 Derrida clarifies the character of this structure of inoperativity in terms of a number of concepts over the course of his career, but perhaps none are more influential than that of “différance” (see Derrida, “Différance”). Derrida describes différance as a twofold structure of difference and deferral. Building on terms from Saussure’s linguistics, différance thus indicates, first of all, that in discursive experience, determining the meaning of something remains beyond our reach because linguistic signs present what they are supposed to signify never per se but always only heterogeneously through signifiers. And différance indicates, furthermore, that since this heterogeneity cannot be superseded, our attempts to determine the meaning of something remain interminably in deferral (Derrida, “Différance”). Because discursive experience is thus imbued with heterogeneity, our attempts to determine the meaning of something are not fully under our control but, instead, remain subject to a free play of signs (see Derrida, “Différance,” “Structure, Sign and Play”).