. Everyone has an understanding of the language and social life requires additional information on a communities notes for not speaking. Here, Pinter used in his play Mountain Language, there are two communities, one is deeply suppressed from mountaineer, and another is an elite group. The Mountaineer is suppressed by the military decree. Inside of the decree is only allowed to speak their mother tongue. But the mountaineer does not understand the English language that’s why the mountain people are very silent. Pinter has given lots of meaning for this silence in his plays. Volume 7, Issue VII, July/2018 Page No:159. International Journal of Research ISSN NO : 2236-6124 Power of Silence in Communication Speaking or communicating has a peculiar place in human nations in that the use of talk provides the power people respond to, and may presume a degree of membership in a social world. Cultural studies writers generally agree on the centrality of the concept of power to the discipline. For most cultural studies writers, power is regarded as pervading every level of social relationships. Power is not simply the glue that holds the social together or the coercive force which subordinates one set of people to another, though it certainly is this. It is also understood in terms of the processes that generate and enable any form of social action, relationship or order. In this sense, power, while certainly constraining, is also enabling. Having that cultural studies with subordinated groups, at first with class, and later races, genders, nations, age groups etc. This particular attribute of talk may help explain the significance of silence in human communication. Pinter’s perspectives on silence is a way of dissolving, breaking, rejecting or refusing to recognize social bonds among participants, or as a way of displaying nonreciprocal influence. This kind of silence the audience does not understand the theme and the story. Sometimes what is going on the stage? But the end of the play Pinter shows the originality of the character life and it’s the meaning. The silence power is on over after the next scene is acted in the right format. The audience mind is questioning and finally received the clear message from the play. The role of power of silence and ambiguity differentiate the audience mind and silence used to indicates the positive results. It is apparently a response to the audience. The audience should be noted the suggestion that silence at times ambiguity and power difference among focal participants is not, of course, to suggest that silence is in some way harmful. Silence is functioned in providing the necessary protection against uncertain ‘outsiders’, as well as in providing a powerful. The struggle of power forms the basis of conflict in the plays of Mountain Language by Pinter. In their battles, Pinter’s characters use words and silence as weapons. Quigley's stated that silence is, no matter how one is addressed there is an implicit demand for a particular range of response.