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{{Top}}chaîne signifiante]]'', ''[[chaîne du signifiant{{Bottom}}
At first, in 1956, he speaks not of the [[signifying chain]] but of the ''[[symbolic]]'' [[chain]], by which he denotes a line of descendence into which each [[subject]] is inscribed even before his birth before and after his [[death]], and which influences his destiny [[unconscious|unconsciously]].<ref>{{Ec}} p. 468</ref>
In the same year he speaks of "the "[[signifying chain|chain of discourse]]."<ref>{{S3}} p. 261</ref>
It is in 1957 that [[Lacan]] introduces the term "[[signifying chain]]" to refer to a series of [[signifiers]] which are linked together.
A [[signifying chain]] can never be [[lack|complete]], since it is always possible to add another [[signifier]] to it, ''ad infinitum'', in a way which expresses the ternal nature of [[desire]]; for this reason, [[desire]] is [[metonymy|metonymic]].
The [[chain]] is also [[metonymy|metonymic]] in the production of [[meaning]]; [[signification]] is not present at any one point in the [[chain]], but rather [[meaning]] "insists" in the movement from one [[signifier]] to another.<ref>{{E}} p. 153</ref>
[[Lacan]] speaks of the [[signifying chain]] in linear [[metaphor]]s and circular [[metaphor]]s.
<blockquote>"The linearity that Saussure holds to be constitutive of the chain of discourse applies to the chain of discourse only in the direction in which it is oriented in time."<ref>{{E}} p. 154</ref></blockquote>
On the one hand, the idea of linearity suggests that the [[signifying chain]] is the stream of [[speech]], in which [[signifier]]s are combined in accordance with the laws of grammar -- which [[Saussure]] calls "[[syntagmatic]]" relationships, and [[Lacan]], following [[Jakobson]], locates on the [[metonymic]] axis of [[language]].
The [[signifying chain]] is compared to "rings of a necklace that is a ring in another necklace made of rings."<ref>{{E}} p. 153</ref>
On the other hand, the idea of circularity suggests that the [[signifying chain]] is a series of [[signifier]]s linked by [[free association]]s, just one path through the network of [[signifiers]] which constitutes the [[symbolic]] [[world]] of the [[subject]] -- which [[Saussure]] calls "associative" relationships, and [[Lacan]], following [[Jakobson]], locates on the [[metaphoric]] axis of [[language]].
In truth, the [[signifying chain]] is both of these things.
[[Lacan]] thus combines in one concept the two types of relationship ("[[syntagmatic]]" and "associative") which [[Saussure]] argued existed between [[sign]]s, though for [[Lacan]], the relationship is between [[signifiers]], not [[sign]]s.
{{See}}
* [[Desire]]
{{Also}}
<references/>
[[Category:Linguistics]]
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Symbolic]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:OK]]
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