POLYPHONY AS EFFECT OF MEANING: SEMIOTIC DEVELOPMENTS

Abstract

This study aims at discussing which are the components of a polyphonic novel. To achieve that we used the analytical resources offered by discursive semiotics and also the philosophical principles of Bakhtin, especially the concept of polyphony, as formulated by Bakhtin (1997). This theoretical base supports our examination of the mechanisms of construction of meaning in the novel Crime and punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky. As a method for this investigation, we present excerpts of the novel abovementioned and investigated the effect of meaning polyphony through generative process of meaning (GREIMAS; COURTÉS, 2008). We assure, semiotically, the polyphony as an effect of meaning inferred from the deep structures to its manifestation in the discursive level. Therefore, our study consists in an interdisciplinary analysis, which aims a dialogue between Bakhtin’s philosophy and Paris School semiotics.