Kaminaljuyu Stela 10: Script Classification and Linguistic Affiliation. Ancient Mesoamerica 16:63-87. (original) (raw)
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Written Language & Literacy, 2000
We are at the exciting point in the decipherment and interpretation of Maya hieroglyphic texts where we can make inferences about the language varieties used by the authors of the script with a sophistication that allows us to infer their grammatical systems-and, just as importantly, the changing identities of Lowland Maya groups and their relationships to one another. By careful sociolinguistic analysis, we can oVer an anthropological account of glyphic variation. To do this, we must pay close attention to both the spatial and temporal dimensions of variation. In the case of the Maya, we know that we are dealing with at least two language groups, Ch'olan-Tzeltalan (or Greater Ch'olan) and Yucatecan; and we know that some speakers of these languages had long-term contact with one another. Martha Macri, in her paper, investigates the interesting topic of numeral classifiers-which, unfortunately, has received little attention of late. She provides some of the first fruits of the Maya Hieroglyphic Database Project at the University of California at Davis, which she directs. Numeral classifiers vary not only between languages, but also between dialects, and so they may
THE SOUTHWESTERN PALAEO-HISPANIC SCRIPT: STATE OF KNOWLEDGE, HYPOTHESES AND CONTROVERSIES
"The Southwestern Paleo-Hispanic script: state of knowledge, hypothesis and controversies" en S. Ferrara y M. Valerio (eds.) Paths into script Formation in the Ancient Mediterranean. SMEA NS Suppl. 1, Roma 2018, 129-144
This contribution focuses on the structure of the Southwestern Palaeo-Hispanic script and its underlying phonographic system, in order to assess whether it was inspired by a pre-existing indigenous model or whether it is the result of a direct transmission from a Phoenician template. In addition, the process of adaptation of this indigenous script, from the first experiments to its general conception, will be investigated in detail. The aim is to shed light on the motivations and purpose behind its creation, as well as its social context, and address the place of the Palaeo-Hispanic scripts in the history of writing.
Recent years have seen rapid advancement in our understanding of the phonology and grammar of Classic Ch'olan and the distribution of Lowland Mayan languages in the Classic period. The control over the data has advanced to such an extent that Classic Ch'olan should no longer be considered chiefly a product of reconstruction, but rather a language in its own right, providing fresh input to historical reconstruction. The interpretation of writing system principles has moved into the forefront of research, and recent discussions of these and other major issues are summarized here. This review suggests that the exceptional phonological transparency of the Maya script, which is a precondition for the current advances in linguistic epigraphy, is rooted in the need of scribes to spell out regional linguistic variants, and a sociolinguistically oriented theory of the evolution of writing in general is formulated and tested on the Mayan hieroglyphic materials.