Contextualising Baxtin’s Linguistic Ideas: The case of metalinguistics

This article discusses the origins and formation of the notion of ‘metalinguistics’ in Mixail Mixajlovič Baxtin’s (1895–1975) writings. It is argued that the discussion of metalinguistics and the division of labour within the study of language in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s may have exerted a more profound influence on the formation of Baxtin’s linguistic views than was previously thought. The article investigates the nature and extent of this interaction and shows that there are interesting parallels between Baxtin’s conception of metalinguistics and the metalinguistics writings of George L. Trager (1906–1992). This suggests that, apart from any purely terminological influence, the way in which Baxtin defined the scope of his metalinguistics as a specific discipline separate from linguistics may have been inspired by the writings of the American structuralists.