=====Linguistic Definition=====
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]].
A term used by =====Roman Jakobson=====For [[Jakobson]] 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 communicated ]] [[communicate]]d between a sender and a receiver.<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. 1957</ref>Personal pronouns are shifters: . "Shifters, [[verbal]] [[categories]], and the word Russian verb," in 'I' designates both the speaker or sender who says Selected Writings'', vol. II, 'I' [[Word]] and the Language'I' contained in the message that is sent, The [[Hague]]: Mouton, 1971. p.132</ref>
=====Examples=====
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.
shifter The term 'shifter' was introduced into linguistics For example the pronouns "I" and "you", as well as [[words]] like "here" and "now", and the tenses, can only be [[understood]] by Otto Jespersenreference to the context in which they are uttered.
=====Roman Jakobson==========General Meaning=====[[Roman Jakobson]] developed the [[concept]] in 1923 to refer to those elements an article published in language whose general meaning cannot1957.
be defined without reference Before this article, "the peculiarity of the personal pronoun and [[other]] shifters was often believed to consist in the message[[lack]] of a single, constant, general meaning."<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. 1957. For example "Shifters, verbal categories, and the pronouns Russian verb," in ''ISelected Writings' ', vol. II, ''Word andLanguage'', The Hague: Mouton, 1971. p. 132</ref>
'you', as well as words like 'here' and 'now', and [[Jakobson]] argues that [[shifter]]s do have a single general [[meaning]]; for example the tenses, can only bepersonal pronoun "I" always means "the person uttering I".
understood by reference to This makes the context in which they are uttered[[shifter]] a "[[symbol]]. Roman"
=====Indexical Symbol=====[[Jakobson developed ]] concludes that [[shifter]]s combine both [[symbolic]] and [[index]]ical functions and "belong therefore to the concept [[class]] of indexical [[symbols]]."<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. 1957. "Shifters, verbal categories, and the Russian verb," in an article published in 1957''Selected Writings'', vol. II, ''Word and Language'', The Hague: Mouton, 1971. p. Before this132</ref>
article=====Context-Free Grammar=====In this way, '[[Jakobson]] questions the peculiarity possibility of a context-free grammar, since the [[enunciation]] is encoded in the personal pronoun and other shifters was often[[statement]] itself.
believed to consist Also, since grammar is implicated in ''[[parole]]'', the lack of a single, constant, general meaning''[[langue]]'' / ''[[parole]]'' [[distinction]] is put into question.
(=====Jacques Lacan=====Following [[Jakobson]], 1957: 132[[Lacan]] uses the term "[[shifter]]" (in [[English]]). In terms to show the problematic and undecidable [[nature]] of Peircethe "I" ('s typology of SIGNs, shifters were'Je'').
treated =====Indexical Signifier=====However, while [[Jakobson]] defines the [[shifter]] as an [[index]]ical [[symbol]], [[Lacan]] defines it as pure indices (see INDEx)an [[index]]ical [[signifier]]. However, following Peirce's own argument
(Peirce, 1932: 156-73), Jakobson argues that shifters do have a single general=====Enunciation and Statement=====This problematises the distinction between [[enunciation]] and [[statement]].
meaning; for example On the personal pronoun I always means 'one hand, as a [[signifier]] it is clearly part of the person[[statement]].
uttering I'. This makes On the other hand, as an [[index]] it is clearly part of the shifter a 'symbol'[[enunciation]]. Jakobson concludes that shifters
combine both [[Symbolic]] and indexical functions and 'belong therefore to the class of INDEXICAL SYMBOLS' (Jakobson, 1957: 132). In this way, Jakobson questions the possibility of a context-free grammar, since the ENUNCIATION is encoded in the statement itself. Also, since grammar is impli- cated in parole, the langue/parole distinction is also put into question (see Caton, 1987: 234-7). Following Jakobson, Lacan uses the term 'shifter' (in English), or 'index- term' as he also calls it (E, 186), to show the problematic and undecidable nature =====Division of the I (Je). However, while Jakobson (following Peirce) defmes theSubject=====shifter as an indexical symbol, Lacan defines it as an indexical signifier. This problematises the distinction between enunciation and statement. On the one hand, as a signifier it is clearly part of the statement. On the other hand, as an index it is clearly part of the enunciation. This [[division ]] of the "I " is not merely illustrative of the [[splitting ]] of the [[subject]]; it is that [[split. 'Indeed, the I of the enunciation is not the same as the I of the statement, that is to say, the shifter which, in the statement, designates him' (Sll, 139). Lacan also identifies the French particle ne as a shifter (E, 298)]].
<blockquote>"Indeed, the I of the enunciation is not the same as the I of the statement, that is to say, the shifter which, in the statement, designates him."<ref>{{S11}} p.139</ref></blockquote>
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Enunciation]]
* [[Index]]
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* [[Language]]
* [[Meaning]]
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* [[Signifier]]
* [[Split]]
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* [[Subject]]
* [[Symbol]]
{{Also}}
== References ==
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