MayaMayan
A MAYA GLYPH MAY REPRESENT A SOUND (MORPHEME), WORD, OR OBJECT

Morphemes: smallest linguistic unit represented by sound from spoken language and the basic unit of Syllabic Glyphs. A syllabary will soon be added to this site for illustration of the glyphs presented in syllabic combinations. Meanwhile, visit one of the syllabary links on this page.


         
         "la"



Word Glyphs are Logographs: some glyphs may be both syllabic glyphs and logographs.


         "k'in"
         (day)



Object Glyphs are Pictographs: these are a special kind of logograph that actually looks like what it represents.
"All pictographs are logographs.
All logographs are not pictographs."

       
        "ok"
        (dog)
READING ORDER

Left to Right,  Top to Bottom  two columns at a time as follows in a typical grid. A1,B1,A2,B2,
A3,B3,A4,B4,C1,D1,C2,D2, . . .

            A               B                  C               D


1 1st     2nd       9th            10th



2        3rd             4th               11th            12th



3        5th             6th




4        7th              8th
Of all the ancient cultures in the Western hemisphere, the Mayas alone had devised a fully developed writing system, with which a scribe could express anything in the spoken language in his assigned inscription. This written language uses signs or glyphs instead of letters or words.

The longest inscriptions appeared on the surfaces of:
-Carved limestone monuments called
stelae pron. STEE-lee (singular stela), some as tall as 35        feet,
-Carved lintels over doorways, usually of stone or wood.     Walls, built quite thick allowing lots of space on the Lintels.
-Stairways
-Books and codices, pounded bark paper
folded accordion style. There are only four
remaining.
-Painted walls of caves and tombs.
-Painted or incised pottery.
-Small objects of carved bone, jade, and
shell.

There have been well over 800 glyphs identified, but only 2-300 were in use at any one time. Decipherment was impeded in earlier times since linguistics weren't used as a key to translation.
MAYA GLYPHS LINKS

FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.) - Site Map
http://www.famsi.org/sitemap.htm

MAIN SIGNS, AFFIXES, AND GLYPH
BLOCKS

Main signs are well-named. They are the larger glypha often shaped like a tv-screen. They can function alone or in combination with affixes and other main signs. Affixes are the small flattened rectangular glyphs generally seen with main signs and possibility other affixes. Glyph blocks are a group of at least two glyphs; at least one of them will be a main sign. Main signs and affixes are functionally equal.
One or more affixes can be added to any side of the main sign . And more affixes may be positioned with consideration to reading order (see below) and overall squarish shape.
  Affix 1 - Superfix



  Affix 2 - Prefix            MAIN SIGN   Affix 3 - Postfix


   
                                  Affix 4 - Subfix
PUTTING TOGETHER GLYPHS TO MAKE WORDS, NAMES, AND DATES to be added next.
CHAAK
Incense
Burner from
Mayapan.
(Photo by
Irmgard Groth)
Last updated June 10, 2007