Signifying chain
The term 'signifying chain' (French:chaîne signifiante, chaîne du signifiant) is used by Jacques Lacan to describe the symbolic order.
The subject is inscribed in a signifying chain before its birth and after its death.[1]
In 1957, Lacan introduces the term 'signifying chain' to refer to a series of signifiers which are linked together.
A signifying chain is never complete, because it is always possible to add another signifier to it, ad infinitum.
A signifying chain is 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.[2]
Lacan speaks of the signifyin chain in linear metaphors and circular metaphors.
The idea of linearity suggests that the signifying chain is the stream of speech, in which signifiers are combined in accordance with the laws of grammar.
The idea of circularity suggests that the signifying chain is a series of signifiers linked by free associations, just one path through the network of signifiers which constitutes the symbolic world of the subject.
The signifying chain is compared to "rings of a necklace that is a ring in another necklace made of rings."[3]
The signifying chain, in its diachronic dimension is linear, syntagmatic, metonymic, in its synchronic dimension, it is circular, associative, metaphoric.
See Also
References
- ↑ Ec. p.468
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.153
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.153
