"To Give up on Words": Silence in Western Apache Culture

Author(s): Keith H. Basso

Source: Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Autumn, 1970), pp. 213-230
Published by: University of New Mexico
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SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL
OF ANTHROPOLOGY
VOLUME26

NUMBER 3

AUTUMN

1970

"To Give up on Words":Silence in WesternApache

Culturel
KEITH H. BASSO
Combining methods from ethnoscience and sociolinguistics, this paper presents an
hypothesis to account for why, in certain types of situations, members of Western
Apache society refrain from speech. Though cross-cultural data on silence behavior
are almost wholly lacking, some evidence has been collected which suggests that
this hypothesis may have relevance to other societies as well.
It is not the casethat a man who is silent saysnothing.
Anonymous
I

ANYONE WHO HAS READ ABOUT AMERICANINDIANS has probably encounteredstatementswhich impute to them a strong predilection for keeping silent or, as one writer has put it, "a fierce reluctance to
speak except when absolutely necessary."In the popular literature, where
this characterizationis particularlywidespread,it is commonlyportrayedas
1 At different times during the period extending from 1964-1969 the research on
which this paper is based was supported by U. S. P. H. S. Grant MH-12691-01,a grant
from the American Philosophical Society, and funds from the Doris Duke Oral History
Project at the Arizona State Museum. I am pleased to acknowledgethis support. I would
also like to express my gratitude to the following scholarsfor commenting upon an earlier
draft: Y. R. Chao, Harold C. Conklin, Roy G. D'Andrade,Charles0. Frake,Paul Friedrich,
John Gumperz, Kenneth Hale, Harry Hoijer, Dell Hymes, Stanley Newman, David M.
Schneider,Joel Sherzer,and Paul Turner. Although the final version gained much from
their criticismsand suggestions,responsibilityfor its present form and content rests solely
with the author. A preliminaryversion of this paper was presented to the Annual Meeting
of the American AnthropologicalAssociationin New Orleans, Lousiana, November 1969.
A modified version of this paper is scheduled to appear in Studies in Apachean Culture
and Ethnology (ed. by Keith H. Basso and MorrisOpler), Tucson: University of Arizona
Press,1970.
213

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the outgrowth of such dubious causes as "instinctive dignity," "an impoverished language," or, perhaps worst of all, the Indians' "lack of personal
warmth." Although statements of this sort are plainly erroneous and dangerously misleading, it is noteworthy that professional anthropologists have
made few attempts to correct them. Traditionally, ethnographers and linguists have paid little attention to cultural interpretations given to silence
or, equally important, to the types of social contexts in which it regularly
occurs.
This study investigates certain aspects of silence in the culture of the
Western Apache of east-central Arizona. After considering some of the theoretical issues involved, I will briefly describe a number of situations-recurrent in Western Apache society-in which one or more of the participants
typically refrain from speech for lengthy periods of time.2 This is accompanied by a discussion of how such acts of silence are interpreted and why
they are encouraged and deemed appropriate. I conclude by advancing an
hypothesis that accounts for the reasons that the Western Apache refrain
from speaking when they do, and I suggest that, with proper testing, this
hypothesis may be shown to have relevance to silence behavior in other
cultures.
II

A basic finding of sociolinguistics is that, although both language and

language usage are structured, it is the latter which responds most sensitively
to extra-linguistic influences (Hymes 1962, 1964; Ervin-Tripp 1964, 1967;
Gumperz 1964; Slobin 1967). Accordingly, a number of recent studies have
addressed themselves to the problem of how factors in the social environment of speech events delimit the range and condition the selection of message forms (cf. Brown and Gilman 1960; Conklin 1959; Ervin-Tripp 1964,
1967; Frake 1964; Friedrich 1966; Gumperz 1961, 1964; Martin 1964). These
studies may be viewed as taking the now familiar position that verbal communication is fundamentally a decision-making process in which, initially,
a speaker, having elected to speak, selects from among a repertoire of available codes that which is most appropriately suited to the situation at hand.
Once a code has been selected, the speaker picks a suitable channel of
transmission and then, finally, makes a choice from a set of referentially
equivalent expressions within the code. The intelligibility of the expression
2 The situations described in this paper are not the only ones in which the Western
Apache refrain from speech. There is a second set-not considered here because my data
are incomplete-in which silence appears to occur as a gesture of respect, usually to persons
in positions of authority. A third set, very poorly understood, involves ritual specialists
who claim they must keep silent at certain points during the preparation of ceremonial
paraphernalia.

