A Dissertation by GRACE HUI-CHIN LIN Submitted to the Office of ...

Jiun Sheng, in his first interview, explained his reason why he believed “keeping
silence” was not appropriate:
“Keeping silence” was impolite. When you did not catch what your partner
was talking about, you at least had to respond with “Mmm…,” or “Ohh….”
Through the tone, hint, or manner of yours, your partner would be able to
know that you like or dislike the topic. Not telling the others your attitude
toward the ongoing topic was like when someone left you on the Microsoft
Network (MSN) without saying goodbye. It was like you did not have any
idea about what your partner was thinking or mad at. I believed that “no
response” was a strategy that might spoil your relationship with your partners.
In the second interview, Jiun Sheng confirmed that he would not “keep silence”:
I would not “keep silence” during my communication because I was worried
this would break my social relationship. “No verbal response” misled the
speaker’s thought. He might think the listener was not a kind person, or he
might guess he had offended the listeners. It was probable that the speakers
might misunderstand that you did this on purpose in order to make him
embarrassed.
If the others kept silence when I was talking, I detected it was like you “play
the flute to a cow.” It was like you talk to yourself. Hence, I would request
that my interlocutors would react to my talking without keeping silence.
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