Iterability

Concerned with what makes communication in general, in principle, possible, Derrida developed his notion of Iterability. What makes a linguistic element be considered as such, as a mark? What does it take for an 'a' to be recognised -- to be recognisable -- as an 'a'? Derrida argues that such recognition relies on the citational quality of all linguistic elements: the iterable capacity of a mark to be repeated in new contexts to forge new meanings. Specifically, iterability refers to the repeatability of which such linguistic units must be capable: a sign or a mark that cannot be repeated is not a sign or a mark at all and could not be made to serve as an element in a language or a code. Derrida playfully chooses the term 'Iterability'; Reiteration is a far more familiar term, Derrida puns us to see that every iteration in language is already a reiteration, relying on this constitutionally citational quality of language's most fundamental unit; the mark.

Following from this recognition, if all marks are necessarily iterable in this manner, this very quality that allows a mark to be repeated also necessarily introduces a breach -- an irreducible difference -- into the very structure of the mark. If a mark is to be a mark, if it is to be iterable, it must be able to occur elsewhere, again, otherwise: iterability permits the sameness of the mark only on the condition of this structural, internal difference. A mark is never quite identical with itself, never entire in itself, being itself constituted in repetition. This difference must be understood as original and as operating in any mark: even if an original 'a' were to be discovered, it could only be recognised as such due to others of its kind.

Therefore, as a mark is iterable, it cannot be confined to or belong, either originally or ultimately, in any particular context. This is not to say that that a mark is valid outside of a context, "but on the contrary that there are only contexts without any center or absolute anchorage" (Derrida 1988:12)

Related Terms and Pages
Judith Butler and 'Performativity', J.L. Austin and the 'Performative', Serious/Non-Serious Utterances, Citationality