"TO GIVE UP ON WORDS"

215

he chooses will, of course, be subject to grammatical constraints. But its acceptability will not. Rules for the selection of linguistic alternates operate
on features of the social environment and are commensurate with rules governing the conduct of face-to-face interaction. As such, they are properly
conceptualized as lying outside the structure of language itself.
It follows from this that for a stranger to communicate appropriately
with the members of an unfamiliar society it is not enough that he learn to
formulate messages intelligibly. Something else is needed: a knowledge of
what kinds of codes, channels, and expressions to use in what kinds of situations and to what kinds of people-as Hymes (1964) has termed it, an "ethnography of communication."
There is considerable evidence to suggest that extra-linguistic factors influence not only the use of speech but its actual occurrence as well. In our
own culture, for example, remarks such as "Don't you know when to keep
quiet?" "Don't talk until you're introduced," and "Remember now, no talking in church" all point to the fact that an individual's decision to speak
may be directly contingent upon the character of his surroundings. Few of
us would maintain that "silence is golden" for all people at all times. But
we feel that silence is a virtue for some people some of the time, and we encourage children on the road to cultural competence to act accordingly.
Although the form of silence is always the same, the function of a specific
act of silence-that is, its interpretation by and effect upon other peoplewill vary according to the social context in which it occurs. For example, if
I choose to keep silent in the chambers of a Justice of the Supreme Court,
my action is likely to be interpreted as a sign of politeness or respect. On
the other hand, if I refrain from speaking to an established friend or colleague, I am apt to be accused of rudeness or harboring a grudge. In one
instance, my behavior is judged by others to be "correct" or "fitting"; in the
other, it is criticized as being "out of line."
The point, I think, is fairly obvious. For a stranger entering an alien
society, a knowledge of when not to speak may be as basic to the production
of culturally acceptable behavior as a knowledge of what to say. It stands to
reason, then, that an adequate ethnography of communication should not
confine itself exclusively to the analysis of choice within verbal repertoires.
It should also, as Hymes (1962, 1964) has suggested, specify those conditions
under which the members of the society regularly decide to refrain from
verbal behavior altogether.
III

The research on which this paper is based was conducted over a period
of sixteen months (1964-1969) in the Western Apache settlement of Cibecue,

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which is located near the center of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in
east-central Arizona. Cibecue's 800 residents participate in an unstable
economy that combines subsistence agriculture, cattle-raising, sporadic wageearning, and Government subsidies in the form of welfare checks and social
security benefits. Unemployment is a serious problem, and substandard
living conditions are widespread.
Although Reservation life has precipitated far-reaching changes in the
composition and geographical distribution of Western Apache social groups,
consanguineal kinship-real and imputed-remains the single most powerful
force in the establishment and regulation of interpersonal relationships
(Kaut 1957; Basso 1970). The focus of domestic activity is the individual
"camp," or gow44. This term labels both the occupants and the location of
a single dwelling or, as is more apt to be the case, several dwellings built
within a few feet of each other. The majority of gow44 in Cibecue are
occupied by nuclear families. The next largest residential unit is the gotdd
(camp cluster), which is a group of spatially localized gowq4, each having at
least one adult member who is related by ties of matrilineal kinship to
persons living in all the others. An intricate system of exogamous clans
serves to extend kinship relationships beyond the gow44 and gotdd and
facilitates concerted action in projects, most notably the presentation of
ceremonials, requiring large amounts of manpower. Despite the presence in
Cibecue of a variety of Anglo missionaries and a dwindling number of
medicine men, diagnostic and curing rituals, as well as the girls' puberty
ceremonial, continue to be performed with regularity (Basso 1966, 1970).
Witchcraft persists in undiluted form (Basso 1969).
IV

Of the many broad categories of events, or scenes, that comprise the daily
round of Western Apache life, I shall deal here only with those that are
coterminous with what Goffman (1961, 1964) has termed "focused gatherings" or "encounters." The concept situation, in keeping with established
usage, will refer inclusively to the location of such a gathering, its physical
setting, its point in time, the standing behavior patterns that accompany it,
and the social attributes of the persons involved (Hymes 1962, 1964; ErvinTripp 1964, 1967).
In what follows, however, I will be mainly concerned with the roles and
statuses of participants. The reason for this is that the critical factor in the
Apache's decision to speak or keep silent seems always to be the nature of his
relationships to other people. To be sure, other features of the situation are
significant, but apparently only to the extent that they influence the per-

