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{{Top}}ponctuation{{Bottom}}

To [[punctuate]] a [[signifying chain]] is to produce [[meaning]]. Before [[punctuation]], there is simply a [[chain]] of [[discourse]]. It is the [[punctuation|listener]]/[[punctuation|receiver]] who [[punctuates]] this [[discourse]] and thereby sanctions [[retroactively]] one particular [[meaning]] of an [[utterance]].

The [[punctuation]] of the [[signifying chain]] is that which creates the [[illusion]] of a fixed [[meaning]]:

<blockquote>"The [[punctuation]], once inserted, fixes the [[meaning]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 99</ref></blockquote>

This is essential in the [[structure]] of [[communication]], where "the sender receives his own message from the receiver." It is illustrated in the "[[graph of desire|elementary cell]]" of the [[graph of desire]].

The operation of [[punctuation]] may be illustrated by reference to two situations which are of fundamental importance to [[psychoanalysis]]: the [[mother]]-[[child]] [[dual relation]], and the [[transference|transferential]] relation between [[analysand]] and [[analyst]].

In the first of these situations, the [[baby]] who has not yet acquired [[speech]] can only articulate his [[need]]s in a very primitive kind of [[demand]], namely by screaming. There is no way of knowing for sure whether a scream articulates hunger, pain, tiredness, fear, or something else, and yet the [[mother]] [[interpretation|interprets]] it in one particular way, thus determining its [[meaning]] [[retroactive]]ly.

[[Punctuation]] is one of the forms which the intervention of the [[analyst]] may take; by [[punctuation|punctuating]] the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]] in an unexpected way, the [[analyst]] can [[retroactively]] alter the [[consciousness|intended]] [[meaning]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]]: "changing the punctuation renews or upsets" the fixed [[meaning]] that the [[analysand]] had attributed to his own [[speech]].<ref>{{E}} p. 99</ref> Such [[punctuation]] is a way of "showing the subject that he is saying more than he thinks he is."<ref>{{S1}} p. 54</ref> The [[analyst]] can [[punctuate]] the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]] simply by [[repetition|repeating]] part of the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]] back to him (perhaps with a different intonation or in a different context). For example, if the [[analysand]] says ''tu es ma mère'' ("you are my mother"), the [[analyst]] may repeat it in such a way as to bring out the homophony of this phrase with ''tuer ma mère'' ("to kill my mother").<ref>{{E}} p. 269</ref>

Alternatively, the [[analyst]] can also [[punctuate]] the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]] by a moment of [[silence]], or by interrupting the [[analysand]], or by terminating the [[session]] at an opportune moment.<ref>{{E}} p. 44</ref> This last form of [[punctuation]] has been a source of controversy throughout the history of [[Lacan]]ian [[psychoanalysis]], since it contravenes the traditional [[IPA]] [[practice]] of [[punctuation|sessions of fixed duration]].

[[Lacan]]'s practice of [[punctuation|sessions of variable duration]] ([[French]]: ''[[punctuation|séances scandées]]'') came to be one of the main reasons that the [[IPA]] gave for excluding him when the [[SFP]] was negotiating for [[IPA]] recognition in the early 1960s. Today, the technique of [[punctuation]], especially as expressed in the practice of [[punctuation|sessions of variable duration]], continues to be a distinctive feature of [[Lacanian]] [[psychoanalysis]].

{{See}}

* [[Communication]]

{{Also}}

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