We always say we choose our partners following our free will, when in fact, it is our cultures, traditions and religions that instilled different set of values ( and desirable virtues ) and as such directly affected what we consider acceptable in our relationships.
Silence is, usually, another form of communication but without all the feeling or impression produced on the ear by a set of vibrations that propagate through an elastic medium such as air. But essentially, it's the same form of communication, just branded with a different name.