"TO GIVE UP ON WORDS"

217

ception of status and role.3 What this implies, of course, is that roles and
statuses are not fixed attributes. Although they may be depicted as such in a
static model (and often with good reason), they are appraised and acted
upon in particular social contexts and, as a result, subject to redefinition
and variation.4 With this in mind, let us now turn our attention to the
Western Apache and the types of situations in which, as one of my informants put it, "it is right to give up on words."
v

1. "Meeting strangers" (nda dohwdd'ittseeda). The term, nda, labels

categories at two levels of contrast. At the most general level, it designates
any person-Apache or non-Apache-who, prior to an initial meeting, has
never been seen and therefore cannot be identified. In addition, the term is
used to refer to Apaches who, though previously seen and known by some
external criteria such as clan affiliation or personal name, have never been
engaged in face-to-face interaction. The latter category, which is more restricted than the first, typically includes individuals who live on the adjacent
San Carlos Reservation, in Fort Apache settlements geographically removed
from Cibecue, and those who fall into the category kii dbhandddgo (nonkinsmen). In all cases, "strangers" are separated by social distance. And in
all cases it is considered appropriate, when encountering them for the first
time, to refrain from speaking.
The type of situation described as "meeting strangers" (nda dohwdd'iltseeda) can take place in any number of different physical settings. However, it occurs most frequently in the context of events such as fairs and
rodeos, which, owing to the large number of people in attendance, offer
unusual opportunities for chance encounters. In large gatherings, the lack
of verbal communication between strangers is apt to go unnoticed, but in
smaller groups it becomes quite conspicuous. The following incident, involving two strangers who found themselves part of a four-man round-up crew,
3 Recent work in the sociology of interaction, most notably by Goffman (1963) and
Garfinkel (1967), has led to the suggestion that social relationships are everywhere the
major determinantsof verbal behavior. In this case, as Gumperz (1967) makes clear, it
becomes methodologically unsound to treat the various components of communicative
events as independentvariables.Gumperz (1967) has presenteda hierarchicalmodel, sensitive to dependency,in which componentsare seen as stages in the communicationprocess.
Each stage servesas the input for the next. The basic stage, i.e., the initial input, is "social
identities or statuses."For further details see Slobin 1967:131-134.
4 I would like to stress that the emphasisplaced on social relations is fully in keeping
with the Western Apache interpretation of their own behavior. When my informants
were asked to explain why they or someone else was silent on a particular occasion, they
invariablydid so in termsof who was present at the time.

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serves as a good example. My informant, who was also a member of the

crew, recalled the following episode:
One time, I was with A, B, and X down at Gleason Flat, workingcattle. That
man, X, was from East Fork [a communitynearly40 miles from Cibecue]where B's
wife was from. But he didn't know A, never knew him before, I guess. First day, I
workedwith X. At night, when we camped,we talked with B, but X and A didn't
say anything to each other. Same way, second day. Same way, third. Then, at night
on fourth day, we were sitting by the fire. Still, X and A didn't talk. Then A said,
"Well, I know there is a strangerto me here, but I've been watchinghim and I
know he is all right." After that, X and A talked a lot....

Those two men didn't

know each other,so they took it easyat first.

As this incident suggests, the Western Apache do not feel compelled to
"introduce" persons who are unknown to each other. Eventually, it is assumed, strangers will begin to speak. However, this is a decision that is
properly left to the individuals involved, and no attempt is made to hasten
it. Outside help in the form of introductions or other verbal routines is
viewed as presumptuous and unnecessary.
Strangers who are quick to launch into conversation are frequently eyed
with undisguised suspicion. A typical reaction to such individuals is that
they "want something," that is, their willingness to violate convention is
attributed to some urgent need which is likely to result in requests for
money, labor, or transportation. Another common reaction to talkative
strangers is that they are drunk.
If the stranger is an Anglo, it is usually assumed that he "wants to teach
us something" (i.e., give orders or instructions) or that he "wants to make
friends in a hurry." The latter response is especially revealing, since Western
Apaches are extremely reluctant to be hurried into friendships-with
Anglos or each other. Their verbal reticence with strangers is directly related
to the conviction that the establishment of social relationships is a serious
matter that calls for caution, careful judgment, and plenty of time.
2. "Courting" (liigolda). During the initial stages of courtship, young men
and women go without speaking for conspicuous lengths of time. Courting
may occur in a wide variety of settings-practically anywhere, in fact-and
at virtually any time of the day or night, but it is most readily observable at
large public gatherings such as ceremonials, wakes, and rodeos. At these
events, "sweethearts" (zeede) may stand or sit (sometimes holding hands) for
as long as an hour without exchanging a word. I am told by adult informants
that the young people's reluctance to speak may become even more pronounced in situations where they find themselves alone.

