in the mirror stage, the child learns to tell the difference between self and other. the child begins a process of sharing cultural meaning, known as the symbolic. in "desire in language" (1980), kristeva describes the symbolic as the development of language in the child to become a "speaking subject" and to develop a sense of identity separate from the mother. this process of separation is known as abjection. the child must reject and move away from the mother in order to enter into the world of language, culture, meaning, and the social. this realm of language is called the symbolic and is different from the semiotic that is associated with the masculine, the law, and structure. kristeva thinks differently from lacan. she thinks that even after entering the symbolic, the subject continues to move back and forth between the semiotic and the symbolic. therefore, the child does not form a fixed identity. the subject is permanently "in process". because female children continue to identify to some degree with the mother figure, they are especially likely to retain a close connection to the semiotic. this continued identification with the mother may result in what kristeva refers to in "black sun" (1989) as melancholia (depression), because female children both reject and identify with the mother figure at the same time.