Heteroglossia
Encyclopedia
The term heteroglossia describes the coexistence of distinct varieties within a single "linguistic code
". In Greek hetero = different + glōssa = tongue, language. In this way the term translates the Russian
разноречие [raznorechie] (literally "different-speech-ness"), which was introduced by the Russian linguist Mikhail Bakhtin
in his 1934 paper Слово в романе [Slovo v romane], published in English
as "Discourse in the Novel."
Bakhtin argues that the power of the novel originates in the coexistence of, and conflict between, different types of speech: the speech of characters, the speech of narrators, and even the speech of the author. He defines heteroglossia as "another's speech in another's language, serving to express authorial intentions but in a refracted way." Bakhtin identifies the direct narrative of the author, rather than dialogue between characters, as the primary location of this conflict.
as a literary form best suited for the exploitation of heteroglossia, in direct contrast to epic poetry
(and, in a lesser degree, poetry in general). The linguistic energy of the novel was seen in its expression of the conflict between voices through their adscription to different elements in the novel's discourse.
Any language, in Bakhtin's view, stratifies into many voices: "social dialects, characteristic group behavior, professional jargons, generic languages, languages of generations and age groups, tendentious languages, languages of the authorities, of various circles and of passing fashions." This diversity of voice is, Bakhtin asserts, the defining characteristic of the novel as a genre.
Traditional stylistics, like epic poetry, do not share the trait of heteroglossia. In Bakhtin's words, "poetry depersonalizes 'days' in language, while prose, as we shall see, often deliberately intensifies difference between them..."
Extending his argument, Bakhtin proposes that all languages represent a distinct point of view on the world, characterized by its own meaning and values. In this view, language is "shot through with intentions and accents," and thus there are no neutral words. Even the most unremarkable statement possesses a taste, whether of a profession, a party, a generation, a place or a time. To Bakhtin, words do not exist until they are spoken, and that moment they are printed with the signature of the speaker.
Bakhtin identifies the act of speech, or of writing, as a literary-verbal performance, one that requires speakers or authors to take a position, even if only by choosing the dialect in which they will speak. Separate languages are often identified with separate circumstances. Bakhtin gives an example of an illiterate peasant, who speaks Church Slavonic to God
, speaks to his family in their own peculiar dialect, sings songs in yet a third, and attempts to emulate officious high-class dialect when he dictates petitions to the local government. The prose writer, Bakhtin argues, must welcome and incorporate these many languages into his work.
In examination of the English comic novel, particularly the works of Charles Dickens
, Bakhtin identifies examples of his argument. Dickens parodies both the 'common tongue' and the language of Parliament or high-class banquets, using concealed languages to create humor. In one passage, Dickens shifts from his authorial narrative voice into a formalized, almost epic tone while describing the work of an unremarkable bureaucrat; his intent is to parody the self-importance and vainglory of the bureaucrat's position. The use of concealed speech, without formal markers of a speaker change, is what allows the parody to work. It is, in Bakhtin's parlance, a hybrid utterance. In this instance the conflict is between the factual narrative and the biting hyperbole of the new, epic/formalistic tone.
Bakhtin goes on to discuss the interconnectedness of conversation. Even a simple dialogue, in his view, is full of quotations and references, often to a general "everyone says" or "I heard that.." Opinion and information are transmitted by way of reference to an indefinite, general source. By way of these references, humans selectively assimilate the discourse of others and make it their own.
Bakhtin identifies a specific type of discourse, the "authoritative discourse," which demands to be assimilated by the reader or listener; examples might be religious dogma, or scientific theory, or a popular book. This type of discourse is viewed as past, finished, hierarchically superior, and therefore demands "unconditional allegiance" rather than accepting interpretation. Because of this, Bakhtin states that authoritative discourse plays an insignificant role in the novel. Because it is not open to interpretation, it cannot enter into hybrid utterance.
Bakhtin concludes by arguing that the role of the novel is to draw the authoritative into question, and to allow that which was once considered certain to be conflicted and open to interpretation. In effect, novels not only function through heteroglossia, but must promote it; to do otherwise is an artistic failure.
critique of the perceived teleological and authoritarian character of modernist art and culture. In particular, the latter's strong disdain for popular forms of art and literature — archetypically expressed in Adorno and Horkheimer
's analysis of the culture industry
— has been criticised as a proponent of monoglossia; practitioners of cultural studies
have used Bakhtin's conceptual framework to theorise the critical reappropriation of mass-produced entertainment forms by the public.
Dorothy Hale applied the concept of heteroglossia to African-American literature in "Bakhtin in African American Literary Theory," pointing to a slave narrator remembering his bondage or the racial narrative of the blues as distinctly African-American voices that come into conflict with other dialects. In Hale's view, heteroglossia is similar to W. E. B. Dubois' view of the African American double consciousness, torn between the American experience and African heritage. African American literature, by nature, contains a powerful and persistent heteroglossia. To Hale this is not simply a literary technique but a sign of African-American linguistic identity.
Hale criticizes Dubois for limiting double consciousness to African-Americans alone, identifying African-American double consciousness as a special case of universal heteroglossia, and comparing the plight of the African-American to Bakhtin's hypothetical peasant. To Hale, the fact that heteroglossia is a social construction offers hope for equality to African-Americans because it implies that they are different and inequal only because society makes them so, rather than because of any inherent trait.
Code
A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
". In Greek hetero = different + glōssa = tongue, language. In this way the term translates the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
разноречие [raznorechie] (literally "different-speech-ness"), which was introduced by the Russian linguist Mikhail Bakhtin
Mikhail Bakhtin
Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin was a Russian philosopher, literary critic, semiotician and scholar who worked on literary theory, ethics, and the philosophy of language...
in his 1934 paper Слово в романе [Slovo v romane], published in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as "Discourse in the Novel."
