Understanding Peace Consciousness and Its Language: Unfinishedness

Abstract

This article will attempt to elucidate the concept of the language of peace as a medium through which people can express their peace consciousness. First, peace consciousness is explored in some depth. It is suggested that unfinishedness, dialogicality, and interdependence are aspects of human nature that should be honored to achieve peace consciousness. This article then reviews unfinishedness and the ways it may translate into corresponding verbal and non‐verbal elements of the language of peace such as modal verbs and adjuncts, the future‐oriented conditional/suppositional mood, ellipses and question marks, the softening of Extreme Case Formulations, and living silence.