Enigmatic message

In Laplanche's theory, a message the adult addresses to the child, in words, gestures or bodily care, that is enigmatic to its sender as well as to its receiver, because it is compromised by the adult's unconscious sexual wishes. The child's attempts to translate it never fully succeed. The untranslated remainders are primally repressed and form the unconscious, where they act as the source-objects of the drive. Laplanche first spoke of the enigmatic signifier and later preferred the enigmatic message, to stress that it is addressed to someone.