Polyphony, Ventriloquism, and Constitution: In Dialogue with Bakhtin

Abstract

Although Bakhtin’s ideas have been mainly explored in the realm of literature and linguistics, his ideas of ventriloquation and polyphony could be mobilized to study the communicative constitution of reality, more generally. Using an excerpt taken from a conversation between two administrators, we show how various forms of ventriloquism actualize themselves in what they say and the way they say it. This kind of analysis amounts to questioning our traditional way of conceiving of discourse and interaction in general, especially in terms of their roles in the constitution of our world. The world we live in is a speaking and personified world; a world that comes to speak through us because people make it speak in a specific way.