"TO GIVE UP ON WORDS"

219

Apaches who have just begun to court attribute their silence to "intense
shyness" ('iste') and a feeling of acute "self-consciousness" (dayeezi') which,
they claim, stems from their lack of familiarity with one another. More
specifically, they complain of "not knowing what to do" in each other's
presence and of the fear that whatever they say, no matter how well
thought out in advance, will sound "dumb" or "stupid."5
One informant, a youth 17 years old, commented as follows:
It's hard to talk with your sweetheartat first. She doesn't know you and won't
know what to say. It's the same way towardsher. You don't know how to talk
yet... so you get very bashful.That makesit sometimesso you don't say anything.
So you just go around together and don't talk. At first, it's better that way. Then,
after a while, when you know each other, you aren't shy anymore and can talk
good.
The Western Apache draw an equation between the ease and frequency
with which a young couple talks and how well they know each other. Thus,
it is expected that after several months of steady companionship sweethearts
will start to have lengthy conversations. Earlier in their relationship, however, protracted discussions may be openly discouraged. This is especially
true for girls, who are informed by their mothers and older sisters that
silence in courtship is a sign of modesty and that an eagerness to speak betrays previous experience with men. In extreme cases, they add, it may be
interpreted as a willingness to engage in sexual relations. Said one woman,
aged 32:
This way I have talked to my daughter."Take it easy when boys come around
this camp and want you to go somewherewith them. When they talk to you, just
listen at first.Maybeyou won't know what to say. So don't talk about just anything.
If you talk with those boys right away, then they will know you know all about
them. They will think you've been with many boys before, and they will start
talkingabout that."
3. "Children, coming home" (cagasenakdii). The Western Apache lexeme
iltd'inatsda (reunion) is used to describe encounters between an individual
who has returned home after a long absence and his relatives and friends.
The most common type of reunion, cagaie nakdii (children, coming home),
5 Among the Western Apache, rules of exogamy discourage courtship between members of the same clan (kii aihdnigo) and so-called "related" clans (ki) , with the result
that sweethearts are almost always "non-matrilineal kinsmen" (d6hwakiida). Compared to
"matrilineal kinsmen" (kii), such individuals have fewer opportunities during childhood
to establish close personal relationships and thus, when courtship begins, have relatively
little knowledge of each other. It is not surprising, therefore, that their behavior is similar
to that accorded strangers.

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involves boarding school students and their parents. It occurs in late May
or early in June, and its setting is usually a trading post or school, where
parents congregate to await the arrival of buses bringing the children home.
As the latter disembark and locate their parents in the crowd, one anticipates a flurry of verbal greetings. Typically, however, there are few or none
at all. Indeed, it is not unusual for parents and child to go without speaking
for as long as 15 minutes.
When the silence is broken, it is almost always the child who breaks it.
His parents listen attentively to everything he says but speak hardly at all
themselves. This pattern persists even after the family has reached the privacy of its camp, and two or three days may pass before the child's parents
seek to engage him in sustained conversation.
According to my informants, the silence of Western Apache parents at
(and after) reunions with their children is ultimately predicated on the
possibility that the latter have been adversely affected by their experiences
away from home. Uppermost is the fear that, as a result of protracted exposure to Anglo attitudes and values, the children have come to view their
parents as ignorant, old-fashioned, and no longer deserving of respect. One
of my most thoughtful and articulate informants commented on the problem
as follows:
You just can't tell about those children after they've been with White men for
a long time. They get their minds turned around sometimes. . . they forget where
they come from and get ashamedwhen they come home because their parents and
relatives are poor. They forget how to act with these Apaches and get mad easy.
They walk aroundall night and get into fights.They don't stay at home.
At school, some of them learn to want to be White men, so they come back and
try to act that way. But we are still Apaches!So we don't know them anymore,and it
is like we never knew them. It is hard to talk to them when they are like that.
Apache parents openly admit that, initially, children who have been
away to school seem distant and unfamiliar. They have grown older, of
course, and their physical appearance may have changed. But more fundamental is the concern that they have acquired new ideas and expectations
which will alter their behavior in unpredictable ways. No matter how pressing this concern may be, however, it is considered inappropriate to directly
interrogate a child after his arrival home. Instead, parents anticipate that
within a short time he will begin to divulge information about himself that
will enable them to determine in what ways, if any, his views and attitudes
have changed. This, the Apache say, is why children do practically all the
talking in the hours following a reunion, and their parents remain unusually
silent.

