Toward semiotic dialogism - The role of sign mediation in the dialogical self

Mikhail Bakhtin's notions of a positioned voice and the polyphonic novel have significantly influenced the concept of the dialogical self. It is argued that introducing the idea of semiotic mediation can further develop the concept. Shotter's conceptualization of semiotic positions is used as a means by which this integrative attempt is carried out. The importance of 'the life of the sign' in and for dialogical relationships is obvious in psychotherapy with its collaborative effort to create semiotic tools of self-reflection and self-understanding. Two excerpts from psychotherapeutic work are presented in order to illustrate how signs and dialogical relationships may be integrated into a single unit of analysis.