Abstract: 

While Language is a major tool for human communication, silence can also convey a wealth of information, especially those which can not be transferred by language. However, people from different countries with different cultures have different understanding on silence; the differences may lead to communicative failure in intercultural communication. This paper studies the definition, types, features and functions of silence, and makes use of comparative analysis to compare different attitudes towards silence, and also investigates some reasons caused by the differences. We can take full advantage of the information value of silence in cross-cultural communication to enhance the communicative value, improve communication skills and reduce cultural conflicts and misunderstandings, which makes communication smoothly so as to further enhance the success and timeliness of communication.

Key words: Cross-cultural communication; silence; non-verbal communication; comparative analysis

摘要：

语言是人类交流的重要手段，而沉默同样能传达丰富的信息，甚至是语言难以
达的内容。然而，在不同的地区，不同的文化中，人们对沉默的理解也大不相同，这些差异往往会在跨文化交流中产生误解。本文研究了跨文化交际背景下沉默行为的定义，类型， 特点及其功能,通过在某些方面利用对比分析方法比较中美两国对待沉默行为的不同的态度，也研究了造成这一差异的原因。我们在跨文化的交往中才能充分利用沉默的信息价值，才能增强交际价值，提高交际能力，减少文化冲突、减少彼此之间的误解，使交际能够顺利进行，从而进一步提高交际的成功性与时效性。

关键词：跨文化交际；沉默行为；非语言交际；对比分析

1. Introduction
Rapid technological progress and economic development make an intimate association among different countries and regions. Cross-cultural communication includes verbal behaviors and non-verbal behaviors. In communication, people can use verbal behavior, and rich non-verbal behavior. Language and culture is the inevitable outcome of the development of human society to a certain historical stage, while people are liable to make mistakes and (or) conflicts because of their different cultural backgrounds, customs, and ways of thinking in the cross-cultural communication.
In communication, people tend to focus on the expression of the language, ignoring the significance of non-verbal communication. Although the definition of silence varies among scholars, a commonly accepted version of this includes gesture, body language, eye contact, smile, facial expressions, touch, and silence. If speakers of different cultures want to efficiently improve the communication, it is necessary to learn more about the differences of silence so that they can gain better understanding and few conflicts. Undertaking further research on silence behavior can promote the ability of cross-cultural communication and reduce cultural mistakes and conflicts, and make the communication smoothly.