Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs

I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 8
1. History of Decipherment ................................................................................................................................... 9
2. Origins of the Maya Script .............................................................................................................................. 12
3. Language(s) of the Hieroglyphs ..................................................................................................................... 13
II THE WRITING SYSTEM ............................................................................................................................................. 14
4. Conventions of Transliterating and Transcribing Maya Texts .................................................................. 14
5. Reading Order .................................................................................................................................................. 16
6. Compound Glyphs, Infixing, and Conflations ............................................................................................ 17
7. Logograms ......................................................................................................................................................... 18
8. Syllabograms / Phonograms ........................................................................................................................... 19
9. Phonetic Complements .................................................................................................................................... 19
10. Semantic Determinatives and Diacritical Signs ......................................................................................... 20
11. Polyvalence: Polyphony and Homophony ................................................................................................. 20
12. Number of Known Hieroglyphs .................................................................................................................. 22
III GRAMMAR ............................................................................................................................................................... 24
13. Word Order ..................................................................................................................................................... 24
14. Verbs ................................................................................................................................................................. 26
15. Nouns and Adjectives .................................................................................................................................... 26
16. Pronominal System ........................................................................................................................................ 27
IV TYPICAL STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF THE TEXTS ............................................................................................. 30
17. Monumental Inscriptions .............................................................................................................................. 30
18. Ceramics .......................................................................................................................................................... 30
19. Codices ............................................................................................................................................................. 37
20. Portable Artefacts ........................................................................................................................................... 39