IV

WRITING SYSTEM

WRITING SYSTEM MAIN SIGNS INFIXES PORTRAIT FEATURES GRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS GLYPH GROUPS TEXT STRUCTURE AFFIXES AFFIX PLACEMENT GLYPH STRUCTURES ORIENTATION OF UNIVERSAL AFFIXES

WRITING SYSTEM

Maya Scribes created, modified and refined their complex writing system throughout more than 2000 years of Precolumbian history. The script which resulted exploited concrete imagery, visual metaphors and visual puns to create a complex multilayered writing system which is every bit as effective as speech in reflecting the subtleties of Maya thought.

The Forms of Maya Glyphs often lack the prescribed structures characteristic of other writing systems, suggesting that it is the pictorial content of the forms which carries their meaning. This unique feature sets Maya writing, apart from all other known writing systems. New forms are invented and old forms modified with enormous freedom, so long as the real world object represented remains identifiable to the intended audience. Also, multiple glyph forms often convey similar or identical meanings within a single text. These factors result in a bewildering variety of graphic forms, wherein semantic features can be difficult to distinguish from temporal and regional artistic features.

Maya Writing Terminology as revealed by the Colonial texts and dictionaries was also quite complex, employing three root concepts and numerous compounds.

Z'ib, "Painting with fluid curves, Action", writing as calligraphic or technical process.

Uayasba, "The being itself, Gestalt", writing as the manifest phenomenon of signs, symbols or characters.

Uoh, "Its heart, Afect", writing as expresed flow of intent, meaning, knowledge or essence.

GRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS

Calligraphic Factors, u z'ibalob, also contribute to the apparent confusion within each of the various temporal and regional substyles of Maya writing (Robicsek and Hales 1981:237-250; Reents-Budet 1994). Maya calligraphy generally represents glyph features by distinct Contour and Detail Lines.

Contour Lines define a glyph's basic structure, including the glyph's outline, cartouche or portrait type.

Detail Lines define a glyph's internal features, distinguishing distinct glyphs with otherwise identical outline, cartouche and portrait types. Detail lines carry an individual glyph's meaning.

Outline Types include: Classic, Parabolic, Rectilinear, Circular and Eccentric. Outline Types are not uniform throughout the history of Maya writing. Circular outlines are most popular in the Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa region and in manuscript lists or ceramic ornament from every period. Rectilinear outlines appear during the Late Preclassic and Protoclassic and reappear during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. Parabolic outlines achieved their greatest popularity during the Late Preclassic and Protoclassic. Classic outlines appear during the Preclassic and become the dominant type until the end of the Early Colonial period. Eccentric outlines also appear during the Preclassic and continue in less frequent use, except at Postclassic Cic'en iz'a where they replace classic outlines altogether, until the end of the Early Colonial period. Outline type is, with other features, often a good indicator of period or style.

Cartouche Types, u huco'ob, include: Plain, Arched, Parabolic, Closed, and Bound. Unlike outlines all Cartouche types are found throughout the long history of Maya writing.

Representational Modes in Maya writing are very fluid and include: Symbolic, Portrait, Bust and Full Figure. The features of symbolic glyphs can also be superimposed on youthful human profiles to create a simple kind of portrait glyph, such as those employed for BEN and MANIK'. More commonly there is a more complex costumed profile which constitutes the normal portrait form. Portrait glyphs may have attached arms to indicate a bust, or they may consist of complete figures of people and animals. In these more elaborate modes the portrait carries the meaning and the intertwined figures animate the text surface.

Style, u beh, in Maya calligraphy is generally identifiable in the treatment of contour lines, although colored, filled glyphs, z'ibil uooh, were apparently identified as a distinct and special treatment by Maya scribes. Regardless, two primary stylistic classes are identifiable in Maya calligraphy, Uniform and Thickened scripts.

Uniform Script, bek'ec z'ib, renders both contour and detail lines with strokes of equal and consistent weight.

Thickened Scripts, tatah z'ibob, render contour lines in bold strokes and detail lines in finer strokes. There are three primary varients of Thickened Script, Thickened Script, Slanted and Abbreviated.

