Semiotic is a term used by Julia Kristeva to denote rhythms and energies (“pulsations”) that precede and transcend the symbolic order;
Symbolic, in turn, is a term used again by her to denote the social order in which all human beings are involved as conditions for their transformation into speaking subjects.
The symbolic order is embodied in such institutions as language, law, morality, and religion. Before being drawn into such an order, the young child who has not yet spoken is the intersection of forces and impulses; even after it has become the subject of tensions of such order, such a game (semiotic-symbolic) can be discovered.
Thus the semiotic points to a source of anarchic energies, while the symbolic points to the limitations of public order.
The semiotic encourages transgression, while the social requires conformism.
In every current utterance, the spontaneous impulses of the semiotic push to destroy the frames, and the internalized tensions of the symbolic order oppose.
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