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According to [[Saussure]], the [[signified]] is the [[conceptual]] element of the [[sign]].   It is not the [[real ]] [[object]] denoted by a [[sign]] -- the [[referent]] -- but a [[psychological]] entity corresponding to such an [[object]].<ref>[[Saussure|Saussure, Ferdinand de]]. (1916) ''[[Saussure|Course in General Linguistics]]'', ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana. 1916. p.66-7</ref>

=====Primacy of the Signifier=====For [[Saussure]], the [[signified]] has the same status as the [[signifier]]; both [[form ]] equal sides of the [[sign]].   [[Lacan]], on the [[other ]] hand, asserts the primacy of the [[signifier]], and argues that the [[signified]] is a mere effect of the play of [[signifier]]s, an effect of the [[process ]] of [[signification]] produced by [[metaphor]].   In other [[words]], the [[signified]] is not given, but produced.

=====Materialism of Language=====[[Lacan]]'s view is thus opposed to an expressionist view of [[language]], according to which [[concepts]] [[exist ]] in some pre-[[verbal ]] [[state ]] before [[being ]] expressed in the [[material]] medium of [[language]].   In contrast to such a view, [[Lacan]] asserts the priority ([[logical ]] rather than [[chronological]]) of the [[material]] element of [[language]].