Analytic Scripts, tatah z'ib-ob, render contour lines with bold strokes on the verticals and fine strokes on the horizontals, like European "Uncial" writing.

Slanted Scripts, z'uy z'ibob, render contour lines on a sinister slant with bold strokes on the bend and fine strokes on the sinister, like European "Italic" writing.

Rapid Scripts, t'ah z'ibob, render contour lines which would normally be closed as open and lines which would normally touch as separate, somewhat like Chinese "Grass" script. Rapid scripts also tend to have a more pronounced slant than regular slanted script. Among other terms for rapid scripts are: ak'ab z'ib, abbreviation; balan z'ib, abbreviation, monogram; komil z'ib, narrow, short, brief, or abbreviated writing; t'ah z'ib, spotted or dotted writing; t'ut'ah z'ib, dotted writing.

Critical Commentary is also indicated by some of the terminology for rapid scripts. ak'ab z'ib, cipher, obsure or unintelligible writing; balan z'ib, cipher; komil z'ib, cramped writing; t'ah z'ib, spotted or dotted writing; t'ut'ah z'ib, dotted writing, scribble, parrot writing, 'chicken scratches'? and xixip z'ib crude, rough, unrefined or sloppy writing

TEXT STRUCTURE

Text Structure consists of rectilinear compartments in which characters step down successive horizontal levels of sequent Column Pairs. This contrasts with alphabetic texts in which characters advance through successive horizontal lines or Chinese texts in which characters descend through successive vertical columns (Thomas 1882).

Columns, cunob, are commonly labeled with letters of the Western alphabet (Rau 1879:61).

Rows, leob, are labeled with Arabic numerals (Rau 1879:61).

Compartments, uayob, z'olob, k'uob, of Maya texts are rectilinear and are filled by two fundamental glyph types, main signs and affixes. Compartments of Maya texts are identified by alpha-numeric Cartesian coordinates reflecting their column and row position.

Reading Order of Compartments is somewhat like the steps taken in descending a stairway. Compartment A1 is read first, B1 is read second, A2 is read third, B2 is read fourth, etc. When the bottom of column pair A-B is reached, Compartment C1 is read, followed by D1, C2, D2 and so on until the last glyph is reached (Thomas 1882:136-139, 198-202).

GLYPH STRUCTURE

Maya Glyphs, uayasbaob, are the basic elements or characters employed in Maya writing. Glyphs consist of two basic types, main signs and affixes. These two glyph types exhibit complex interactive relationships.

Main Signs, uoohob, are the original, basic glyph type composing Maya texts. Main signs are usually rectilinear with rounded corners, echoing the shape of text compartments. Main signs may appear alone, filling a compartment, they may carry internal affixes and they may appear in clusters. Main signs may appear in both "symbolic" and depictive forms. Main signs may also appear with affixes.

Infixes, u yolob, appear inside the top, left, right. bottom and center of main signs. Infixes function much like affixes, described in the next section, except that their contours are entirely enclosed by the contours of the main sign.

Main Sign Clusters, u multun consist of two, three or four main signs appearing together.

'Symbolic' Glyphs, uayakob, are often so abstracted that their real world referents are difficult to identify with certainty.

Depictive Glyphs, uayob, generally consist of human and nonhuman portraits as well as objects or figures from the natural world or artifacts from Maya sacred and secular life.

Portrait Glyphs, uayob, xoy z'ibob? consist of two basic types, human and nonhuman.

Human Portrait Glyphs, uay makob, uay uinik'ob, usually depict standardized youthful, uay xib, uay xc'up adult, uay mak; uay uinik' uay c'up mature, uay tata'an; uay ka yum, uay ka nah, uay c'ic' skeletal, uay z'ekel, uay huc, uay kim, or masked, uay hohol box u yic, portrait types.

Nonhuman Portrait Glyphs, uay baal, depict stylized fish, uay kay; amphibian, uay much; reptile, uay huh; bird uay c'ic', uay mut; and mammal, uay baal, portrait types.

