 It is closely tied to the "feminine", and represents the undifferentiated state of the pre-Mirror Stage infant.Upon entering the Mirror Stage, the child learns to distinguish between self and other, and enters the realm of shared cultural meaning, known as the symbolic.In "Desire in Language" (1980), Kristeva describes the symbolic as the space in which the development of language allows the child to become a "speaking subject," and to develop a sense of identity separate from the mother.