dialogicity

Dialogicity is a term used to describe the extent to which discourse either consists of or promotes dialogue among participants. It refers to the degree to which a speech act, text, or communicative event invites response, acknowledges other voices, and supports the co-construction of meaning. The concept is rooted in dialogic theory, particularly in the work associated with Mikhail Bakhtin, who argued that meaning emerges from the interaction of diverse voices rather than from a single authoritative perspective.

In practice, dialogicity is described by features such as openness to counterpoints, responsiveness to interlocutors, acknowledgment of alternative viewpoints, and the incorporation of replies into ongoing sense-making. In literary studies, dialogicity often concerns the presence and negotiation of multiple voices within a text (polyphony). In rhetoric and communication studies, it characterizes how interactions sustain turn-taking, questioning, and mutual influence.

Applications of dialogicity appear across several domains. In education, dialogic teaching aims to maximize dialogicity to foster critical thinking and student agency. In literature, it helps analysts understand how texts create intersubjective meaning through competing viewpoints. In human–computer interaction and artificial intelligence, dialogicity informs interface and system designs that encourage user input, clarification, and collaborative problem solving.

Limitations and ongoing debates include the view that high dialogicity is not always desirable or feasible, as power dynamics, context, and goals shape when dialogic approaches are appropriate. The term remains flexible and variably defined across disciplines, drawing on related ideas such as Bakhtin’s dialogism and the notion of polyphony.