| Summary: | A useful term in modern linguistics, “polyphony” suggests phenomenon that we can classify in two families : those that deal with allusions to multiple propositions by means of a single utterance ; and those that deal with the presence of multiple enunciating instances within one enunciation. In the first of these two categories, the term “polyphony” suggests a case in which a locutor voluntarily makes multiple propositions heard, without being able to deny having suggested them. The two principal phenomenon studied are intertextuality (Bakhtine) and the presupposition (Ducrot). In the first case, polyphony is intertextual in the sense that an allusion to multiple propositions results from the relationship between a collection of words and a former collection to which it alludes ; in the second case, polyphony is semantic in the sense that an allusion to multiple propositions is prefigured in the meaning of the uttered sentence. We discuss semantic polyphony in the first part of the article. The second theme of studies related to linguistic polyphony, namely the multiplicity of enunciating instances, is also addressed differently in the works inspired from Bakhtine and in those inaugurated by Ducrot. When polyphony is intertextual, the multiplicity of voices results from a multiplicity of responsibilities. When polyphony is semantic, the multiplicity of enunciating instances results not from a multiplicity of responsibilities, but from the fact that the responsibility of the locutor is complex and beckons that it be deconstructed if it is to be described. It’s once again to semantic polyphony that the article turns its attention in presenting the responses that Argumentative Theory of Polyphony offers to questions raised by semantic polyphony.
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