heteroglossia

This Bakhtin listserv summarizes heteroglossia and suggests some authors I ought to read.

For instance, Karine Zbinden: "Bakhtin begins his argument about centripetal
and centrifugal forces with a few historical observations...[and]...details the diverse ways in which other 'dialects' have been suppressed....Heteroglossia thus accounts for both the common social nature of language as a shared code and for the individual appropriation of language in use."

Another link with great quotes, to wit:

p.272 But this occurs in the midst of heteroglossia, which grows as long as language is alive. ëEvery concrete utterance of a speaking subject serves as a point where centrifugal as well as centrapetal forces are brought to bear. The processes of centralization and decentralization, of unification and disunification, intersect in the utterance; the utterance not only answers the requirements of its own language as an individualized embodiment of a speech act, but it answers the requirements of heteroglossia as well; it is in fact an active participant in such speech diversity.í