PORTRAIT FEATURES

Portrait Features employed in the myriad variants of basic types include Cranium, Headdress, Hair, Supraorbital Feature, Eye, Nose, Nose Ornament, Cheek, Hand Jaw, Chin, Ear, Ear Ornament, Earflare Superfix, Earflare Prefix and Earflare Subfix.

Cranium treatments include: Sloping, Front, Top, Rear and Bulbous. Cranium treatments run the gamut from completely naturalistic to entirely artificial.

Headdress treatments include: Kerchief, Headband, Scrolls, Leaf and Flower. Both the headband and the kerchief are associated with depictions of religious officials in Maya art. Scrolls and Leaf and Flower together may also have some, yet unknown, specialized significance. Only rarely do portrait glyphs bear an abbreviated version of the elaborate zoomorphic headdress so characteristic of the central figures in Maya sculptural compositions.

Hair, buz', treatments include: Forelock, Sidelock, Scroll and Moustache, Bound and Pompador. Although the beaded forelock is identified by Landa as a hallmark of childhood, it is found on virtually all portrait types, beginning with the earliest glyphs and proceeding right up to the European invasion. The sidelock, whether combed, corded or plated, is typically associated with female portraits. Nonetheless, there are examples of male figures in Maya art who also wear the sidelock (eg. Tikal St. 32). The scrolled tonsure and moustache or goatee are typically associated with depictions of mature adult males in Maya art. Various types of bound or otherwise sculpted hair are found in Preclassic, Early Classic, Terminal Classic and Postclassic Maya figural art. While the bristly pompador is consistently associated with depictions of monkeys and grotesque figures in Maya art generally, during the Late Classic and subsequent eras this haircut becomes popular among figures of men depicted in Terminal Classic and Postclassic Maya art.

Supraorbital Feature treatments include: Cartouche, Arch, Scroll, Doubled Scroll, Trefoil. The supraorbital features of Maya portrait glyphs, like supraorbital features in other Maya arts, derive from a conflation of mamilian eyebrows and the large scales which protect a reptile's eyes (Spinden 1908; Proskouriakoff 1950).

Eye, u yic, treatments include: Natural, Masked, Crossed, Walleyed and Lidded. Only the first two of these eye treatments attempts to depict the natural eye, the other three represent the enlarged eyes of masks worn in sacred ceremonies and the open eyes pix icob, of those engaged in sleepless religious vigils, pix icob,. Landa and others have observed that the Maya found strabismus attractive and induced it in their children by hanging a bright bead or ball of clay from a forelock to attract a child's eyes and fix them in that position (Tozzer 1941).

Nose, u ni, treatments include: Knot, Scroll, Skeletal, Inverted and Abbreviated. Most of these nose treatments are found on nonhuman portraits or portraits representing masked individuals.

Nose Ornament treatments include: Round, Compound, Bar, Feather and Star. All of these ornament treatments are secured through, or suspended from, horizontal piercings of the nasal septum.

Cheek treatments include: Scroll, Necklace, Infix. The, so called, "Mouth Scroll" is the most problematic of these cheek treatments. It would be easiest to think of it as a tongue, but many portraits bearing this feature also depict a clear and distinct tongue. It has been suggested that this feature represents the limbs of a toad's shed skin as it is devoured by its former wearer (Kennedy 1982). Very often, in abbreviating a portrait glyph the ear will be omitted, providing more room for cheek infixation.

Hand Jaw, k'ab-ic, treatments include: Open, Index, Horns, Closed and Fist. Given the prevalence of Signing Among The Maya it seems likely that these finger positions carried some meaning which further modified the basic hand to jaw gesture as lah kal, "slap the neck", for la k'al, "that twenty" and hence k'al, "twenty", also ti k'al, 'to the neck', 'twenty', (Thompson 19--).

Chin treatments include: Sloping, Jutting, Bearded, Absent and Infix.

Ear, xik'in, treatments include: Human and Nonhuman.

Earflare, u tup xik'in, treatments include: Pendant, Earflare, Round Bead Earflare, Bar Bead Earflare and Frontal Earflare. The frontal presentation of the earflare was apparently conceived as a glyphic main sign with the same variety of affix options provided by any other main sign.

