 |
|
Volume 2 Number 1
Fall 2007
| On the Notion
of Voice: An Exploration from a Psycholinguistic Perspective with
Developmental Implications Marie-Cécile Bertau University of Munich, Germany |
pp. 133-161 |
 |
| ABSTRACT. The
notion of voice is explored in two steps. Firstly, Bakhtin's
understanding of voice is sketched. Secondly, a psycholinguistic
perspective is developed where voice is first of all a concrete
auditive-vocal event. Five key concepts are used to describe the
phenomenon: indexicality, body, intonation, imitation, and
internalization. Indexicality refers to voice as index means for
speaker/listeners, pointing to the actual shared situation of
communicating persons; further, voice indexes the speaking body which
is itself socio-culturally shaped. Intonation is viewed as being deeply
socially and dialogically shaped. Imitation and internalization are
explored in regard to voice acquisition in ontogenesis. Mutual
imitation of child and caregiver in early communication and speech
acquisition form an incessant movement from the one to the other,
intermingling the voices of both persons. Eventually, the voice of a
specific other leads the internalization process, voice being its
“semiotic mechanism”. As a result, voice is thought to be a meaningful,
perceivable and experienced form tied to another person. This form
serves as a powerful mechanism of internalization: vivid materiality
becomes a psychological process. |
||
| Keywords: voice, intonation, imitation, internalization, dialogical psycholinguistics | ||