Sound of Silence and Cultural Conceptualization of silence in Japanese

There are several linguistic and rhetorical mechanisms that languages use to describe silent scenes. This article focuses on references to various sounds in nature as linguistic means to symbolize ambient silence in Japanese. These nature sounds include those that animals and insects make as well as the sounds of rain, ocean waves, and wind. Underlying such a linguistic tool is the recognition of the symbiotic relationship between sound and silence, a perceptive pattern deeply embedded in cultural experiences. In exploring potential paths to conceptualizing silence, the language depiction cannot be understood without exploring what sound or silence, individually and collectively, means to the speakers. This chapter pursues the idea that silence, far from the opposite of the presence of sound, has a distinctive culture-specific meaning. I argue that prevalence of this type of verbal descriptions of ambient silence in Japanese reveal a pattern of conceptualization as part of cultural practice.