From Speech to Writing: Lacan’s Journey with Language, the Unconscious, and the Real

Abstract

This article analyzes Jacques Lacan’s trajectory with language, from its structuralist foundation to the formulation of the concept of lalangue and the emphasis on the real. It highlights that submission to the signifier sustains the analytic experience and the constitution of the subject in the field of the Other. Lacan’s theoretical advancement is evident in the articulation between the function of speech and the function of writing, creating a device that operates on the real. The study also examines his relationship with linguistics, his distortions and contributions to the field of the unconscious, culminating in the term linguisterie to delineate the specific domain of psychoanalysis. Finally, it discusses how lalangue introduces the dimension of jouissance and the real, transforming the conception of the symptom as a supplement to what does not cease not to be written, rethinking analytic practice in the face of the impossible of the real.