Maya Writing Systems

There are only about 30 phonetic sounds in the Maya language so a purely phonetic alphabet could in theory be written with 30 signs. It was originally thought that Maya writing was purely logographic because of the many hundreds of different glyphs. After a long period of attempts to decipher the Maya glyphs, it was discovered that the system was logosyllabic and became increasingly phonetic over time. Maya writing uses a syllabary made up of glyphs rather than a pure alphabet and is a mixed system. Many of the glyphs are polyvalent and have two or more meanings (Id. at 621). Glyphs have been identified that correspond to verbs, nouns, adjectives,and particles (Id. at 628). Maya writing is structured around glyphs and glyph groups.

The glyphs are pictures. Main signs are larger and more central in a group. Affixes are joined to the main sign and may be prefixes (left), superfixes (above), subfixes (below), and postfixes (right) depending upon their position. Affixes can also be fused within the main glyph and are called infixes (Id.). Main signs can be compounded of two or more signs. Although there are exceptions the usual order of reading the glyphs is prefix, superfix, main sign, subfix, and postfix.

There are about 800 glyphs that are known at this time and each has a catalogue number starting with "T" (in J. Eric Thompson’s system), and many have nicknames. If there are only two columns of glyphs, text is normally read from left to right. For even numbers of columns the first two columns are read left to right and the next two columns are read left to right, etc. For odd numbers of columns the order is down the first column and then left to right for the next two columns or left to right for the first two columns and then down the rightmost column. In the Paris Codex where recognizable faces appear the reading order on a few pages is right to left. Yucatec codices are often ordered verb-object-subject as in the language. Like English the final syllable may be silent.

The principal subject matter on public buildings, tombs, and stelae seems to be historical and sociopolitical "propaganda" regarding rulers histories, state histories, conquests and genealogies - including dates, place names and captives that were conquered and then sacrificed.

Some codices are also astronomical and astrological in nature. Ceramic writing seems to indicate the name of the owner and sometimes the function or purpose of the object - which interestingly did not always correlate with the archaeologist’s pre-decipherment taxonomic classification of the objects function or purpose. Emblem glyphs, first identified by Heinrich Berlin in the 1950’s, are main signs that are "practically unique" to a particular site (Id. at 610). As Sharer notes, "the best hypothesis seems to be that they represent a founding lineage firmly associated with a particular site (Id.).

Peter Mathews has suggested that they refer to polities rather than centers (Id. at 618). Peter Mathews, David Stuart, Stephen Houston, Karl Taube, and others have determined that name tagging of personal objects that identified the owner and sometimes the function of the object occurred on ear spools, incised bones, ceramics, and other kinds of vessels (Id. at 618). Stephen Houston and David Stewart have deciphered the meaning of an ahau ("lord") face half covered with a jaguar pelt, as the phonetic equivalent of the word way which is a supernatural spirit companion. This glyph is fairly commonly portrayed in stone and pottery and Classic period texts (Id. at 619). (Source)