The tacit adjective comes from Latin, specifically from tacitus, which means quiet. As for its meaning, it is what is not said because it is unnecessary. In this way, if a wordless agreement is reached between two people, a tacit agreement is produced.
Words are not always necessary to understand each other
Although words are the fundamental element of communication, they are not always essential for a correct understanding. In fact, in certain language contexts, messages are understood, that is, they are hidden because they do not appear, but this does not mean that they are not present. In this way, two people who know each other very well can come to understand each other with a simple look and their communication is done without words and tacitly.
The tacit agreement becomes an unwritten agreement in which the people involved commit themselves and in their commitment it is not necessary to sign anything or say anything. Let’s look at two typical situations:
1) two people close a deal verbally and at the end of the meeting they shake hands as a sign of agreement (with this gesture a binding commitment is signed) and
2) an individual lends another an object of value and at no time is the fact that the object must be returned later mentioned.
Despite the fact that the tacit agreement is a mechanism that is deeply rooted in society, in most formal agreements it is desirable that there be an element that obliges compliance with what has been agreed (usually that element is a contract).
tacit or elliptical subject
From a grammatical point of view, in some language contexts it is not necessary to use a subject. This occurs when it is understood who is the subject that is the protagonist of the action and, therefore, it is unnecessary to mention it. In the sentence “I have won the game” the subject is me, but it is not essential to use it, since the verb form already indicates who it is. In the sentence “the other day you won the game” the tacit subject is you. In the sentence “they played in the patio” the subject that is omitted is them.
tacit knowledge
Certain knowledge is evident, but despite this it cannot be explained with words. When this happens we speak of tacit knowledge. In this sense, we identify someone’s voice or recognize her face by an automatic mental process and, therefore, we don’t know how to explain how we do it, but we do it.
Photos: Fotolia – Karolina Chaberek / Vibe
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