Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

In this paper, we argued that cautionary notices are divided into four categories. Some of the cautionary notices are pieces of advice while some are curses. We also showed that some cautionary notices can be regarded as warnings, while some are a combination of warning and advice. We further showed that the use of cautionary notices helped in the maintenance of law and order in the Yorùbá society. We argued that cautionary notices helped to guide against loss of property and made everybody, especially vehicle owners, to be security conscious and helped to eradicate preventable deaths through contacts with high tension cables and electrical installations. We also showed that cautionary notices helped to prevent litigation in court as a result of trespass and protected prospective owners and buyers from the hands of fraudsters. We further argued that the use of cautionary notices is a new dimension in the area of linguistic landscape and if the use is further encouraged, it would help to maintain peace, orderliness, cleanliness and guide against trespass in our society.