Enunciation

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The Statement and the Enunciation

In linguistics, one important distinction is that between the enunciation (enonciation) and the statement (enonce).

The Statement

The statement (enonce) refers to the actual words uttered.

The statement is analysed in terms of abstract grammar, independent of the specific circumstances of occurrence.

The Enunciation

The enunciation (enonciation) refers to the act of uttering them. The enunciation is analyzed as an individual act performed by a particular speaker at a specific time/place, and in a specific situation.

The Subject

Lacan designates the enunciation as unconscious, and affirms that the source of speech is not the ego, nor consciousness, but the unconscious; language comes from the Other, and the idea that 'I' am master of my discourse is only an illusion.

The very word 'I' (Je) is ambiguous; as a shifter, it is both a signifier acting as subject of the statement, and an index which designates, but does not signify, the subject of the enunciation.[1]

The subject is thus split between these two levels, divided in the very act of articulating the "I" that presents the illusion of unity.[2]

Examples

Speech Act

Lacan focuses his attention on the dimension of the enunciation, the act of speaking in itself, irrespective of the content of the utterance.

In 1936, Lacan states that the act of speaking contains a meaning in itself, even if the actual words spoken are "meaningless."[3]

Speech, prior to any function it may have in "conveying a message," is an appeal to the other.

Psychosis

In 1946, Lacan uses the term 'enunciation' to describe strange characteristics of psychotic language, with its "duplicity of the enunciation."[4]

Subject of the Unconscious

In the 1950s, the term is used to locate the subject of the unconscious.

Graph of Desire

In the graph of desire, the lower chain is the statement, which is speech in its conscious dimension, while the upper chain is "the unconscious enunciation."[5]

References

  1. E, 298
  2. Sll, 139
  3. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.83
  4. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.167
  5. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.316