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One consequence of [[Lacan]]'s emphasis on [[language]] is his recommendation that the [[analyst]] must attend to the formal features of the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]] (the [[signifiers]]), and not be sidetracked into an empathic attitude baseed on an [[imaginary]] understanding of the content (the [[signified]]).
One common misconception of [[Lacan]] is that [[language]] is synonymous with the [[symbolic]] [[order]].
The axis A-S is [[language]] in its symbolic dimension, the [[discourse]] of the [[Other]], the [[unconscious]].
The [[imaginary]] axis ''a'''-''a'' is [[language]] in its [[imaginary]] dimension, the wall of [[language]] which interrupts, distorts and inverts the [[discourse]] of the [[OTherOther]].
In [[Lacan]]'s words, "language is as much there to be found in the Other as to drastically prevent us from understanding him.<ref>{{S2}} p.244</ref>
==Languages and Codes==
[[Lacan]] distinguishes between [[language]]s and [[code]]s; unlike [[code]]s, in [[language]] there is no stable one-to-one correspondence between [[sign]] and [[sign|referent]], nor between [[signified]] and [[signifier]].
It is this property of [[language]] which gives rise to the inherent ambiguity of all [[discourse]], which can only be interpreted by playing on the homophony and other forms of equivocation (''l'équivoque'').
