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
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.
Maya Language Development
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.
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Glottochronology
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.
Changes in vocabulary assumed
to occur at constant and
universal rate of about 20% of
basic vocabulary every 1,000
years.
Examples: kinship terms, body parts,
numbers, pronouns.
Glottochronology
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.
Calculations based on IndoEuropean language studies.
Early Maya Language
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.
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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).
Maya Vocabulary
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 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.
Salt
Chili
Bean
Squash
Sweet
potato
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.
Manioc
Avocado
Honey
Sling
Blowgun
hammock
Bridge
Ladder
Sharpening
stone
Trivet
Plat
writing
Bench
Mat
Sandal
Comb
Book
Kinship
terms
Palenque, Aguateca, Copan
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Language Structure
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.
Mayan Languages
Mayan languages are polysynthetic: one
complex word expressed many ideas.
Word order: verb-object-subject or verbsubject.
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.
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).
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Maya Glyphs
Main signs also sometimes
compounded within one glyph.
800+ known glyphs, including
affixes.
Catalogued so research can refer to
them by number
Glyph
Structure
E.g. T740 – the “upended frog”
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.
Interpretation
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).
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Interpretation
Paul Schellhas catalogued many of
the deities (invented God A, God K,
etc. designations).
Early 20th century: most scholars
still assumed glyphs related to
astronomy and calendar, but not
historical events.
Interpretation
Heinrich Berlin made
breakthrough in 1950s by
identifying emblem glyphs with
affixes to denote rulers.
Demonstrated that glyphs did
refer to places and people.
Interpretation
Next major player: Tatiana
Proskouriakoff.
She studied stelae at Piedras Negras
and identified glyphs that refer to
accession dates of rulers.
This was a huge step, because
demonstrated that glyphs referred to
historical events.
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Interpretation
Early scholars thought Maya writing was
almost entirely logographic or
ideographic.
Knorozov, using Landa’s alphabet,
proposed a syllabic component in
glyphs.
Most of his interpretations were wrong,
but the basic idea led to recognition of
the affixes and their role in modifying the
main glyph.
Interpretation
David Kelley worked out syllabic
equivalents, providing proof that
Knorozov’s theory was correct.
Landa’s “alphabet” was actually the
glyphs for sounds, not letters.
Mayan language now understood to
be logosyllabic, with phonetic
elements.
Reading Maya Glyphs
Syllabary is still incomplete, and
some main glyphs are identified.
Calendar, astronomical glyphs,
colors, deities, and animals known.
Some suggest about 80% can be
read with approximate meaning.
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Animal Glyphs
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Palenque
Mural with
Glyphs
Palenque Glyphs
Vase with Glyphs
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