Mayan languages

Some Poqomchi' Mayan communities in Guatemala actually practice traditional offering ceremonies. Through the mediation of a ritual specialist, they provide humans with an opportunity to submit requests to divine authorities for something they wish to obtain. The language used during this ritual communication differs from everyday Poqomchi' in certain lexical, grammatical and discursive respects. Based on primary fieldwork data, this paper discusses parallel syntactic constructions, the metaphorical use of certain lexemes, the functions of loanwords and the unexpected choice of tense/aspect/mood categories, among other features. In addition, this article presents morphologically annotated and translated textual extracts from three offering ceremonies, which may be useful for further studies on Poqomchi' ritual communication.

This paper examines the formal structure of the grammatical tense/aspect/mood system in Chontal, a Mayan language from Mexico. The verbal grammar is analyzed as a continuum of semantically and morphosyntactically interrelated phenomena of different sorts, from fully grammaticalized (grammatical core) to those lexical items that may possibly be grammaticalized in the future (grammatical periphery). The distinction between grammatical core and periphery is not only important in order to represent in an appropriate way the internal architecture of a grammatical system, but can also help to better understand semantic properties of its structural components. The core elements are usually ambiguous and express very general meanings; the peripheral elements may optionally make them more precise, thereby disambiguating the utterance.

In this article, see pages 164, 166-168 for Stuart's discussion of the Grolier Codex.  It is highly significant that the Mexican State of Chiapas and the Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas chose to include the Grolier Codex as an authentic ancient Maya book in 1985 and make a fine color facsimile available along with the Dresden, Paris, and Madrid codices for further research. 

This review and essay of "Los Codices Mayas" is being posted as a personal tribute to my friend and colleague, the late George E. Stuart, Ph.D. (1935 - 2014) for his great generosity and many extraordinary contributions promoting world archaeology over several generations.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Este artículo describe la estructura morfosintáctica de construcciones prohibitivas (imperativas negativas) en cinco lenguas mayas del subgrupo cholano-tseltalano. Estas lenguas, aunque son estrechamente emparentadas, utilizan al menos tres distintas estrategias gramaticales para expresar el significado prohibitivo. El análisis corrobora la observación tipológica de que la naturaleza semántica del prohibitivo es más compleja que una simple combinación de la polaridad negativa y la modalidad imperativa. La variación se estudia bajo el enfoque “microtipológico” que, en este caso particular, es superior a un estudio “macrotipológico” basado en un amplio muestreo de lenguas, ya que permite obtener una perspectiva más detallada y trazar hipótesis sobre posibles cambios diacrónicos.

Underlying Maya cosmology, history and religion are several key mythological narratives explaining the origins of the world, and providing sacred charters for civilized/moral behavior. Key elements from these narratives—including shared mythemes, characters, and toponyms—have long been known to recur in various regions of Southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, in the oral traditions of several groups speaking distinct but related Mayan languages. One such is a widespread narrative concerning an aged god of the mountains whose daughter, granddaughter, or wife runs away with a young culture hero: a parable often echoing acute concerns about female marital fidelity in contemporary christianized Maya communities. Naturally enough, the contexts of these modern myths have occasioned some concern that they may be little more than thinly disguised retellings of Biblical stories of unfaithful wives, such as Hosea and Gomer. Yet several Late Classic Maya vases and monuments from the late 7th and early 8th century AD apparently reference episodes from this same narrative, here explicitly involving Huk Xib (later Huk Siip), the aged Lord of the Deer, whose wife is spirited away by Juun Ixiim, the youthful Maize God, in a union which may have produced the famed Hero Twins. Epigraphic and iconographic analysis of the texts and imagery reflecting this lost myth, coupled with cautious comparison with potentially related modern Maya myths, allow us to reconstruct many of the basic events of this ancient tale, although several mysteries remain. Such continuity reminds us that myths can be surprisingly durable, even in the wake of military conquest and centuries of colonial rule and religious conversion. Nonetheless, still unresolved is the extent to which these various early fragments allow the confident reconstruct of a single, underlying myth. It is suggested that various regional and temporal variants may find expression or emphasis in these texts, raising questions about many of our reconstructions of ancient mythic narratives.

The Pan-Maya movement helped with the revitalization efforts in Guatemala and Mexico. This movement was not without resistance and difficulties, particularly in the standardization process. In Belize, only a few grass roots effort have taken hold in what is hoped to be a revitalization of their own.

This article presents an overview of linguistic efforts aimed at
a description of the Poqomchi’ language (Mayan family, Guatemala).
This language remains one of the least documented languages in the
Mayan family despite the almost 500-year history of description, which
was initiated by Spanish missionaries in the second half of the 16th
century. The next attempt at descriptionwas associated with European
travellers and ethnographers in the second half of the 19th century,
followed by the efforts of American and European missionaries in the
20th century. Finally, native Guatemalan linguists who trained under
the American descriptive tradition continue to work on Poqomchi’ at
present. This paper seeks to describe the variety of approaches and to
analyse the possible causes of imperfections in the descriptions.

El libro explora la retórica del Popol Vuh, su estructura narrativa y su organización formal, desde la versificación hasta la división gráfica del manuscrito de Francisco Ximénez del siglo XVIII. El estudio crítico del texto k'iche' ha permitido reconocer el patrón oral de la obra y su origen como mito colectivo y oral de la época prehispánica.

