Subjectivity and Otherness A Philosophical Reading of Lacan

tion and combination. Selection is the choice of one linguistic unit (at different

levels of the oppositional hierarchy of language) among other possible units. This

operation presupposes the possibility of substituting one term for another; se-

lection and substitution rely on the associations that can be made between two

linguistic units because of their similarity (e.g. the association between the word

“thesis” and the word “dissertation”). Similarity also includes oppositions be-

tween two linguistic units: in other words, substitution functions in accordance

with the association of both synonyms and antonyms (e.g. the word “thesis” can

also be associated with/substituted for the word “antithesis”).^61 Combination is

the putting together of many linguistic units (e.g. words) into a larger linguistic

unit (e.g. the sentence “I am writing my thesis”): “These connexions of an in-

creasing level of complexity are governed by phonological, grammatical and

syntactic laws of decreasing constraint.”^62 The two axes of substitution and com-

bination are closely related; Saussure had already illustrated such a relation by

means of the following comparison: “Each linguistic unit is like a column in an

ancient building. This column is in relation of contiguity with other parts of the

building: the architrave, for example (illustrating the plan of combination). On

the other hand, the column which may, for instance, be Doric reminds us of other

architectural styles: Ionic, Corinthian (illustrating the plane of selection).”^63 By

referring to schema 2. 2 below, it is easy to see how the axis of substitution may

be said to be “vertical” and “synchronic” (two linguistic units are virtually pres-

ent at the same time), while the axis of combination is said to be “horizontal” and

“diachronic” (one linguistic unit follows another unit in time). Finally, Jakobson

names the vertical axis after the rhetoric trope of metaphor (in which one object

is used to describe another object, and is thus substituted for it); the horizontal

axis after the rhetoric trope of metonymy (which may refer to relations of conti-

guity between two objects).

51

horizontal dimension:

relations of contiguity

a

a′

a′′

a′′′

b

b′

b′′

b′′′

c

c′

c′′

c′′′

d

d′

d′′

d′′′

vertical dimension:

relations of

similarity

→ →

Schema 2.2