Signs in indigenous tales: a semiotic analysis

Abstract

Translation and interpretation may be all that are needed to break the bulwark surrounding meanings of folktales in some remote cultures. Using a combination of Peircean’s semiotic objects, representamen and interpretant; Henrik Gottlieb’s«semiotically based taxonomy of translation» finding expression in the concept of time and space, the paper progresses from intra semiotic translation which involves translation within«sign system» to«inter semiotic translation» which is«translation between sign systems» to unravel the wealth of meaning in the Ifa corpus. Even when no semantic significance may be found among the semiotic objects, the signs and the interpretant, there exists a nexus among the objects, the signs and the meanings to an adept in the fieldof folklore in the environment. Consequently, one appreciates the ingenuity of indigenous people in fashioning semiotic objects, signs and interpretations that could withstand the challenges of time and space. These signs record the philosophical ethos ofthe society with the intention of preserving such and rendering them periodically at the arena. Folktales may be better appreciated when narrators provide insight at the background which could further illuminate other nondescript areas in the course of such performances.