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=====Jacques Lacan==========Symbolic Chain=====The term "[[signifying chain|chain]]" is used increasingly by [[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 [[birth]] 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>

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 birth and after his [[death]], and which influences his destiny [[unconscious|unconsciously]].<ref>{{Ec}} p. 468</ref> In the same year he speaks of the "[[signifying chain|chain of discourse]]."<ref>{{S3}} p. 261</ref> =====Chain of Signifiers=====

=====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 eternal [[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>

=====Linearity Versus Circularity=====

=====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=====

=====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]].

===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 [[Saussure]] argued existed between [[sign]]s, though for [[Lacan]], the relationship is between [[signifiers]], not [[sign]]s.

=====See Also=====

=====References==<div style="font-size:11px" class=="references-small">