DIALOGISM AND POLYPHONY

This conference is based on some of the main issues from Bakhtin's writings. Bakhtin focused on the notion of dialogism, and considered the consequences that the adoption of such a standpoint might bring into linguistic analysis. In a further step, we attempt to compare the notion of polyphony, as introduced by Bakhtin in his 1929 work on Dostoievsky's novels, with the enunciative polyphony developed by Ducrot following up Bally's studies. After having outlined the distinction between speaker and enunciator, and defended the point that a speaker can never withdraw from his enunciation, we will examine a number of phenomena revealing the presence of distinct voices among discourse, that may be accounted for in terms of polyphony as well as of dialogism. Both notions are considered as forming a continuum, a standpoint allowing us to highlight proximity as well as difference between them.