"TO GIVE UP ON WORDS"

221

Said one man, the father of two children who had recently returned from
boarding school in Utah:
Yes, it's right that we didn't talk much to them when they came back, my wife
and me. They were away for a long time, and we didn't know how they would like
it, being home. So we waited. Right away, they started to tell stories about what
they did. Pretty soon we could tell they liked it, being back. That made us feel
good. So it was easy to talk to them again. It was like they were before they went
away.
4. "Getting cussed out" (Vilditee). This lexeme is used to describe any
situation in which one individual, angered and enraged, shouts insults and
criticisms at another. Although the object of such invective is in most cases
the person or persons who provoked it, this is not always the case, because
an Apache who is truly beside himself with rage is likely to vent his feelings
on anyone whom he sees or who happens to be within range of his voice.
Consequently, "getting cussed out" may involve large numbers of people
who are totally innocent of the charges being hurled against them. But
whether they are innocent or not, their response to the situation is the
same. They refrain from speech.
Like the types of situations we have discussed thus far, "getting cussed
out" can occur in a wide variety of physical settings: at ceremonial dancegrounds and trading posts, inside and outside wickiups and houses, on foodgathering expeditions and shopping trips-in short, wherever and whenever
individuals lose control of their tempers and lash out verbally at persons
nearby.
Although "getting cussed out" is basically free of setting-imposed restrictions, the Western Apache fear it most at gatherings where alcohol is being
consumed. My informants observed that especially at "drinking parties"
(dd'idl44), where there is much rough joking and ostensibly mock criticism,
it is easy for well-intentioned remarks to be misconstrued as insults. Provoked in this way, persons who are intoxicated may become hostile and
launch into explosive tirades, often with no warning at all.
The silence of Apaches who are "getting cussed out" is consistently explained in reference to the belief that individuals who are "enraged"
(haskee) are also irrational or "crazy" (bine'idji). In this condition, it is
said, they "forget who they are" and become oblivious to what they say or
do. Concomitantly, they lose all concern for the consequences of their actions on other people. In a word, they are dangerous. Said one informant:
When people get mad they get crazy.Then they start yelling and saying bad
things. Some say they are going to kill somebodyfor what he has done. Some keep

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it up that way for a long time, maybe walk from camp to camp, real angry, yelling,
crazy like that. They keep it up for a long time, some do.
People like that don't know what they are saying, so you can't tell about them.
When you see someone like that, just walk away. If he yells at you, let him say
whatever he wants to. Let him say anything. Maybe he doesn't mean it. But he
doesn't know that. He will be crazy, and he could try to kill you.

Another Apache said:

When someone gets mad at you and startsyelling, then just don't do anything
to make him get worse. Don't try to quiet him down because he won't know why
you're doing it. If you try to do that, he may just get worse and try to hurt you.
As the last of these statements implies, the Western Apache operate on
the assumption that enraged persons-because they are temporarily "crazy"
-are difficult to reason with. Indeed, there is a widely held belief that
attempts at mollification will serve to intensify anger, thus increasing the
chances of physical violence. The appropriate strategy when "getting cussed
out" is to do nothing, to avoid any action that will attract attention to
oneself. Since speaking accomplishes just the opposite, the use of silence is
strongly advised.
5. "Being with people who are sad" (nde d6big6z66da bigq4). Although
the Western Apache phrase that labels this situation has no precise equivalent in English, it refers quite specifically to gatherings in which an individual finds himself in the company of someone whose spouse or kinsman has
recently died. Distinct from wakes and burials, which follow immediately
after a death, "being with people who are sad" is most likely to occur several
weeks later. At this time, close relatives of the deceased emerge from a period
of intense mourning (during which they rarely venture beyond the limits of
their camps) and start to resume their normal activities within the community. To persons anxious to convey their sympathies, this is interpreted
as a sign that visitors will be welcomed and, if possible, provided with food
and drink. To those less solicitous, it means that unplanned encounters with
the bereaved must be anticipated and prepared for.
"Being with people who are sad" can occur on a foot-path, in a camp, at
church, or in a trading post; but whatever the setting-and regardless of
whether it is the result of a planned visit or an accidental meeting-the
situation is marked by a minimum of speech. Queried about this, my informants volunteered three types of explanations. The first is that persons
"who are sad" are so burdened with "intense grief" (dolgozdoda) that speaking requires of them an unusual amount of physical effort. It is courteous
and considerate, therefore, not to attempt to engage them in conversation.

