Language: A Homogeneous Closed Structure or Heterogeneous Uses?

There has always been a discrepancy between those who viewed language as a mere abstract structure or closed system and those who viewed it as a practical reality of different uses. These two different visualizations of language mark the basic turning point from the structural approach to the post-structural, pragmatic and dialogical approaches to language and meaning. Thus, in order to answer the question posed in this paper, viz.: 'Is language a homogeneous closed structure or heterogeneous reality of different uses?', I will present and discuss how some selected leading scholars of the structural, post-structural, pragmatic and dialogical approaches viewed language in this regard. Keywords: Language, homogeneous, heterogeneous, closed structure or system, different uses, Structuralism, Post-structuralism, pragmatic, and dialogical approaches.