Cover not available
Part of
Normativity in Language and Linguistics
Edited by Aleksi Mäkilähde, Ville Leppänen and Esa Itkonen
[Studies in Language Companion Series 209] 2019
► pp. 151–182

Language as a system of norms and the Voloshinovian critique of abstract objectivism

Valentin Voloshinov’s philosophy of linguistics is sometimes presented as an alternative to the Saussurean doctrine, especially in the dialogical approach to language. The purpose of this study is to review Voloshinov’s philosophy of linguistics and to critically examine his critique of the Saussurean position, which he calls abstract objectivism, in order to determine whether his critique is accurate, and to ascertain whether his concept of linguistics offers a viable alternative to the Saussurean position. The analysis of Voloshinov’s critique is based on the key Saussurean concepts of langue, parole and synchrony. In addition, the study also discusses Voloshinov’s theory of meaning, the role of written language in linguistic study and the normativity of language. Based on the results of the study, Voloshinov’s philosophy of linguistics does not offer a viable alternative to the Saussurean position, as it presupposes it.

Keywords: Voloshinov, Saussure, langue , parole , norms, normativity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.On the dialogical approach and Voloshinov’s theory of language
  • 3.Voloshinov on the philosophy of language
    • 3.1Voloshinov’s theory of signs
    • 3.2Two trends of thought
    • 3.3The mistakes of abstract objectivism
    • 3.4The roots of abstract objectivism
    • 3.5Voloshinov on meaning
    • 3.6Voloshinov’s theory of the utterance
  • 4.On Voloshinov’s critique of abstract objectivism
    • 4.1General remarks
    • 4.2On the concept of langue
    • 4.3On the concept of parole
    • 4.4On synchrony
    • 4.5On Voloshinov’s theory of meaning
    • 4.6On “written language bias”
    • 4.7On normativity
  • 5.Conclusion: Language as a system of norms
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 December 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.209.06laa
References
Alpatov, Vladimir
2004 The Bakhtin Circle and problems in linguistic. In The Bakhtin Circle. In the Master’s Absence, Craig Brandist, David Shephard & Galin Tihanov (eds), 70–96. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
2010 Soviet linguistics of the 1920s and 1930s and the scholarly heritage. In Politics and the Theory of Language in the USSR 1917–1938. The Birth of Sociological Linguistics, Craig Brandist & Katya Chown (eds), 17–34. London: Anthem Press.Google Scholar
Anttila, Raimo
1977 Analogy. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bakhtin, Mikhail M.
1986 Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, translated by Vern Mcgee. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Bailey, Guy, Wikle, Tom, Tillery, Jan & Sand, Lori
1991 The apparent time construct. Language Variation and Change 3: 241–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Guy
2002 Real and apparent time. In The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, Jack K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill & Natalie Schilling-Estes (eds), 312–332. Malden MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas
1988 Variation Across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bloomfield, Leonard
[1929] 1970 Review of Liebich. In A Leonard Bloomfield Anthology, Charles F. Hockett (ed.), 219–226. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Boas, Franz
[1911] 1964 On grammatical categories. In Language in Culture and Society, Dell Hymes (ed.), 121–123. New York NY: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Bowie, David & Yaeger-Dror, Malcah
2014 Phonological change in real time. In The Oxford Handbook of Historical Phonology, Patrick Honeybone & Joseph Salmons (eds). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Brandist, Craig
2002 The Bakhtin Circle. Philosophy, Culture and Politics. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
2004 Voloshinov’s dilemma: On the philosophical roots of the dialogic theory of the utterance. In The Bakhtin Circle. In the Master’s Absence, Craig Brandist, David Shephard & Galin Tihanov (eds), 97–124. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
2015 The Dimensions of Hegemony. Language, Culture and Politics in Revolutionary Russia. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Chambers, Jack K.
