Difference between revisions of "Signified"

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==Ferdinand Saussure==
 
==Ferdinand Saussure==
 
According to [[Saussure]], the [[signified]] is the [[conceptual]] element of the [[sign]].  
 
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]]. 1916. p.66-7)</ref>
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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]]. (1916) ''Course in General Linguistics'', ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana. p.66-7</ref>
  
 
For [[Saussure]], the [[signified]] has the same status as the [[signifier]]; both form equal sides of the [[sign]].  
 
For [[Saussure]], the [[signified]] has the same status as the [[signifier]]; both form equal sides of the [[sign]].  

Revision as of 02:19, 18 August 2006

Ferdinand Saussure

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.[1]

For Saussure, the signified has the same status as the signifier; both form equal sides of the sign.

Jacques Lacan

Lacan asserts the primacy of the signifier.

He argues that the signified is a mere effect of the play of signifiers, an effect of the process of signification produced by metaphor.

In other words, the signified is not given, but produced.

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.

See Also

References

  1. Saussure, Ferdinand. (1916) Course in General Linguistics, ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana. p.66-7