A quarterly specialized journal
The Message Of Folklore from Bahrain To The World

Marriage rituals and customs in tlemcen: A semio-anthropological study

Issue 36
Marriage rituals and customs in tlemcen:  A semio-anthropological study

Nassira Bekkouche
Algeria

Naima Rahmani
Algeria


With all its customs and rituals, marriage is a theatrical scene rich in signs and connotations that form the semiotics of the event. All the senses must collaborate to capture the tangible and figurative expressions. The presence of figures (people) in this space, each performing his required role, represents non-linguistic signs.

In this study, we applied the linguistic method and the deconstruction of some elements related to the scene. We addressed the scene just as we deal with language, by splitting it into constructs according to the importance of the relations and meanings that connect these constructs.

We did not stop there. We went on to apply an analytical approach to the general and folk culture components with all their styles and types. We also applied this approach to all the traditions, rituals, customs, celebrations, notices and pictures. Our objective is to define the semio-anthropological areas of narratives that include customs and rituals associated with marriage in Tlemcen.

Narratives require us to study the sequence of events, taking chronological order into account just as we do when we study literary texts. This means that we are required to deconstruct and analyse the signs, before reconstructing them.

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