1995 Sociolinguistic Theory. Linguistic Variation and its Social Significance. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
1965 Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
[1964] 1966 Current Issues in Linguistic Theory. The Hague: Mouton & Co.Google Scholar
Coseriu, Eugenio
[1958] 1974 Synchronie, Diachronie und Geschichte. München: Wilhem Finck.Google Scholar
Coulmas, Florian
1989 The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Givón, T.
1995 Functionalism and Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goody, Jack
1977 The Domestication of the Savage Mind. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Harris, Roy
1980 The Language Makers. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
1981 The Language Myth. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
1987 The Language Machine. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
1990 On redefining linguistics. In Redefining Linguistics, Hayley G. Davis & Talbot J. Taylor (eds), 18–52. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hirschkop, Ken
1999 Mikhael Bakhtin. An Aesthetic for Democracy. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hjelmslev, Louis
[1953] 1969 Prolegomena to a Theory of Languag, rev. edn, translated by Francis J. Whitfield. Madison WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Hockett, Charles
[1968] 1970 The State of the Art. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
von Humboldt, Wilhelm
1836 Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluß auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts. The Internet Archive, 28 August 2008, [URL] (5 May 2019).Google Scholar
Hymes, Dell & John Fought
1981 American Structuralism. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1980 Qualitative vs. quantitative analysis in linguistics. In Evidence and Argumentation in Linguistics, Thomas A. Perry (ed.), 334–366. Berlin: de Guyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1983 Causality in Linguistic Theory. A Critical Investigation into the Philosophical and Methodological Foundations of ’Non-Autonomous’ Linguistics. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
1984 On the ‘rationalist’ conception of linguistic change. Diachronica 1(2): 203–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1991 Universal History of Linguistics. India, China, Arabia, Europe [Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 65]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996 Concerning the generative paradigm. Journal of Pragmatics 25(4): 471–501. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003 What is Language? A Study in the Philosophy of Language [Publications in General Linguistics 8]. Turku: University of Turku.Google Scholar
2005a Concerning the synthesis between intuition-based study of norms and observation-based study of corpora. SKY Journal of Linguistics 18: 357–377.Google Scholar
2005b Ten Non-European Languages. An Aid to the Typologist [Publications in General Linguistics 9]. Turku: University of Turku.Google Scholar
2005c Analogy as Structure and Process. Approaches in Linguistics, Cognitive Psychology and Philosophy of Science [Human Cognitive Processing 14]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 The central role of normativity in language and in linguistics. In The Shared Mind. Perspectives on Intersubjectivity [Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research 12], Jordan Zlatev, Timothy P. Racine, Chris Sinha & Esa Itkonen (eds), 279–306. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010a Maailman kielten erilaisuus ja samuus. Osa III (The Difference and Sameness of World’s Languages. Part III). Turku: University of Turku.Google Scholar
2010b Synchrony and diachrony. In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences, P. Hogan (ed.), 821. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
2011 On Coseriu’s legacy. Energeia 3: 1–29.Google Scholar
Joseph, John E.
1997 The “language myth” myth: Or, Roy Harris’s red herrings. In Linguistics Inside Out. Roy Harris and His Critics [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 148], George Wolf & Nigel Love (eds), 9–41. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul
1994 Pāṇinian linguistics. In The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Ronald E. Asher & James M. Y. Simpson (eds), 2918–2923. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Koerner, E. F. Konrad
1972 Hermann Paul and synchronic linguistics. Lingua 29: 274–307. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laasanen, Mikko
2016 Näennäisaikametodin taustaoletusten teoreettista tarkastelua (On the background hypotheses of the apparent time method: A theoretical study). Virittäjä 120(1): 57–83.Google Scholar
Labov, William
1972 Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
1994 Principles of Linguistic Change, Vol. 1: Internal Factors. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lähteenmäki, Mika
1998 On meaning and understanding: A dialogical approach. Dialogism 1: 74–91.Google Scholar
2002 Vološinov and Cassirer: A case of plagiarism? Historiagraphia Linguistica 29(1–2): 121–144. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004 Between relativism and absolutism: Towards an emergentist definition of meaning potential. In Bakhtinian Perspectives on Language and Culture. Meaning in Language, Art and New Media, Finn Bostad, Craig Brandist, Lars Sigfred Evensen & Hege Charlotte Faber (eds), 91–113. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Linell, Per
1982 The Written Language Bias in Linguistics. Linköping: The University of Linköping.Google Scholar
1988 The impact of literacy on the conception of language: The case of linguistics. In The Written World. Studies in Literate Thought and Action, Roger Säljö (ed.), 41–58. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
