Three colloquium papers are presented on two fields of linguistics, dialogism (the study of dialogue content) and polyphony (the representation of different sounds by the same letter or symbol). The first paper, by J. Moeschler, examines dialogism, dialogue, and polyphony from the perspective of the pragmatics of the utterance and the pragmatics of discourse. The second paper, by A. Reboul, discusses a theory for the interpretation of utterances in romanesque fiction. The final paper, by C. Rubattel, looks at polyphony, syntax, and the demarcation of the utterance. The essays are presented in the context of a discussion of the work of Mikhail Bakhtine, a linguist and philosopher. (MSE)