signifier-and-signified

Saussure's'theoryofthesign'definedasignasbeingmadeupofthematchedpairofsignifierandsignified.SignifierThesignifieristhepointingfinger,theword,thesound-image.Awordissimplyajumbleofletters.Thepointingfingerisnotthestar.Itisintheinterpretationofthesignifierthatmeaningiscreated.SignifiedThesignifiedistheconcept,themeaning,thethingindicatedbythesignifier.Itneednotbea'realobject'butissomereferenttowhichthesignifierrefers.Thethingsignifiediscreatedintheperceiverandisinternaltothem.Whilstweshareconcepts,wedosoviasignifiers.Whilstthesignifierismorestable,thesignifiedvariesbetweenpeopleandcontexts.Thesignifieddoesstabilizewithhabit,asthesignifiercuesthoughtsandimages.Asignifier,anelementoflanguage,isamaterialrepresentationofalinguisticsign.Inpsychoanalysis,itisaphonemicsequenceofthediscoursethatintervenesinconsciousandunconsciousprocessestodeterminethesubjectengagedinthediscourse.Asignifiedistheideaorconceptassociatedwithasignifier,whichtogetherconstitutethelinguisticsign.Theseelements,whichcomefromFerdinanddeSaussure'slinguistictheory,wereintroducedandproblematizedinthefieldofpsychoanalysisbyJacquesLacanduringhisreturntoFreudphaseinearly1950s.LacanreliedonthefollowingmainpointsofSaussure'sstructuralmodel.Thelinguisticsign,whichbelongstolanguage,establishesarelationshipbetweenanacousticwaveform,orsignifier,andaconcept,orsignified(Figure1).4.2theStructuralapproachTheSTRUCTURALapproachtotheanalysisoflanguagewasstartedbytheSwisslinguistFerdinanddeSaussureinthebeginningofthetwentiethcentury.Inasense,alltheLinguistictheoriesafterhimarestructuralinthattheyallregardlinguisticunitsasinterrelatedwitheachotherinastructure(orsystem),notasisolatedbits.Unthissection,however,weshallonlydiscussoneofSaussure'smainideasandtheAmericanstructuralistmodelofsentenceanalysis.Twooftheotherimportanttheorieswillbepresentedinthelatersections.4.2.1SyntagmaticandparadigmaticrelationsInsaussure'sview,thelanguageisasystemofsigns,eachofwhichconsistsoftwoparts:SIGNIFIED(concept)andSIGNIFIER(soundimage).Andtherelationshipbetweenthesetwopartsisarbitrary.Thereforethelinguisticcannotattempttoexplainindividualsignsinapiecemealfashion.Insteadhemusttrytofindthevalueofasignfromitsrelationstoothersitspositioninthesystem.ThetwoprincipaltypesofrelationswhichSauusureidentifiedareSYNTAGMATICandPARADIGMATICrelations.Theformerisarelationbetweenoneitemandothersinasequence,orbetweenelementswhichareallpresent,suchastherelationbetweenweatherandtheothersinthefollowingsentences.e.x.4-1Iftheweatherisnice,wewillgoout.Therearesyntacticandsemanticconditionsthewordsinasyntagmaticrelationmustmeet.Forexample,e.x.4-2abelowisanacceptablesentence,butB)andC)arenot.e.x.4-2a.Theboykickedtheball.b.*Boytheballkickedthe.c.*Theballkickedtheboy.Thewordsin(b)arearrangedinawaywhichviolatessyntacticrules.First,thecountablenounboycannotoccurwithoutadeterminerbeforeit.Second,thewordsinboytheorboytheballarenotinanygrammaticalrelationswitheachother.Theyareneitherinsubordinationlikeboysthereorincoordinationlikeboysandgirls.Lastly,theisanarticleandcannotfunctionastheobjectofkicked.Andin(c),theballisinanimatewhiletheverbkickrequiresananimatesubject.Theorderofwordsisalsoinfluencedbysemanticconsiderations.Whether(a)or(b)inex.4-3willbeuseddependsonthemeaning.Ex.4-3(a)Theboychasedthedog.(b)Thedogchasedtheboy.ThePARADIGMATICrelation,SaussureoriginallycalledASSOCIATIVE,isarelationholdingbetweenelementsreplaceablewitheachotherataparticularplaceinastructure,orbetweenoneelementpresentandtheothersabsent.Forexample,inthecontextThe_______issmiling,thereareconstrainsonthepossibleelementsoccurringhere.Asisobvious,verbsdefinitelycannotbeusedinthisplace.Themostlikelycandidateisanoun.Buttherearealsostrictconstrainsonthepossibletypeofnunoccurringhere.First,itmustbeananimatenoun,nounslikebook,deskarenotpossiblechoices.Second,evenwithinthetypeofanimatenouns,onlythosewhichhaveasemanticcomponentofhumanaremostnaturallyusedwiththeverbsmile.Trees,catsonlysmileinchildren'sstories.Thirdly,thenounmustbeinthesingulartooccurwithissmiling,sonounslikeboys,menareexcluded.Inotherwords,onlysingularhumannounslikeboy,girl,man,woman,studentarecapableofoccurringinthiscontext.Andthesewordsaresaidtobeinaparadigmaticrelationhere.Theycansubstituteforeachotherwithoutviolatingsyntacticrules.Onethingtobenotedisthattheconstraintsonwordsinaparadigmaticrelation,differentfromthoseinasyntagmaticrelation,aresyntacticonly.Semanticfactorsarenottakenintoconsiderationhere.wordsinaparadigmaticrelationarecomparableonlyintermsofsyntax.Theyhavethesamesyntacticfeatures.Buttheyarenotreplaceablewitheachothersemantically.Theydonotmeanthesame,whichisobviousfromthewordsboy,girl,man,womanandstudent.InSaussure'soriginaltheory,thesetworelationsareapplicableateveryleveloflinguisticanalysis.Atthephonologicallevel,forexample,thephoneme/p/isinasyntagmaticrelationwiththephonemes/i/and/t/inthewordpit;anditisinaparadigmaticrelationwith/b/,/s/and/h/,astheyarecapableofreplacing/p/inthecontext/_it/toformanEnglishword.Thesetworelationstogether,likethetwoaxesofaordinate,determi