"TO GIVE UP ON WORDS"

223

A second native explanation is that in situations of this sort verbal

communication is basically unnecessary. Everyone is familiar with what has
happened, and talking about it, even for the purpose of conveying solace
and sympathy, would only reinforce and augment the sadness felt by those
who were close to the deceased. Again, for reasons of courtesy, this is something to be avoided.
The third explanation is rooted in the belief that "intense grief," like
intense rage, produces changes in the personality of the individual who experiences it. As evidence for this, the Western Apache cite numerous instances in which the emotional strain of dealing with death, coupled with an
overwhelming sense of irrevocable personal loss, has caused persons who were
formerly mild and even-tempered to become abusive, hostile, and physically
violent.
That old woman, X, who lives acrossCibecueCreek,one time her first husband
died. After that she cried all the time, for a long time. Then, I guess she got mean
becauseeveryonesaid she dranka lot and got into fights.Even with her close relatives, she did like that for a long time. She was too sad for her husband. That's
whatmadeher like that; it madeher lose her mind.
My father was like that when his wife died. He just stayed home all the time
and wouldn't go anywhere.He didn't talk to any of his relativesor children. He
just said, "I'm hungry. Cook for me." That's all. He stayed that way for a long
time. His mind was not with us. He was still with his wife.
My uncle died in 1941.His wife sure went crazyright away after that. Two days
after they buried the body, we went over there and stayed with those people who
had been left alone. My aunt got mad at us. She said, "Why do you come over
here?You can't bring my husbandback. I can take care of myself and those others
in my camp, so why don't you go home." She sure was mad that time, too sad for
someonewho died. She didn't know what she was sayingbecausein about one week
she came to our camp and said, "My relatives,I'm all right now. When you came
to help me, I had too much sadnessand my mind was no good. I said bad words to
you. But now I am all rightand I know what I am doing."
As these statements indicate, the Western Apache assume that a person
suffering from "intense grief" is likely to be disturbed and unstable. Even
though he may appear outwardly composed, they say, there is always the
possibility that he is emotionally upset and therefore unusually prone to
volatile outbursts. Apaches acknowledge that such an individual might welcome conversation in the context of "being with people who are sad," but, on
the other hand, they fear it might prove incendiary. Under these conditions,

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which resemble those in Situation No. 4, it is considered both expedient and

appropriate to keep silent.
6. "Being with someone for whom they sing" (nde bidddlstddha big4Q).
The last type of situation to be described is restricted to a small number of
physical locations and is more directly influenced by temporal factors than
any of the situations we have discussed so far. "Being with someone for
whom they sing" takes place only in the context of "curing ceremonials"
(gojitad; edotdt). These events begin early at night and come to a close
shortly before dawn the following day. In the late fall and throughout the
winter, curing ceremonials are held inside the patient's wickiup or house. In
the spring and summer, they are located outside, at some open place near the
patient's camp or at specially designated dance grounds where group rituals
of all kinds are regularly performed.
Prior to the start of a curing ceremonial, all persons in attendance may
feel free to talk with the patient; indeed, because he is so much a focus of
concern, it is expected that friends and relatives will seek him out to offer
encouragement and support. Conversation breaks off, however, when the
patient is informed that the ceremonial is about to begin, and it ceases entirely when the presiding medicine man commences to chant. From this
point on, until the completion of the final chant next morning, it is inappropriate for anyone except the medicine man (and, if he has them, his
aides) to speak to the patient.6
In order to appreciate the explanation Apaches give for this prescription,
we must briefly discuss the concept of "supernatural power" (diyi') and describe some of the effects it is believed to have on persons at whom it is
directed. Elsewhere (Basso 1969:30) I have defined "power" as follows:
The term diyi' refersto one or all of a set of abstractand invisible forceswhich
are said to derive from certain classesof animals, plants, minerals,meteorological
phenomena,and mythologicalfigureswithin the WesternApache universe.Any of
the various powersmay be acquiredby man and, if properlyhandled, used for a
varietyof purposes.
A power that has been antagonized by disrespectful behavior towards its
source may retaliate by causing the offender to become sick. "Power-caused
illnesses" (kdsiti diyi' bit) are properly treated with curing ceremonials in
which one or more medicine men, using chants and various items of ritual
paraphernalia, attempt to neutralize the sickness-causing power with
powers of their own.
6 I have witnessed over 75 curing ceremonials since 1961 and have seen this rule
violated only 6 times. On 4 occasions,drunkswere at fault. In the other 2 cases, the patient
fell asleep and had to be awakened.

