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Article published In:
Integrating dialogue
Edited by Răzvan Săftoiu and Adrian Pablé
[Language and Dialogue 8:1] 2018
► pp. 159–179

Integrating self, voice, experience

Some thoughts on Harris’s idea of self communication and its relevance to a dialogical account of languaging

| University of Agder (Norway)

The experience of hearing one’s own voice during the act of speaking is a form of self-awareness and self-reflection that occurs in relation to and in interaction with the flow of experience, including the experience of other selves and their voices. Self-communication is deeply implicated in and necessary for interpersonal communication (Harris 1996). And yet, it is the latter which is generally taken to be the paradigm case of human languaging. The fundamental role of self-communication is neglected in the language sciences. Starting with the important fact that we hear our own voice when we speak (Harris 1996, chap. 11), this paper examines the central role of self-communication in the emergence of the self and the self’s role in languaging.

Keywords: experience, self, self-communication, languaging, voice
Article outline
  • 1.The human voice and the self
  • 2.The voice, self-communication, and its importance for interpersonal communication
  • 3.The voice, self-awareness, and the flow of experiencing
  • 4.Integrating self-communication: reflexive and transitive dimensions of the voice
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 26 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00010.thi
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