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{{Top}}métonymie{{Bottom}}
However, [[Lacan]]'s use of the term owes little to this definition apart from the notion of contiguity, since it is inspired by the work of [[Roman Jakobson]], who established an opposition between [[metonymy]] and [[metaphor]].<ref>[[Roman Jakobson|Jakobson, Roman]]. "Two aspects of language and two types of aphasic disturbances," ''Selected Writings'', vol. II, ''Word and Language'', The Hague: Mouton, 1971 [1956]., p. 21.</ref>
Following [[Jakobson]], [[Lacan]] links [[metonymy]] to the combinatorial axis of [[language]], as opposed to the substitutive axis.
In his most detailed work on the subject, [[Lacan]] defines [[metonymy]] as the [[diachrony|diachronic]] relation between one [[signifier]] and another in the [[signifying chain]].
[[Lacan]] provides a formula for [[metonymy]].<ref>{{E}} p.164</ref>
[[Image:Lacan-metonymy.jpg|center]]
This formula is to be read as follows: On the lefthand side of the [[algebra|equation]], outside the brackets, [[Lacan]] writes '''<i>f</i>''' '''S''', the [[paternal function|signifying function]], which is to say the effect of [[signification]].
On the lefthand side of the [[algebra|equation]], outside the brackets, [[Lacan]] writes '''<i>f</i>''' '''S''', the [[paternal function|signifying function]], which is to say the effect of [[signification]]. Inside the brackets he writes '''S . . . S'''', the link between one [[signifier]] and another in a [[signifying chain]].
On the righthand side of the [[algebra|equation]] there is '''S''', the [[signifier]], and ('''---'''), the [[bar]] of the [[Saussure]]ean [[sign|algorithm]]. The [[sign]] <b>=</b> is to be read "is congruent with."
Thus the whole formula reads:
The formula is meant to illustrate [[Lacan]]'s thesis that in [[metonymy]] the [[resistance]] of [[signification]] is maintained, the [[bar]] is not crossed, no new [[signified]] is produced.
[[Lacan]] puts his concept of [[metonymy]] to use in a variety of contexts.
[[Lacan]] presents [[metonymy]] as a [[diachrony|diachronic]] movement from one [[signifier]] to another along the [[signifying chain]], as one [[signifier]] constantly refers to another in a perpetual [[deferred action|deferral]] of [[signification|meaning]].
[[Desire]] is also characterized by exactly the same never-ending process of continual [[deferred action|deferral]]; since [[desire]] is always "desire for something else,"<ref>{{E}} p.167</ref> as soon as the [[object]] of [[desire]] is attained, it is no longer desirable, and the [[subject]]'s [[desire]] fixes on another [[object]]. Thus [[Lacan]] writes that "desire ''is'' a metonymy."<ref>{{E}} p. 175</ref> =====Metonymy and Displacement=====[[Lacan]] also follows [[Jakobson]] in linking the [[metaphor]]-[[metonymy]] distinction to the mechanisms of the [[dream work]] described by [[Freud]]. However, he differs from [[Jakobson]] over the precise nature of this link.
===Metonymy and Displacement===[[Lacan]] also follows [[Jakobson]] in linking the [[metaphor]]-[[metonymy]] distinction to the mechanisms of the [[dream work]] described by [[Freud]]. However, he differs from [[Jakobson]] over the precise nature of this link. Just as [[displacement]] is logically prior to [[condensation]], so [[metonymy]] is the condition for [[metaphor]], because "the coordination of signifiers has to be possible before transferences of the signified are able to take place."<ref>{{S3}} p. 229</ref>
==See Also==
== References ==
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