Bakhtin argues that the power of the novel originates in the coexistence of, and conflict between, different types of speech: the speech of characters, the speech of narrators, and even the speech of the author. He defines heteroglossia as "another's speech in another's language, serving to express authorial intentions but in a refracted way." Bakhtin identifies the direct narrative of the author, rather than dialogue between characters, as the primary location of this conflict.
Languages as points of view
Bakhtin viewed the modern novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
as a literary form best suited for the exploitation of heteroglossia, in direct contrast to epic poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
(and, in a lesser degree, poetry in general). The linguistic energy of the novel was seen in its expression of the conflict between voices through their adscription to different elements in the novel's discourse.
Any language, in Bakhtin's view, stratifies into many voices: "social dialects, characteristic group behavior, professional jargons, generic languages, languages of generations and age groups, tendentious languages, languages of the authorities, of various circles and of passing fashions." This diversity of voice is, Bakhtin asserts, the defining characteristic of the novel as a genre.
Traditional stylistics, like epic poetry, do not share the trait of heteroglossia. In Bakhtin's words, "poetry depersonalizes 'days' in language, while prose, as we shall see, often deliberately intensifies difference between them..."
Extending his argument, Bakhtin proposes that all languages represent a distinct point of view on the world, characterized by its own meaning and values. In this view, language is "shot through with intentions and accents," and thus there are no neutral words. Even the most unremarkable statement possesses a taste, whether of a profession, a party, a generation, a place or a time. To Bakhtin, words do not exist until they are spoken, and that moment they are printed with the signature of the speaker.
Bakhtin identifies the act of speech, or of writing, as a literary-verbal performance, one that requires speakers or authors to take a position, even if only by choosing the dialect in which they will speak. Separate languages are often identified with separate circumstances. Bakhtin gives an example of an illiterate peasant, who speaks Church Slavonic to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, speaks to his family in their own peculiar dialect, sings songs in yet a third, and attempts to emulate officious high-class dialect when he dictates petitions to the local government. The prose writer, Bakhtin argues, must welcome and incorporate these many languages into his work.
The hybrid utterance
The hybrid utterance, as defined by Bakhtin, is a passage that employs only a single speaker—the author, for example—but one or more kinds of speech. The juxtaposition of the two different speeches brings with it a contradiction and conflict in belief systems.In examination of the English comic novel, particularly the works of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Bakhtin identifies examples of his argument. Dickens parodies both the 'common tongue' and the language of Parliament or high-class banquets, using concealed languages to create humor. In one passage, Dickens shifts from his authorial narrative voice into a formalized, almost epic tone while describing the work of an unremarkable bureaucrat; his intent is to parody the self-importance and vainglory of the bureaucrat's position. The use of concealed speech, without formal markers of a speaker change, is what allows the parody to work. It is, in Bakhtin's parlance, a hybrid utterance. In this instance the conflict is between the factual narrative and the biting hyperbole of the new, epic/formalistic tone.
Bakhtin goes on to discuss the interconnectedness of conversation. Even a simple dialogue, in his view, is full of quotations and references, often to a general "everyone says" or "I heard that.." Opinion and information are transmitted by way of reference to an indefinite, general source. By way of these references, humans selectively assimilate the discourse of others and make it their own.
Bakhtin identifies a specific type of discourse, the "authoritative discourse," which demands to be assimilated by the reader or listener; examples might be religious dogma, or scientific theory, or a popular book. This type of discourse is viewed as past, finished, hierarchically superior, and therefore demands "unconditional allegiance" rather than accepting interpretation. Because of this, Bakhtin states that authoritative discourse plays an insignificant role in the novel. Because it is not open to interpretation, it cannot enter into hybrid utterance.
Bakhtin concludes by arguing that the role of the novel is to draw the authoritative into question, and to allow that which was once considered certain to be conflicted and open to interpretation. In effect, novels not only function through heteroglossia, but must promote it; to do otherwise is an artistic failure.
Influence of the concept
Bakhtin's view of heteroglossia has been often employed in the context of the postmodernPostmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
critique of the perceived teleological and authoritarian character of modernist art and culture. In particular, the latter's strong disdain for popular forms of art and literature — archetypically expressed in Adorno and Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer was a German-Jewish philosopher-sociologist, famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the 'Frankfurt School' of social research. His most important works include The Eclipse of Reason and, in collaboration with Theodor Adorno, The Dialectic of Enlightenment...
's analysis of the culture industry
Culture industry
Culture industry is a term coined by critical theorists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer , who argued in the chapter of their book Dialectic of Enlightenment, 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' ; that popular culture is akin to a factory producing standardized cultural goods...
— has been criticised as a proponent of monoglossia; practitioners of cultural studies
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
have used Bakhtin's conceptual framework to theorise the critical reappropriation of mass-produced entertainment forms by the public.
Dorothy Hale applied the concept of heteroglossia to African-American literature in "Bakhtin in African American Literary Theory," pointing to a slave narrator remembering his bondage or the racial narrative of the blues as distinctly African-American voices that come into conflict with other dialects. In Hale's view, heteroglossia is similar to W. E. B. Dubois' view of the African American double consciousness, torn between the American experience and African heritage. African American literature, by nature, contains a powerful and persistent heteroglossia. To Hale this is not simply a literary technique but a sign of African-American linguistic identity.
Hale criticizes Dubois for limiting double consciousness to African-Americans alone, identifying African-American double consciousness as a special case of universal heteroglossia, and comparing the plight of the African-American to Bakhtin's hypothetical peasant. To Hale, the fact that heteroglossia is a social construction offers hope for equality to African-Americans because it implies that they are different and inequal only because society makes them so, rather than because of any inherent trait.