Changes

The term '[[signifying chain]]' : ([[FrenchFr]]:. ''[[chaîne signifiante]]'', ''[[chaîne du signifiant]]'')  ==Jacques Lacan=======Symbolic Chain=====The term "[[chain]]" is introduced used increasingly by [[Jacques Lacan]] from the mid-1950s on, always in references to the [[symbolic order]]. At first, in 1956, he speaks not of the [[signifying chain]] but of the ''[[symbolic]]'' [[chain]], by which he denotes a line of descendence into which each [[subject]] is inscribed even before his before and after his death, and which influences his destiny [[unconscious|unconsciously.<ref>{{Ec}} p.468</ref> In the same year he speaks of "the chain of discourse."<ref>{{S3}} p.261</ref> =====Chain of Signifiers====It is in 1957 that [[Lacan]] introduces the term "[[signifying chain]]" to refer to describe a network series of [[signifiers]] (which are linked together. =====Metonymy and Desire=====A [[signifying chain]] can never be [[lack|complete]], since it is always possible to add another [[signifier]] to it, ''ad infinitum'', in a way which expresses the ternal nature of [[desire]]; for this reason, [[desire]] is [[metonymy|metonymic]]. =====Metonymy and Signification=====The [[chain]] is also [[metonymy|metonymic]] in the production of [[meaning]]; [[signification]] is not present at any one point in the [[chain]], but rather [[meaning]] "insists" in the movement from one [[signifier]] to another.<ref>{{E}} p.153</ref>    [[Lacan]] speaks of the [[signifying chain]] in linear [[metaphor]]s and circular [[metaphor]]s.  =====Linearity=====<blockquote>"The linearity that Saussure holds to be constitutive of the chain of discourse applies to the chain of discourse only in the direction in which it is oriented in time."<ref>{{E}} p.154</ref></blockquote> =====Metonymic Axis of Language=====On the one hand, the idea of linearity suggests that the [[signifying chain]] is the stream of [[speech]], in which [[signifier]]s are combined in accordance with the laws of grammar -- which [[Saussure]] calls "[[syntagmatic]]" relationships, and [[Lacan]], following [[Jakobson]], locates on the [[metonymic]] axis of [[language]]. =====Circularity=====<blockquote>"The signifying chain is compared to "rings of a necklace that is a ring in another necklace made of rings."<ref>{{E}} p.153</ref></blockquote> =====Metaphoric Axis of Language=====On the other hand, the idea of circularity suggests that the [[signifying chain]] is a series of [[signifier]]s linked by [[free association]]s, just one path through the network of [[signifiers]] which constitutes the [[symbolic]] [[world]] of the [[subject]] -- which [[Saussure]] calls "[[associative]]" relationships, and [[Lacan]], following [[Jakobson]], locates on the [[metaphoric]] axis of [[language]]. =====Diachronic and Synchronic Dimensions===== In truth, the [[signifying chain]] is both of these things.  In its [[diachrony|diachronic]] dimension it is linear, [[syntagmatic]], [[metonymic]]; in its [[synchrony|synchronic]] dimension it is circular, associative, [[metaphoric]]. The two cross over:  <blockquote>"There is in effect no signifying chain [diachronic chain] that does not have, as if attached to the punctuation of each of its units, a whole articulation of relevant contexts [synchronic units] suspended 'vertically', as it were, from that point."<ref>{{E}} p.154</ref></blockquote> [[Lacan]] thus combines in one concept the two types of relationship ("[[syntagmatic]]" and "''associative''") which constitute [[Saussure]] argued existed between [[signs]], though for [[Lacan]], the relationship is between [[symbolicsignifiers]] , not [[ordersigns]].           

* [[Language]]* [[Metaphor]]* [[Materialism]]* [[Sign]]* [[Signification]]* [[Signified]]* [[Signifying Chain]]* [[Subject]] ==References==

 [[Category:LanguagePsychoanalysis]]