Maya Language and Writing - presentation.pdf - Non-Fiction - rafaeloutrir

Contemporary Maya Language

Maya Language and Writing

 28 Maya languages spoken

 3 Major subgroups:

 Huastecan (Veracruz area)

 Most remote and shares less

vocabulary than other 27 languages.

 Yucatecan

 Southern Maya

Origins of Languages

Maya Language Development

 Linguists think all languages in

western hemisphere arose from

three major language families.

 Each family represents one wave of

migration from Asia.

 Maya languages: Amerind family,

form the earliest migrations.

 Linguists assume that a single

proto-Mayan language existed,

and later split into dialects that

eventually became distinct

languages.

 Time sequence of these changes

studied.

Glottochronology

 Glottochronology: estimates of time

of divergence of languages, based

on vocabulary changes.

 Theory: basic vocabulary of any

language relatively resistant to

borrowing from other languages.

 Examples: kinship terms, body parts,

numbers, pronouns.

 Changes in vocabulary assumed

to occur at constant and

universal rate of about 20% of

basic vocabulary every 1,000

years.

 Calculations based on Indo-

European language studies.

Glottochronology

Early Maya Language

 Assumptions might be

questioned, especially those of

constant rate of change and the

universality of the 20% theory.

 Still, the theory provides a way

of studying Maya regional

language change.

 Divergence may have begun

between 2,000 B.C. and A.D.

100. (Preclassic period).

 This is consistent with many

events in the western hemisphere,

as cultural groups everywhere

formed local identities and

differentiated from others.

Maya Origins

Specialized Vocabulary

 Chiapas-Guatemala highlands may

have been original Maya homeland,

the “Southern Maya” group.

 This area has much greater degree

of linguistic diversity than the

northern areas in the Yucatan

(Yucatecan language).

 Vocabulary of every culture

reﬂects importance of things.

 For Maya, it was maize:

Generic maize

Green ear

Mature ear

Maize cob

Maize ﬂour

Maize dough

Tortilla

Maize beer

Maize

grindstone

First, second,

third grindings

of maize

Maya Vocabulary

Maya Languages

 Maize terms very similar in all Maya

languages, as well as other common

cultural objects:

 Mayan languages have some shared

vocabulary with Nahuatl, the language

of the Mexica.

 Cholan: language of Maya heartland.

 Palenque, Aguateca, Copan

 Yucatecan spoken in north, but also

extended into central areas: Piedras

Negras, Bonampak, Yaxchilan, Naranjo.

 New research suggests a possible

uniform elite language, Choltan - - but

still controversial.

Salt

Chili

Bean

Squash

Sweet

potato

Manioc

Avocado

Honey

Sling

Blowgun

hammock

Bridge

Ladder

Sharpening

stone

Trivet

Plat

writing

Bench

Mat

Sandal

Comb

Book

Kinship

terms

Language Structure

Mayan Languages

 Mayan languages are polysynthetic: one

complex word expressed many ideas.

 Word order: verb-object-subject or verb-

subject.

 Numbers:

 Format: 21 = one going on twenty

 59 = nineteen going on two-twenty.

 No male and female pronouns, but

preﬁxes signal male or female.

 E.g. na, ix, or il = female.

 Sounds of all Maya languages similar

 Features difference in meanings based

on sounds:

 Pitch of vowels

 Glottalization of consonants

 Glottal stop

 When Spanish developed Roman

alphabet for Mayan language, they

ignored glottal and tone distinctions.

Deciphering Maya Writing

 Major project for more than 100 years.

 Types of writing systems:

 Pictographic: picture images with universal

meaning

 Ideographic: picture image with arbitrary

meanings

 Logographic: units in writing represent

whole words.

 Syllabic: units represent syllables

 Alphabetic: units represent sounds that are

assembled for meaning.

Deciphering Maya Writing

 First question: what do Maya

glyphs represent?

 Complexity of glyphs:

 Main sign (largest, central image)

 Afﬁxes that modify meaning

(preﬁxes, superﬁxes, subﬁxes,

postﬁxes).

Maya Glyphs

 Main signs also sometimes

compounded within one glyph.

 800+ known glyphs, including

afﬁxes.

 Catalogued so research can refer to

them by number

 E.g. T740 – the “upended frog”

Glyph

Structure

Interpretation

 Bishop Diego de Landa: laid

groundwork.

 Worked out glyphs for the 20

days and 18 uinals, and also

worked on an alphabet which was

only partly accurate.

 Brasseur de Bourbourg took Landa’s

“alphabet” and tried to decode the

Madrid Codex – but made many

errors by assuming the “alphabet”

was phonetic.

 Thomas Goodman decided head

variant glyphs for Maya numbers,

and proposed calendar correlation

system (GMT – Goodman, Martinez,

Thompson).

Maya Language and Writing - presentation.pdf

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