dialogisme

Dialogism, also known as dialogisme in French, is a theoretical approach in literary studies and linguistics that treats meaning as the product of dialogic interaction among voices within and around a text. It argues that language is inherently social, shaped by multiple interlocutors, and never a closed, monologic statement.

Origin and figures: The concept is most closely associated with Mikhail Bakhtin and the Bakhtin Circle, with foundational discussions in Dostoevsky’s Poetics (1929) and The Dialogic Imagination (edited by Holquist, 1981). The idea has since influenced a range of disciplines, including literary analysis, linguistics, and cultural studies.

Core ideas: Heteroglossia refers to the coexistence of distinct social languages and voices within a single work. An utterance carries traces of prior discourse and anticipates a hearer, generating meaning through response. Polyphony denotes the presence of multiple independent voices with competing worldviews within a text, rather than a single authorial consciousness. Dialogism treats texts as nodes in a network of social dialogue, crossing genres, classes, and historical periods.

Applications and influence: In literature, dialogism is used to analyze how characters, narrators, and genres interact to produce meaning. It emphasizes intertextuality, voice, and addressivity, and has extended to linguistics, media theory, and cultural studies as a way to understand how discourse circulates and contestations among voices.

Critiques and developments: Some scholars challenge the scope or determinacy of Bakhtin’s claims and seek more nuanced accounts of agency and power. Nonetheless, dialogism remains a foundational framework for understanding language and literature as inherently dialogic.