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===Linguistic Definition===
[[Metonymy]] is usually defined as a [[trope ]] in which a term is used to denote an [[object]] which it does not literally refer to, but with which it is closely linked. This link may be one of [[physical ]] contiguity, but not necessarily.
===Roman Jakobson===
However, [[Lacan]]'s use of the term owes little to this definition apart from the [[notion ]] of contiguity, since it is inspired by the [[work ]] of [[Roman Jakobson]], who established an opposition between [[metonymy]] and [[metaphor]].<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. "Two aspects of language and two types of aphasic disturbances," ''Selected Writings'', vol. II, ''[[Word ]] and Language'', The [[Hague]]: Mouton, 1971 [1956]., p. 21.</ref>
===Metonymic Axis of Language===
Following [[Jakobson]], [[Lacan]] [[links ]] [[metonymy]] to the combinatorial axis of [[language]], as opposed to the [[substitutive ]] axis.
===Diachronic Dimension of Signifying Chain===
In his most detailed work on the subject, [[Lacan]] defines [[metonymy]] as the [[diachrony|diachronic]] relation between one [[signifier]] and [[another ]] in the [[signifying chain]].
===Metonymy Versus Metaphor===
===Formula for Metonymy===
[[Lacan]] provides a [[formula ]] for [[metonymy]].<ref>{{E}} p.164</ref>
[[Image:Lacan-metonymy.jpg|center]]
This formula is to be read as follows:
On the lefthand side of the [[algebra|equation]], [[outside ]] the brackets, [[Lacan]] writes '''<i>f</i>''' '''S''', the [[paternal function|signifying function]], which is to say the effect of [[signification]]. [[Inside ]] the brackets he writes '''S . . . S'''', the link between one [[signifier]] and another in a [[signifying chain]].
On the righthand side of the [[algebra|equation]] there is '''S''', the [[signifier]], and ('''---'''), the [[bar]] of the [[Saussure]]ean [[sign|algorithm]]. The [[sign]] <b>=</b> is to be read "is congruent with."
===Formula for Metonymy - Summary===
Thus the [[whole ]] formula reads:
<blockquote>"The signifying function of the connection of the signifier with the signifier is congruent with maintenance of the bar."</blockquote>
The formula is meant to illustrate [[Lacan]]'s [[thesis ]] that in [[metonymy]] the [[resistance]] of [[signification]] is maintained, the [[bar]] is not crossed, no new [[signified]] is produced.
===Contexts===
[[Lacan]] puts his [[concept ]] of [[metonymy]] to use in a variety of contexts.
===Metonymy and Desire===
[[Lacan]] presents [[metonymy]] as a [[diachrony|diachronic]] movement from one [[signifier]] to another along the [[signifying chain]], as one [[signifier]] constantly refers to another in a perpetual [[deferred action|deferral]] of [[signification|meaning]].
[[Desire]] is also characterized by exactly the same never-ending [[process ]] of continual [[deferred action|deferral]]; since [[desire]] is always "desire for something else,"<ref>{{E}} p. 167</ref> as soon as the [[object]] of [[desire]] is attained, it is no longer desirable, and the [[subject]]'s [[desire]] fixes on another [[object]]. Thus [[Lacan]] writes that "desire ''is'' a metonymy."<ref>{{E}} p. 175</ref>
===Metonymy and Displacement===
[[Lacan]] also follows [[Jakobson]] in linking the [[metaphor]]-[[metonymy]] [[distinction ]] to the mechanisms of the [[dream work]] described by [[Freud]]. However, he differs from [[Jakobson]] over the precise [[nature ]] of this link. Just as [[displacement]] is logically prior to [[condensation]], so [[metonymy]] is the condition for [[metaphor]], because "the coordination of [[signifiers ]] has to be possible before transferences of the signified are able to take [[place]]."<ref>{{S3}} p. 229</ref>
==See Also==
