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According to [[Saussure]], the [[signifier]] is the ''phonological '' element of the SIGN'''[[sign]]'''; not the actual sound itself, but the '''[[mental]] [[image]]''' of such a sound.
=====Symbolic Order=====The [[signifier]] is the effects constitutive unit of the signifier on the subject constitute [[symbolic]] [[order]] because it is integrally related with the unconscious, and hence[[concept]] of [[structure]].
To be more precise, one [[signifier]] (called the [[master]] [[signifier]], and written '''[[Image:SS1.gif]]'''subjected to ) represents the double condition of being reducible to ultimate differential[[subject]] for ''all other [[signifier]]s'' (written '''[[Image:SS2.gif]]''').
Not only can units of [[language]] smaller than [[word]]s ([[phoneme|morpheme]]s and [[phoneme]]s) or larger than [[word]]s (phrases and sentences) also function as [[signifier]]s, but so also can [[linguistic|non-linguistic]] things such as [[object]]s, relationships and [[symptom]]atic [[act]]s.<ref>{{S4}} p. 288</ref>
=====Differential Nature of the Signifier=====
The single condition which characterizes something as a [[signifier]], for [[Lacan]], is that it is inscribed in a [[system]] in which it takes on [[value]] purely by virtue of its [[difference]] from the other elements in the [[system]].
=====Unstable Meaning=====
It is this differential [[nature]] of the [[signifier]] which means that it can never have a univocal or fixed [[meaning]];<ref>{{S4}} p. 289</ref> on the contrary, its [[meaning]] varies according to the [[position]] which it occupies in the [[structure]].
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Language]]
* [[Metaphor]]
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* [[Materialism]]
* [[Sign]]
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* [[Signification]]
* [[Signified]]
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* [[Signifying Chain]]
* [[Subject]]
{{Also}}