In semidilute polyelectrolyte solutions, reduced viscosity (eta(r)) versus concentration (c(p)) plots follow the relation eta(r) similar to c(p)(n), where n is dependent on the chain conformations. Using de Gennes＇ scaling arguments, we show that the average end-to-end distance of a polyelectrolyte chain, R = N-a(v) (N is the number of mers in a chain and a is the length per mer), can be estimated by v = (n + 2)/3(n + 1). The new scaling relation was employed to estimate the chain conformations of poly(xylylene tetrahy-drothiophenium chloride) (PXT) in salt-free and salt-containing aqueous and methanol solutions.