24,656
edits
Changes
Sign
,→Ferdinand de Saussure
The two elements are linked by an arbitrary but unbreakable bond.
=====Saussurean Sign=====
[[Image:SAUSSUREANSIGN.gif|thumb|200px|right|[[Sign|The Saussurean Sign]]]]
[[Saussure]] represented the [[sign]] by means of a diagram.<ref>[[Saussure|Saussure, Ferdinand de]]. (1916) ''[[Saussure|Course in General Linguistics]]'', ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana. p.114</ref>
This amounts to a destruction of [[Saussure]]'s concept of the [[sign]]; for [[Lacan]], a [[language]] is not composed of [[sign]]s but of [[signifier]]s.
=====Saussurean algorithm=====
[[Image:Lacan-saussureanalgorithm.jpg|right|thumb|[[Saussurean algorithm|The Saussurean algorithm]]]]
To illustrate the contrast between his own views and those of [[Saussure]], [[Lacan]] replaces [[Saussure]]'s diagram of the [[sign]] with an [[|Saussurean algorithm|algorithm]] which, [[Lacan]] argues, should be attributed to [[Saussure]] -- and is thus now sometimes referred to as the "[[Saussure]]an algorithm."<ref>{{E}} p.149</ref>
The '''S''' stands for the [[signifier]], and the '''s''' for the [[signified]]; the position of the [[signified]] and the [[signifier]] is thus inverted, showing the primacy of the [[signifier]] (which is capitalized, whereas the [[signifier]] is reduced to mere lower-case italic).
