An Ethnography of Communication of Semiotic Social Practices in South Wollo

Abstract

This study is part of an ongoing ethnographic study on semiotic social practice in Wollo. The study was conducted in Kutaber, Alasha, Sulula, Haik, Dessie, Wogdy and Kombolcha in Wollo from 2011 to 2015. Data were collected from a range of live and recorded social events from different casual and non-casual events. The result of the study revealed that there are different non-language staffs exploited in the communication system of the people of South Wollo. Since the majority of the people in Ethiopia are illiterate, there are many semiotic signs used in different social practices. More than one hundred seventy eight semiotic social practices categorized fewer than twenty eight types were collected for this study. The analysis is qualitative description. Analysis was done based on the types and functions of each sign. The result of the study shows that there are many semiotic items that have continued to be used by the primitive society of Ethiopia. These Signages were used for generations and are still being used. The researcher noticed that many of them are being replaced by written languages. It is worthwhile to document and analyze how uneducated societies represent their public spaces using different semiotic resources.