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=====Linguistic Definition=====The term '"[[shifter]]' " was introduced into [[linguistics]] by (Danish [[linguist) ]] [[Otto Jespersen]] (1860-1943) 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)]].  =====Roman Jakobson=====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. "Shifters, [[verbal]] [[categories]], and the Russian verb," in ''Selected Writings'', vol. II, ''[[Word]] and Language'', 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. 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.  =====RomanJakobson==========General Meaning=====[[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 ]] argues that [[shifter]]s do have a single general [[meaning]]; for example the personal pronoun "I " always means '"the person uttering I'".  This makes the [[shifter]] a '"[[symbol']]. "  =====Indexical Symbol=====[[Jakobson ]] concludes that shifters [[shifter]]s combine both [[Symbolicsymbolic]] and indexical [[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> =====Context-Free Grammar=====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 implicated in ''[[parole]]'', the ''[[langue]]''/''[[parole]]'' [[distinction ]] is put into question. =====Jacques Lacan=====Following [[Jakobson]], [[Lacan]] uses the term '"[[shifter]]' " (in [[English]]) to show the problematic and undecidable [[nature ]] of the '"I' " (''Je'').  =====Indexical Signifier=====However, while [[Jakobson]] defines the [[shifter]] as an indexical [[index]]ical [[symbol]], [[Lacan ]] defines it as an indexical [[index]]ical [[signifier]].  =====Enunciation and Statement=====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]].  =====Division of the Subject=====This [[division ]] of the '"I' " is not merely illustrative of the [[splitting]] of the [[subject]]; it is that [[split]].  <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>Sll, {{S11}} p.139</ref></blockquote>

{{See}}* [[JakobsonEnunciation]]* [[symbolicIndex]]||* [[symbolLanguage]]* [[statementMeaning]]||* [[enunciationSignifier]]* [[linguisticsSplit]]* ''[[langue]]''||* ''[[paroleSubject]]''* [[splittingSymbol]]* [[subject]]{{Also}}

[[Category:ConceptsOK]][[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Linguistics]]__NOTOC__