Earflare Superfix treatments include: Scroll, Animal Ear, Feather, Jaguar Tall and Serpent . Various other elements, particularly the vegetable forms of affix T86, may also appear as earflare superfix.

Earflare Prefix treatments include: Prefix only. This is a common location for infixation and the two most common glyphs infixed are T544, K'in, and T505, Ak'-bal.

Earflare Subfix treatments include: Single, Double and Triple.

GLYPH GROUPS

Glyph Groups, u multunob? are composed of main signs with attached affixes. These glyph groups may appear as single main signs with attached affixes or as main sign clusters with attached affixes.

Reading Order, u xok multunob?, of affixes and main signs composing glyph groups is very different from the reading order of paired text columns discussed earlier. Affixes are read beginning with the element occupying the upper left corner of a glyph group, then any remaining superfixes or prefixes, followed by the main sign or main sign cluster, then postfixes or subfixes and ending with the element occupying the lower right corner of the glyph group.

Superfixes, u kaan ceilob, u pol ceilob, u cak ceilob, are attached to the top of the main sign or main sign cluster. Superfixes are always read before the main sign or main sign cluster.

Prefixes, u sak ceilob, are attached to the left of the main sign or main sign cluster. Prefixes are always read before the main sign or main sign cluster.

Postfixes, u kan ceilob, are attached to the right of the main sign or main sign cluster. Postfixes are always read after the main sign or main sign cluster.

Subflxes, uy ek ceilob, are attached to the bottom of the main sign or main sign cluster. Subfixes are always read after the main sign or main sign cluster.

Affixes, u ceilob, generally consist of smaller, elongated versions of main signs and are therefore regarded as derived, secondary or modifying forms.

Affixes, u ceilob, can be doubled, tripled, stretched with space fillers and abbreviated without affecting their meaning (Beyer 1926). Affixes may be attached to one, two or all four sides of a main sign. Affixes may also be one, two or more layers deep on any side of a main sign. Affixes are identified as Superfix, Prefix, Postfix and Subfix according to where they contact the associated main sign or main sign cluster.

AFFIX PLACEMENT

Affix Placement refers to the position where an Affix is normally attached to Main Signs (Beyer 1934a,b; 1936a).

Superfix Affixes , 20: 28: 29: 30,185,267: 42: 44,49,315: 128,162, 135: 141: 155,156: 157,242: 168,170,300, 169, 175, 240: 176: 208: 233,240,175: 235: 272,366,356: 348, are attached to the top of a main sign.

Prefix Affixes , 15, 171: 164: 193: 197, are attached to the left of a main sign.

Superfix/Prefix Affixes , 7,34,45,46,166; 58; 68,69,74; 79,80; 95; 112; 152; 174; 179; 182; 206; 238; 239; 268, 291; 299,328; 329; 333; 355; 367, can be attached to the top or the left of a main sign. Because many of these affixes do not commonly appear as main signs or postfixes, it is likely that these affixes perform a role similar to prefixes in Maya speech.

Universal Affixes may be attached to all four sides of a main sign and are defined in relation to the affix's main sign form. These affixes probably correspond to both prefixes and postfixes in Maya speech.

ORIENTATION OF UNIVERSAL AFFIXES

Normal Affixes are oriented the same as their main sign form in superfix, prefix, postfix and subfix positions, (Beyer 1934b). This rigid orientation doubtless results from the inverted position of this glyph, an upside down Ahau head. Because the glyph represents an infant's head emerging during squatting birth, al, its orientation cannot be altered without obliterating its meaning. Portrait numerals also display this rigid orientation.

Normal Inverted Afflxes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 48, 349; 16, 17, 18, 258; 10, 25, 27, may contact the main sign with either the top or the base of their main sign forms in any position.

Basal Affixes, all dot-bar digits; 9,12,13; 32,33,34,35,43?; 71,72?,73,74; 96; 109; 124,125,241,255,340?; 126,127,245?,247?; 129; 173 always contact the main sign with the base of their main sign forms (Beyer 1934a).

