Tenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

This paper follows one titled ‘Traditional Terms of Spaces, Forms and artifacts as Cultural Semiotics in Southwest Nigeria’ which examined local terms used for spaces, forms, and building practices in southwest Nigeria as cultural semiotics. Housing has more cultural meaning than mere shelter as shown in building terms such as ‘roof over my head’. The study is significant in the study area because its people were traditionally orally centered until ‘culture contact’ led to graphical presentation and appreciation in the form of drawings which is a modern language of architecture. This semiotic study will facilitate the understanding of the wholesomeness of traditional building practices and thoughts. This is in the culture of the traditional multi-sensory appreciation of architecture, urban design, and the arts. It analyzes traditional aphoristic words and terms which are like proverbs which are significant in language because of their metaphorical essence. Many of such terms in the dominant Yoruba language of the study area are oftentimes phenomenal reducing universal terms like the earth and heaven to the simple module of housing. These words are worth investigating because they are symbolic as serve as codes which are cultural tools of regional ethnic significance. Saussure’s and Pierce’s concepts of Semiotics in line with Eco’s concept of the semiotics of metaphor are deployed.