Pragmatics Association of Nigeria (Pran), recently held her 9th international conference/workshop at Ignatins Ajuru University of Education with the theme: Pragmatics of silence.
Speaking at the university auditorium, the National President of the Association, Prof. Pius Akhimien, admonished people never to take silence at its face-value and that silence, though golden in itself, conveys message in every human communication to the concern parties.
According to him, the essence of the conference is for scholars of like minds to come together, brainstorm, think and intellectually analysis strategically how silence could be a good tool in communication. ‘’Speech is a silver; but silence is golden, thus, silence could convey approval or disapproval of spoken statement and it’s an indispensable tool in conflict resolution”.
Prof. Akhimien, noted that silence could be effectively use to avoid escalation of conflict and solve certain problems that could not be resolve through spoken words. ‘’in life, it’s easier to speak; but it’s virtuous to be silent. For instance, as a married man, if your wife caught you cheating; but instead of talking and abusing you; suddenly decides to remain silence, her unusual action would certainly keep you a bit uncomfortable. So silence itself it’s a means of communication’’
In her lead paper as one of the keynote speakers at the conference, Prof. (Lady), Esther Ugwu, noted that the theme for the 9th international conference: ‘Pragmatics of silence’ is very apt, timely and educating and urged the audience to take the conference seriously.
In his speech, Pst. George Izunwa, of the Gate way International Church, noted that silence is a virtue. Hence, there is enormous power in silence, especially in a face of provocation. He gave an analogy of how the children of Israel passed round the wall of Jericho for six days without saying a word; but on the seventh day shouted loudly and the strong wall fell down flat, after a loud shout; saying the falling of the wall was proportionally attributable to the prolonged silence the children of Israel endured for six days, marching round the wall for six days without a spoken word. The force and radiation that goes with silence are very unimaginable and powerful.
Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, however urged the participants to know that pragmatics of silence, in communication is not conventionally silence; but message passed.
In her comment, the Dean, Faculty of Humanities of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Prof. Ibiere Ken-Maduako, noted that pragmatics of silence in communication is an unspoken expression, that though silence was noticed on face value; but a message has been passed and chain of communication completed.
Maduako, urged people not to see silence as absolute silence, because most silence in the course of communication might have some degree of under tone meanings attached to it.
According to her, pragmatics of silence in communication is a strategic communication tool, not fully expressed for ordinary understanding by everyone. So the conference will create the leverage for scholars to critically look into, and explore the hidden benefits of pragmatics of silence in every day communication for betterment of humanity.
The scholars will critically examine, explore, interpret and expose the intrinsic benefits of being silence in the course of communication and how it could be used to solve problems in hostile communities. “Silence is like a zero activity, but there is a hidden meaning attached in the speech”.
Speaking to Newsmen after the conference, the Chairman of the National Organizing Committee (NOC), Prof. Chuka Ononye, noted that the essence of the conference was for the scholars to come together, to critically analysis the theme of the conference and bring out hidden meaning of silence in communication for general good of humanity.
He reiterated that silence is a virtue and even desirable in most cases in communication, especially in worrisome situations. He noted that silence is a strategic tool in communication to run away from troubles. “Even in every day live, there are at times, you have to keep silence to avoid crises. So silence is a virtue”.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Okechuku Onuchuku, ably represented by Prof. kingdom Orji, had urged the scholars and participants to critically explore the theme of the conference to proffer solutions to humanity in the area of communication and wished for fruitful deliberation in the conference.