Top Affixes, 23,276; 24,121,189,342,352, always contact the main sign with the top of their main sign forms (Beyer 1934a).

Symmetrical Affixes, 25,102,103; 110,111; 184,365; 148; 62; 245,257, are indeterminate.

Right Left Affixes, 14,36,40,54,55; 51,53; 59; 130,131; 181, are oriented the same as their main sign form in prefix and postfix, the superfix rotates 90 degrees counter clockwise while the subfix rotates 90 degrees clockwise.

Right Affixes, 17,21; 51,53; 56,188; 84,85,86; 87; 93; 80,89,91; 116; 151; 228,229, are oriented the same as their main sign forms in both prefix and postfix, the superfix and subfix rotate 90 degrees counter clockwise.

Left Afixes, 57; 80,89,91; 116; 59; 177, are oriented the same as their main sign forms in both prefix and postfix, the superfix and subfix rotate 90 degrees clockwise (Beyer 1936a).

Left Right Affixes, 36, are oriented the same as their main sign forms in prefix and postfix, the superfix rotates 90 degrees clockwise and the subfix rotates 90 degrees counter clockwise.

Clockwise Affixes, 60; 122, 130, rotate 90 degrees clockwise on each side of the main sign.

Postflx/Subfix Affixes, 8,22; 82,83; 88; 139,259,140?; 180, can be attached to the right or the bottom of a main sign.

Postfix Affixes, 305?,309?,337?, are attached to the right of a main sign and may not be a viable grouping. Although these glyphs appear to belong in this group, it is more likely that all of these numbers represent misdrawings or misunderstandings of other glyphs.

Subfix Affixes, 215?, 285?, 289?, 292?, 293?, 295?, 301?, 302?, 306?, 308?, 314?, 321?, 391?, 342?, 360?, 368?, are attached to the bottom of a main sign and may not be a viable grouping. Although these glyphs appear to belong in this group, it is more likely that all of these numbers represent misdrawings or misunderstandings of other glyphs by Thompson or his staff.

Angle Afixes 213, 187, 316, 358, enclose two sides of main signs.

Bracket Affixes 25,27; 134,136; 325; 115,326; 326c; 326b, always bracket the right and left sides of the main signs with which they are associated.

Superfix Subfixes 69; 76,77,81; 98; 192; 200; 210; 216; 287; 335, can be attached to the top or the bottom of a Main Sign. Superfix subfixes probably correspond to prefixes and postfixes in Maya speech. Perhaps the positioning of these affixes reflects Maya concepts of space and time in which top/over is completed and bottom/under is uncompleted. Or there may be some completely unrelated principle at work here. For example, in the real-world, mats T192, and stones T200, often go over or under things. Nonetheless. the remaining glyphs depicted in this chart do not appear to reflect this logic.

Prefix Postfix Affixes

Affix Affixes are attached to other affixes. One, two or even three affix affixes can be attached sequentially to another affix. The positions where affixes attach to other affixes are as follows: Superfix Superfix, Prefix Prefix, Postfix Postfix, and Subfix Subfix. There are twenty possible arrangements of from one to three Affix Affixes: a.Superfix, Prefix; b. Superfix, Prefix, c.Superfix Supergfix, d. Superfix, Superfix, Prefix, e. Superfix, Superfix, Prefix, Prefix, f. Prefix, Superfix, Prefix, Superfix Superfix, h. Prefix, Prefix, i. Prefix, Prefix, Superfix, j. Prefix, Prefix, Superfix, Superfix, k. Subfix, Postfix, l. Subfix, Subfix, Postfix, m. Postfix, Postfix, n. Subfix, Postfix, Postfix, o. Subfix, Subfix, Postfix, Postfix, p. Postfix, Subfix, q. Postfix, Postfix, Subfix, Subfix, r. Postfix, Postfix, s. Postfix, Subfix, Subfix, t. Postfix, Postfix, Subfix, Subfix.

Ultimately the incidence and occurrence of each of these affix types must be thoroughly studied to identify pattern, repetition and variation. Once this has been done, it will be possible to begin correlating these forms with particles of Maya speech which have the same or similar distributions.

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