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Roughly two-thirds of my informants assert that a medicine man's

power actually enters the body of the patient; others maintain that it simply
closes in and envelops him. In any case, all agree that the patient is brought
into intimate contact with a potent supernatural force which elevates him
to a condition labeled g6diyo' (sacred, holy).
The term godiyo' may also be translated as "potentially harmful" and, in
this sense, is regularly used to describe classes of objects (including all sources
of power) that are surrounded with taboos. In keeping with the semantics of
g6diyd', the Western Apache explain that, besides making patients holy,
power makes them potentially harmful. And it is this transformation, they
explain, that is basically responsible for the cessation of verbal communication during curing ceremonials.
Said one informant:
When they start singing for someone like that, he sort of goes away with what
the medicine man is working with (i.e., power). Sometimespeople they sing for
don't know you, even after it (the curing ceremonial) is over. They get holy, and
you shouldn'ttry to talk to them when they are like that . . . it's best to leave them
alone.
Another informant made similar comments:
When they sing for someone,what happens is like this: that man they sing for
doesn't know why he is sick or which way to go. So the medicine man has to show
him and work on him. That is when he gets holy, and that makeshim go off somewherein his mind, so you shouldstay awayfromhim.
Because Apaches undergoing ceremonial treatment are perceived as
having been changed by power into something different from their normal
selves, they are regarded with caution and apprehension. Their newly acquired status places them in close proximity to the supernatural and, as such,
carries with it a very real element of danger and uncertainty. These conditions combine to make "being with someone for whom they sing" a situation
in which speech is considered disrespectful and, if not exactly harmful, at
least potentially hazardous.
VI

Although the types of situations described above differ from one another
in obvious ways, I will argue in what follows that the underlying determinants of silence are in each case basically the same. Specifically, I will attempt
to defend the hypothesis that keeping silent in Western Apache culture is
associated with social situations in which participants perceive their relationships vis-a-vis one another to be ambiguous and/or unpredictable.

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Let us begin with the observation that, in all the situations we have
described, silence is defined as appropriate with respect to a specific individual or individuals. In other words, the use of speech is not directly curtailed by the setting of a situation nor by the physical activities that accompany it but, rather, by the perceived social and psychological attributes of
at least one focal participant.
It may also be observed that, in each type of situation, the status of the
focal participant is marked by ambiguity-either because he is unfamiliar to
other participants in the situation or because, owing to some recent event, a
status he formerly held has been changed or is in a process of transition.
Thus, in Situation No. 1, persons who earlier considered themselves
"strangers" move towards some other relationship, perhaps "friend"
(sidikee), perhaps "enemy" (sikedndii). In Situation No. 2, young people
who have had relatively limited exposure to one another attempt to adjust
to the new and intimate status of "sweetheart." These two situations are
similar in that the focal participants have little or no prior knowledge of
each other. Their social identities are not as yet clearly defined, and their
expectations, lacking the foundation of previous experience, are poorly
developed.
Situation No. 3 is somewhat different. Although the participantsparents and their children-are well known to each other, their relationship
has been seriously interrupted by the latter's prolonged absence from home.
This, combined with the possibility that recent experiences at school have
altered the children's attitudes, introduces a definite element of unfamiliarity
and doubt. Situation No. 3 is not characterized by the absence of role expectations but by the participants' perception that those already in existence
may be outmoded and in need of revision.
Status ambiguity is present in Situation No. 4 because a focal participant
is enraged and, as a result, considered "crazy." Until he returns to a more
rational condition, others in the situation have no way of predicting how
he will behave. Situation No. 5 is similar in that the personality of a focal
participant is seen to have undergone a marked shift which makes his actions
more difficult to anticipate. In both situations, the status of focal participants
is uncertain because of real or imagined changes in their psychological
makeup.
In Situation No. 6, a focal participant is ritually transformed from an
essentially neutral state to one which is contextually defined as "potentially
harmful." Ambiguity and apprehension accompany this transition, and, as
in Situations No. 4 and 5, established patterns of interaction must be waived
until the focal participant reverts to a less threatening condition.

