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[[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> In this diagram, the line between the [[signified]] and the [[signifier]] represents union, the reciprocal implication of the two elements.

Secondly, [[Lacan]] asserts the [[existence]] of an order of "pure signifiers," where [[signifier]]s exist prior to [[signified]]s; this [[order]] of purely logical [[structure]] is the [[unconscious]].  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.

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).  The arrows and the circle are abolished, representing the [[absence]] of a stable or fixed relation between [[signifier]] and [[signified]].  The [[bar]] between the [[signifier]] and the [[signified]] no longer represents union but the [[resistance]] inherent in [[signification]].  For [[Lacan]], this [[algorithm]] defines "the [[topography]] of the [[unconscious]]."<ref>{{E}} p.163</ref>