The Study of the Semantic Field of Connectional Spaces from the Perspective of a Lingo-Cultural World Case study of Persian language

Language as one of the semiotic systems encounters the culture on the one hand and has an interrelationship with the people who live on that lingo-society on the other. According to several scientific experiments, language and environmental perception and recognition process are involved in shaping a unique phenomenon. Therefore, one can say that language can be considered as one of the most important tools or processes by which people can understand and communicate with the built environment. One of the methods that can be used for perceiving the depth of people’s cultures and beliefs is to refer to their language within the framework of cultural semiotics. Following the previous articles about the traditional urban as well as architectural elements in Iran, i.e. the meaning of “City”, “House” and “Garden” in Persian language, in this research, the words or signs related to “semantic field of connectional spaces” have been brought into academic spotlight. The modern needs and the rapid development of science and technology have resulted in the development of theories and physical elements in the field of urban planning and design which have been accepted as “important elements” in Iran. Consequently, there have been two major mistakes; firstly, we , as Iranians, forgot our own rich heritage and the basics that we have received from our ancestors, and secondly there were no acceptable plans for new evolutions and we were just an importer and even, in some cases, misunderstood the perception of imported subjective and objective environmental elements. The aim of this research is to explore the richness as well as the meaningfulness of language and environmental interconnectedness through studying Persian words associated with connectional spaces (Raah, Gozar, etc.). This will help with finding the common concepts in these phenomena as well as the holistic nature of the environmental elements in order to enrich them (from physical and lingo-cultural view) and try to provide appropriate conditions to apply them in the future. For this purpose, the above relationship has been represented by the help of the existing theories in semiotics, and especially linguistics. The method that has been applied for this research could be classified in phenomenology, and from methodological view it is categorized within the framework of content analysis. According to research results, there are many words or signs in Persian to refer to the semantic field of connectional spaces such as road, passage, way, etc. They indicate their different dimensions and aspects not only because of technical aspects but also from lingo-cultural perception and the cognition point of view. These aspects in Persian can be divided into six groups. The other major aim of this article is to show that regarding the existing patterns and meanings of words in Persian language, many new and modern concepts could be localized and deployed in order to make very strong interrelationships between environment, language, and the common perceptions of the environment.