Half-Truths

The term half-truth, when used intentionally, refers to a communicative strategy used to manipulate the amount of truth in a statement in such a way that it causes the hearer to draw incorrect or incomplete conclusions and make false assumptions. Truth, here, does not mean the objective truth. It means some state of affairs that, correctly or not, the speaker believes to be true.

As the name indicates, half-truth is partial truth. The speaker reveals only part of the truth, while concealing another part that is important for the hearer to know, and the speaker is aware of this concealment. Consider an example in which a schoolgirl puts off doing her homework, even though she does not have much time, and goes out to play with her friends. It is chilly and damp outside, and when she gets back home she begins to feel feverish. The next day, her teacher asks her why her homework was not finished. The girl says, “I got sick yesterday, that's why.” What she says is true, but it is not the whole truth. She discloses only part of what she considers to be a complete disclosure, while keeping the other relevant part concealed.

In cooperative communication, there is an assumption that speakers will frame their utterances such that they are complete, that is, they do not leave out any important information, they are truthful, relevant to the context, and clear or unambiguous. Strategic use of half-truths exploits one of these hearer assumptions about the nature of a speaker's utterance, as half-truths are not “complete” and exclude some potentially risky piece of information. It is the deliberate concealment of such important and relevant information, and not some trivia, to cause the hearer to make false assumptions that makes it a half-truth.

Half-truths are deceptive because in a conversation between two people, there is an implicit trust that if one knows something that they are aware the other would like to know, they would tell the other person. If they don't, especially if the conversation is about the same context, it would be a violation of trust.