Stille Stimmen

Language is not only a means of communication, but also shapes and limits our understanding of the world. Modernity’s realisation of this fact has led the study of language to increasingly examine its own tool critically, which in turn has led to remaining silent, that is, deliberately choosing not to say anything, functioning as a key and productive literary technique in examining the boundaries of language. This study traces these linguistic traversions of its boundaries and investigates the forms and functions of deliberate taciturnity in six Scandinavian narrative texts from the late 19th century to the present day, while also reflecting on historical, social and media developments at the same time.