Abstract：Spatial configuration, a key concept in space syntax, is founded on an analogy of architecture with language, arguing that the cultural patterns of inhabitation are similar to linguistic rules we use in speaking and writing. Yet, in spite of this analogy, space syntax seeks ‘descriptive autonomy’ with minimum linguistic intervention, deeming language an insufficient tool in analysis and design. As a result, the powers of language to organize our spatial experience stay outside the purview of space syntax, as does design, while the morphological synergies between architecture and language remain unexplored. This paper addresses the relationship of architecture and language through four main lines of inquiry. a. the significance of language in social life and design; b. an analysis of the hermeneutic system proposed by Hillier and Hanson in The Social Logic of Space, forming the structure of interpretive concepts used in space syntax research; c. the ontological distinction between object and substance, explaining where categories of analysis derive from in order to expand space syntax from an analytic theory to a theory of design; d. an analysis of examples using the analogy of architecture with figurative language as a tool. Building on Hjelmslev’s theory of language, the paper argues that like all systems organizing content, the ‘non-discursive technique’ rests on both morphosyntactic and morphosemantic relations. Buildings and cities constitute not only the socio-spatial, but also the conceptual, di scursive and semantic fabric of society.
