Bakhtin and the history of the language

One of the most remarkable facts about the history of the language as a field of academic research in recent years has been its tenacious resistance to modem theoretical work. For major theorists, Bakhtin's work has been resolutely ignored in the history of the language, despite the fact that this work seems to offer a number of crucial insights which open up new directions in the field. If dialogism-monologism are key themes in Bakhtin's work in general, then monoglossia, polyglossia, and heteroglossia would seem to have particular importance for the history of the language. His theoretical and historical treatment of forms of discourse appears to provide the foundations for bridging the gap between the internal and external approaches - or for exposing the division as theoretically untenable and regressive. This chapter considers the relevance of Bakhtin to the field of study entitled the history of the language.