1998 Approaching Dialogue. Talk, Interaction and Contexts in Dialogical Perspectives [Impact: Studies in Language and Society 3]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 The Written Language Bias in Linguistics. Its Nature, Origins and Transformations. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 Towards a dialogical linguistics. In Proceedings of the XII International Bakhtin Conference. Jyväskylä, Finland 18–22 July 2005, Mika Lähteenmäki, Hannele Dufva, Sirpa Leppänen & Piia Varis (eds), 157–172. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.Google Scholar
Love, Nigel
1990 The locus of languages in a redefined linguistics. In Redefining Linguistics, Hayley G. Davis & Talbot J. Taylor (eds), 53–117. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marková, Ivana
1990 Introduction. In The Dynamics of Dialogue, Ivana Marková & Klaus Foppa (eds), 1–22. New York NY: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Marková, Ivana & Foppa, Klaus
(eds) 1990 The Dynamics of Dialogue. New York NY: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Mustanoja, Liisa
2011 Idiolekti ja sen muuttuminen. Reaaliaikatutkimus Tampereen puhekielestä (Idiolect and its Change. A Real Time Study of the Tampere Spoken Language). Tampere: University of Tampere.Google Scholar
Nevalainen, Terttu & Raumolin-Brunberg, Helena
2012 Historical sociolinguistics: Origins, motivations, and paradigms. In The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics, Juan Manuel Hernández-Campoy & Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre (eds), 22–40. Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olson, David
1994 The World on Paper. The Conceptual and Cognitive Implications of Writing and Reading. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Paul, Hermann
[1880] 1960 Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte, 6th edn. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Poole, Brian
2001 From phenomenology to dialogue: Max Scheler’s phenomonological tradition and Mikhail Bakhtin’s development from ‘Towards the philosophy of the act’ to his study of Dostoevsky. In Bakhtin and Cultural Theory, revised and expanded 2nd edn. Ken Hirschkop & David Shepherd (eds), 109–135. Manchester: Manchester Univeristy Press.Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R.
[1972] 1975 Objective Knowledge. An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Robins, Robert Henry
[1967] 1990 A Short History of Linguistics, 3rd edn. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Romaine, Suzanne
1982 Socio-Historical Linguistics. It’s Status and Methodology. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rommetveit, Ragnar
1988 On literacy and the myth of literal meaning. In The Written World. Studies in Literate Thought and Action, Roger Säljö (ed.), 13–40. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
1990 On axiomatic features of a dialogical approach to language and mind. In The Dynamics of Dialogue, Ivana Marková & Klaus Foppa (eds), 83–104. New York NY: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
1992 Outlines of a dialogically based social-cognitive approach to human cognition and communication. In The Dialogical Alternative. Towards a Theory of Language and Mind, Astri Heen Wold (ed.), 19–44. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.Google Scholar
Sanders, Carol
2006 Introduction. In Writings in General Linguistics, Simon Bouquet, Rudolf Engler, Carol Sanders & Matthew Pires (eds), xviii–xxx. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Sankoff, Gillian
2005 Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. In Sociolinguistics. An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society, Norbert Dittmar, Klaus J. Mattheier & Ammon Ulrich (eds), 1003–1013. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
de Saussure, Ferdinand
1916 Cours de linguistique générale. Paris: Payot.Google Scholar
1968 Cours de linguistique générale. Édition critique par Rudolf Engler, Tome 1. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
1974 Cours de linguistique générale. Édition critique par Rudolf Engler, Tome 2: Appendice. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
2002 Écrits de linguistique générale, edited by Simon Bouquet & Rudolf Engler. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
2006 Writings in General Linguistics, edited by Simon Bouquet, Rudolf Engler, Carol Sanders & Matthew Pires, translated by Carol Sanders & Matthe Pires. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
[1959] 2012 Course in General Linguistics, translated by Wade Baskin. London: Forgotten Books.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward
1925 Sound patterns in language. Language 1(2): 37–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sinha, Chris & Rodríguez, Cintia
2008 Language and the signifying object: From convention to imagination. In The Shared Mind: Perspectives on Intersubjectivity [Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 12], Jordan Zlatev, Timothy P. Racine, Chris Sinha & Esa Itkonen (eds), 357–378. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thibault, Paul J.
1997 Re-reading Saussure. The Dynamics of Signs in Social Life. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tihanov, Galin
1998 Vološinov, ideology, and language: The birth of Marxist sociology from the spirit of Lebensphilosophie . The South Atlantic Quarterly 97(3–4): 599–621.Google Scholar
2000 The Master and the Slave. Lukács, Bakhtin, and the Ideas of Their Time. Oxford: Calendon Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Voloshinov, Valentin
1929 Marksizm i Filosofiya Yazyka. Leningrad: Priboy.Google Scholar
[1973] 1986 Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, translated by Ladislav Matejka & Irwin R. Titunik. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wold, Astri Heen
(ed.) 1992 The Dialogical Alternative. Towards a Theory of Language and Mind. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.Google Scholar