Despite the fact that Bakhtin and Labov, who are two social theorists of language, share different traditions (philosophical and empirical ones, respectively), this article shows the comparability of these two approaches, in terms of approximations and distances, in relation to the following aspects: (i) the "sociological theory"; (ii) the research methodology and a certain subject's conception; (iii) the linguistic variation/ change and the stylistic variation; and (iv) the relation established between language, society and identity. We conclude that an approach that combines both theories is possible only if the language conception adopted is intrinsically related to: the way language functions, the identity aspect and the social world.
Bakhtin; Labov; language; society