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The term "[[shifter]]" was introduced into [[linguistics]] by [[linguist]] [[Otto Jespersen]] to refer to those elements in [[language]] whose general [[meaning]] cannot be defined without reference to the [[message]] (to describe a class of words whose [[meaning]] varies according to their situation or whose references varies).

For [[Jakobson]], a [[shifter]] is a term whose [[meaning]] cannot be determined without referring to the [[message]] that is [[being ]] [[communicate]]d between a sender and a receiver.<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. 1957. "Shifters, [[verbal ]] [[categories]], and the Russian verb," in ''Selected Writings'', vol. II, ''[[Word ]] and Language'', The [[Hague]]: Mouton, 1971. p. 132</ref>

Personal pronouns are [[shifter]]s: the word "I" designates both the [[speaker ]] or sender who says "I" and the "I" contained in the [[message]] that is sent.

For example the pronouns "I" and "you", as well as [[words ]] like "here" and "now", and the tenses, can only be [[understood ]] by reference to the context in which they are uttered.

[[Roman Jakobson]] developed the [[concept ]] in an article published in 1957.

Before this article, "the peculiarity of the personal pronoun and [[other ]] shifters was often believed to consist in the [[lack ]] of a single, constant, general meaning."<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. 1957. "Shifters, verbal categories, and the Russian verb," in ''Selected Writings'', vol. II, ''Word and Language'', The Hague: Mouton, 1971. p. 132</ref>

[[Jakobson]] concludes that [[shifter]]s combine both [[symbolic]] and [[index]]ical functions and "belong therefore to the [[class ]] of indexical [[symbols]]."<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. 1957. "Shifters, verbal categories, and the Russian verb," in ''Selected Writings'', vol. II, ''Word and Language'', The Hague: Mouton, 1971. p. 132.</ref>

Also, since grammar is implicated in ''[[parole]]'', the ''[[langue]]'' / ''[[parole]]'' [[distinction ]] is put into question.

Following [[Jakobson]], [[Lacan]] uses the term "[[shifter]]" (in [[English]]) to show the problematic and undecidable [[nature ]] of the "I" (''Je'').

* [[Jakobson]]* [[Symbolic]]* [[Symbol]]* [[Statement]]* [[Enunciation]]* [[Linguistics]]* [[Splitting]]* [[Subject]] =={{See Also==}}

* [[Signifying ChainSplit]]* [[Statement]]||