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==Jacques Lacan==[[Lacan]] defines the [[sign]] as that which "represents something for someone," in opposition to the [[signifier]], which is "that which represents a subject for another signifier."<ref>{{S11}} p.207</ref> =====Semotics==Ferdinand de Saussure===By engaging with the concept of the [[sign]], [[Lacan]] sets his work in close relation to the [[science]] of [[semiotics]], which has grown rapidly in the twentieth century.  Two main lines of development can be discerned within [[semiotics]]Image: the European line associated with [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] (which [[Saussure]] himself baptized with the name of "[[semiology]]"), and the North American line associated with [[Charles SSAUSSUREANALGORITHM. Peircegif|thumb|200px|right|The Saussurean Sign]]. ==Ferdinand de Saussure==

# the [[signified]], a [[conceptual ]] element (which or [[Saussureconcept]] calls ), and # the [[signifiedsignifier]]), and # a phonological element (called the or sound-[[signifierimage]]).

The two elements are linked by an [[arbitrary ]] but unbreakable bond.

[[Image:SAUSSUREANSIGN.gif|thumb|250px|right|The Saussurean Sign]][[Saussure]] represented the [[sign]] by means of a diagram.<ref>[[Saussure|Saussure, Ferdinand de]]. (1916) ''[[Saussure|Course in General Linguistics]]'', ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana. p.114</ref> In this diagram, the line between the [[signified]] and the [[signifier]] represents union, the reciprocal implication of the two elements. ([[Saussure]] put the [[signifier]] and the [[signified]] in an ellipse which indicates [[structure|structural unity]] of the [[sign]].)

[[Lacan]] takes up the [[Saussure]]an concept of the [[sign]] in his "[[linguistic ]] turn" in [[psychoanalysis]] during the 1950s, but [[subjects ]] it to several modifications. During the 1950s [[Lacan]] began to make us of [[Saussure]]'s [[concepts]] but adapted [[them]] in important ways.

Secondly, [[Lacan]] asserts the [[existence]] of an order of "pure [[signifiers]]," where [[signifier]]s [[exist ]] prior to [[signified]]s; this [[order]] of purely [[logical ]] [[structure]] is the [[unconscious]].  This amounts to a [[destruction ]] of [[Saussure]]'s concept of the [[sign]]; for [[Lacan]], a [[language]] is not composed of [[sign]]s but of [[signifier]]s.

[[Image:SAUSSUREANALGORITHM.gif|right|thumb|Saussurean algorithm|The Saussurean algorithm]] To illustrate the contrast between his own views and those of [[Saussure]], [[Lacan]] replaces [[Saussure]]'s diagram of the [[sign]] with an [[Saussurean algorithm|algorithm]] which, [[Lacan]] argues, should be attributed to [[Saussure]] -- and is thus now sometimes referred to as the "[[Saussure]]an algorithm."<ref>{{E}} p.149</ref> The '''S''' stands for the [[signifier]], and the '''s''' for the [[signified]]; the [[position ]] of the [[signified]] and the [[signifier]] is thus inverted, showing the primacy of the [[signifier]] (which is capitalized, whereas the [[signifier]] is reduced to mere lower-[[case ]] italic).  The arrows and the circle are abolished, representing the [[absence]] of a [[stable ]] or fixed relation between [[signifier]] and [[signified]].  The [[bar]] between the [[signifier]] and the [[signified]] no longer represents union but the [[resistance]] inherent in [[signification]].  For [[Lacan]], this [[algorithm]] defines "the [[topography]] of the [[unconscious]]."<ref>{{E}} p.163</ref> ==Charles S. Peirce==According to [[Peirce]], the [[sign]] is something whcih represents an [[object]] to some interpretant (the term "object can mean, for [[Peirce]], a physical thing, an event, an idea, or another [[sign]]). [[Peirce]] divides [[signs]] into three classes: "[[symbol]]s", "[[index|indices]]" and "[[icon]]s," which differ in the way they relate to the [[object]]. The [[symbol]] has no "natural" or necessary relationship to the [[object]] it refers to, but is related to the [[object]] by a purely conventional rule. The [[index]] has an "existential relation" to the [[object]] it represents (i.e. the [[index]] is always spatially or temporally contiguous to the [[object]]). The [[icon]] represents an [[object]] by exhibiting its form via similarity. [[Peirce]]'s distinctions between [[icon]]s, [[index|indices]] and [[symbol]]s are analytical and not intended to be mutually exclusive. Hence a [[sign]] will almost always function in a variety of modes; personal pronouns, for example, are [[sign]]s which function both symbolically and indexically. =====Jacques Lacan=====[[Lacan]] takes up [[Peirce]]'s concept of the [[index]] in order to distinguish between the [[psychoanalytic]] and medical concepts of the [[symptom]], and to distinguish between (animal) [[code]]s and (human) [[language]]s. [[Lacan]] also develops the concept of the [[index]] along the lines set down by [[Roman Jakobson]] in the concept of the [[shifter]], to distinguish between the [[subject]] of the [[statement]] and the [[subject]] of the [[enunciation]].