Valentin N. Vološinov and Expressive Intonation: Between Tragedy and Triumph

Abstract

This work thematizes the thought of Valentin N. Vološinov regarding the evaluative nature of language, with emphasis on the concept of expressive intonation. In the first section, the text briefly recovers the status of expressiveness in Vološinov’s time; in the second section, this text presents an exposition of the author’s main considerations, alongside notes from Medvedev and Bakhtin; in the third section, the present text highlights the implications of expressive intonation, especially considering written practices. This work argues that if, on the one hand, expressive intonation seems to indicate the lake of fixed parameters for validating an interpretation—which could be seen as a methodological tragedy, as it undermines positivist predictability—, on the other hand, expressive intonation seems to indicate the impossibility of limiting the heterogeneity of interpretations—which proves to be an epistemological triumph, as it protects the discursive act from any positivist attack.