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The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1951, 20, No. 2, p. 275.
The author of this paper has in recent years been concentrating on linguistic psychology with special emphasis on the psycho-analytic aspects of language. His Theory of Silences is based on an observation that there are two main forms of interpersonal silence: (1) the 'negative' silence found in situations of anger, fear, hatred and 'psychological blocking' which are all characterized by acute interpersonal and intrapersonal tensions or psychic disequilibrium; (2) the 'positive' silence of tranquil agreement and mutual understanding (reciprocal identification) as fleetingly achieved between lovers and intimate friends and characterized by absence of tensions between the speech partners. The author asserts that the whole speech field is found between these two extremes of silence; that all speech acts serve to release intrapersonal tensions; that the unconscious end-object of all speech is not continued speech but silence in which all tensions have been dissipated.
The present paper deals with material relating to this theme that the author gathered in the course of taking word-tests. It could be reported that when testees were confronted with demands to associate