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227

This discussion points up a third feature characteristic of all situations:

the ambiguous status of focal participants is accompanied either by the
absence or suspension of established role expectations. In every instance,
non-focal participants (i.e., those who refrain from speech) are either uncertain of how the focal participant will behave towards them or, conversely,
how they should behave towards him. Stated in the simplest way possible,
their roles become blurred with the result that established expectations-if
they exist-lose their relevance as guidelines for social action and must be
temporarily discarded or abruptly modified.
We are now in a position to expand upon our initial hypothesis and
make it more explicit.
1. In WesternApacheculture,the absenceof verbalcommunicationis associated
with social situationsin which the status of focal participantsis ambiguous.
2. Under these conditions, fixed role expectations lose their applicability and
the illusionof predictabilityin socialinteractionis lost.
3. To sum up and reiterate: keeping silent among the Western Apache is a
responseto uncertaintyand unpredictabilityin social relations.
VII
The question remains to what extent the foregoing hypothesis helps to
account for silence behavior in other cultures. Unfortunately, it is impossible
at the present time to provide anything approaching a conclusive answer.
Standard ethnographies contain very little information about the circumstances under which verbal communication is discouraged, and it is only
within the past few years that problems of this sort have engaged the attention of sociolinguists. The result is that adequate cross-cultural data are
almost completely lacking.
As a first step towards the elimination of this deficiency, an attempt is
now being made to investigate the occurrence and interpretation of silence
in other Indian societies of the American Southwest. Our findings at this
early stage, though neither fully representative nor sufficiently comprehensive, are extremely suggestive. By way of illustration, I quote below from
portions of a preliminary report prepared by Priscilla Mowrer (1970), herself
a Navajo, who inquired into the situational features of Navajo silence behavior in the vicinity of Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation in east-central Arizona.
I. Silence and Courting: Navajo youngstersof opposite sexes just getting to
know one another say nothing, except to sit close together and maybe hold hands.
. .. In public, they may try not to let on that they are interested in each other,
but in private it is another matter. If the girl is at a gatheringwhere the boy is

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also present, she may go off by herself. Falling in step, the boy will generally follow.
They may just walk around or find some place to sit down. But, at first, they will
not say anything to each other.
II. Silence and Long Absent Relatives: When a male or female relative returns
home after being gone for six months or more, he (or she) is first greeted with a
handshake. If the returnee is male, the female greeter may embrace him and cry-the
male, meanwhile, will remain dry-eyed and silent.
III. Silence and Anger: The Navajo tend to remain silent when being shouted
at by a drunk or angered individual because that particular individual is considered
temporarily insane. To speak to such an individual, the Navajo believe, just tends
to make the situation worse. . . . People remain silent because they believe that
the individual is not himself, that he may have been witched, and is not responsible
for the change in his behavior.
IV. Silent Mourning: Navajos speak very little when mourning the death of a
relative.. . . The Navajo mourn and cry together in pairs. Men will embrace one
another and cry together. Women, however, will hold one another's hands and cry
together.
V. Silence and the Ceremonial Patient: The Navajo consider it wrong to talk to
a person being sung over. The only people who talk to the patient are the
medicine man and a female relative (or male relative if the patient is male) who
is in charge of food preparation. The only time the patient speaks openly is when
the medicine man asks her (or him) to pray along with him.
These observations suggest that striking similarities may exist between
the types of social contexts in which Navajos and Western Apaches refrain
from speech. If this impression is confirmed by further research, it will lend
obvious cross-cultural support to the hypothesis advanced above. But regardless of the final outcome, the situational determinants of silence seem
eminently deserving of further study. For as we become better informed
about the types of contextual variables that mitigate against the use of verbal
codes, we should also learn more about those variables that encourage and
promote them.
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