Unsaid

The term "unsaid" refers what is not explicitly stated, what is hidden and/or implied in the speech of an individual or a group of people.

The unsaid may be the product of intimidation; of a mulling over of thought; or of bafflement in the face of the inexpressible.Robyn Brandenberg, Powerful Pedagogy (2008) p. 104

Linguistics

Sociolinguistics points out that in normal communication what is left unsaid is as important as what is actually saidR. Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (2011) p. 310—that we expect our auditors regularly to fill in the social context/norms of our conversations as we proceed.J. P. Gee/M. Handforthed., The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis (2013) Ch 10

Basil Bernstein saw one difference between the restricted code and the elaborated code of speech is that more would be left implicit in the former than the latter.R. Mesthrie, Introducing Sociolinguistics (2009) p. 353

Ethnology

In ethnology, ethnomethodology established a strong link between unsaid and axiomatic.

Harold Garfinkel, following Durkheim, stressed that in any given situation, even a legally binding contract, the terms of agreement rest upon the 90% of unspoken assumptions that underlie the visible (spoken) tip of the interactive iceberg.A. Giddens, Positivism and Sociology (1974) p. 72

Edward T. Hall argued that much cross-cultural miscommunication stemmed from neglect of the silent, unspoken, but differing cultural patterns that each participant unconsciously took for granted.Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language (1990) p. vii-viii

Psychoanalysis

Luce Irigaray has emphasised the importance of listening to the unsaid dimension of discourse in psychoanalytic practiceS. Todd ed., Learning Desire (2013) p. 249—something which may shed light on the unconscious phantasies of the person being analysed.M. Edelson, Language and Interpretation in Psychoanalysis (1984) p. 2

Other psychotherapies have also emphasised the importance of the non-verbal component of the patient's communication,Eric Berne, What Do You Say After You Say Hello? (1974) p. 314-7 sometimes privileging this over the verbal content.Fritz Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim (1970) p. 57-8 Behind all such thinking stands Freud's dictum: "no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips...at every pore".Quoted in M. Argyle ed., Social Encounters (1973) p. 133

Cultural examples

Sherlock Holmes is said to have owed his success to his attention to the unsaid in his client's communications.Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language (1990) p. 33
In Small World, the heroine cheekily excuses her lack of note-taking to a Sorbonne professor by saying: "it is not what you say that impresses me most, it is what you are silent about: ideas, morality, love, death, things...Vos silences profonds".David Lodge, Small World (1985) p. 265