This paper discusses the semantic domain of irreality and the grammatical means of its expression in Q'eqchi', a Mayan language from Guatemala. Three morphosyntactic devices are examined in detail: the prefix t- from the tense/aspect/mood paradigm, the "status" suffix-q/-aq and some second-position clitics. Due to the significant structural and functional diversity of the irreality markers, it is argued that Q'eqchi' does not distinguish a morphologically homogeneous grammatical category of "reality status", traditionally postulated in some American indigenous languages. The respective semantic functions are not encompassed in a sole category, but are rather distributed among different grammatical and lexical items. However, the importance of the semantic domain of irreality in Q'eqchi' grammar should not be completely discarded. The morphosyntactic interconnection between certain grammatical elements (like the suffix-q/-aq, which is triggered on intransitive verbs by the prefix t-) and the diachronic semantic change of some clitics (for example, the enclitic ta changed its meaning from optative to counterfactual) are arranged according to semantic principles within the irreality domain.

 Naq ab'anoon [knock ob-on own] = cómo estás? = how are you doing? [how ar yuu duu ing]  Naq naab'an [knock knob-on] = que haces? = what are you doing? [wat ar yuu duu ing]  Naq k'a [knock k-aw] = quien es, que es = who is it, what is it [huu is it, wat is it]  Jaru' ajuunaa' [ha roo-ah hoon gnaw-] = cuantos años tiene? = how old are you? [how ōōld ar yuu]  Jaru' rajil? [ha roo-raw hēēl] = cuanto cuesta? = how much is it? [how much is it]  Jaru' nuuk'aas [ha roo-new k-aws] = cuanto debo? = how much do I owe you? [how much duu ay ōō yuu]  Jar atet k'a naq chi saamaajiil naab'an [har aw tet k-aw knock chēē sawm ah hēēl knob-on] = tú, que trabajo haces? = what kind of work do you do? [wat kaynd of wurk duu yuu duu]  ¡Jo'! [hō-] = vamos! = let's go! [letz gōō]  B'aar at petinaq wi'? [b-are ought pet ēē knock wē-] = de donde viene? = where are you from? [wer ar yuu from]  Kinakuyu'/cha nuumak [key naw koo you-/chaw new mock] = perdoname = excuse me [eks kuus mee]  Kinok'ona' awik'iin [key naw koo you-/chaw new mock] = con permiso = excuse me [eks kuus mee]  Ninb'e pa kayib'al [nēēn bay pa ki yēē ball] = voy al mercado = I am (I'm) going to the market [ay'm gōō ing to tha market]  Naq q'iij xaturqaji' [knock k-ey shot oor kah he-] = cuando llegaste = When did you arrive? [wen did yu ar ayve]  Wuqub'iixir xinurqaji' [wook oob-ēēsh ear sheen oor kah hēē-] = llegue la semana pasada = I arrived last week [ay ar ayvd last wik]  Nk'atzin chuwee' ninb'e chuwaaq pa Chichicastenango [n k-atz ēēn choo vay-nēēn b-ay choo walk paw Chee chee cast en ang o] = necesito irme a Chichicastenango mañana = I need to go to Chichicastenango tomorrow [ay nid tu gō tu Chi chi cast en ang ō tum or ōō]  ¡Tachajij aawii'! [tawch aw hēē ah wēē] = ¡Cuida te! = Be careful! [bēē cair ful]  Q'ila' chik na [k-ey law-chēēk gnaw] =¡Nos Vemos! = see you later! [see yuu lāātur]  ¡Xtiqaatz'at chik na qii'! [shtēē cawtz-ought chēē gnaw key-] = ¡Nos Vemos! = See you later! [sēē yuu lāāt ur]  K'o/K'ooli jun [k-ōh/ k-ōh lee hoon] = hay un/a = there is a(n) [ther is aa(an)]  Taya'a' [tie yaw-ah-] = da me = give me [giv mēē]  Tab'ana' jun utziil [tawb-awn aw-hoon ootz ēēl] = hágame un favor = do me a favor [do mēē ā fāv ur]  Maltiyoox [mall tēē yōsh] = gracias = thank you (thanks) [thank yuu (thanks)]  Sib'alaj maltiyoox [seeb-all ah mall tēē yōsh] = muchas gracias = thank you very much (thanks very much) [thank yuu ver ēē much (thanks ver ēē much)]  Jee' [hay'] = sí (afirmación) = yeah (affirmation) [yeh]  Ma [maw] = no (negación) = no (negation) [nōō]  Kan [con] = sí = yes [yes]  Ma kan ta [maw con taw] = no = no [nōō]  Ma k'o ta [maw k-ōh taw] = no hay = there is not [ther is not] Interrogatives (Interrogativos)  B'aar chi ri (tri) [b-are trēē] = dónde, adónde = where [wer]  B'ajan [b-a hawn] = cuándo = when [wen]  Jaru' [ha roo-] = cuánto = how much [how much]  Jani' [ha nēē-] = cómo = how [how]  Naq [knock] = qué, quién = what, who [wat, hoo]  Naq chi re (tre) [knock tray] = por qué = why [way]

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex—the only one discovered in the 20th century—was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the Grolier Codex is half of a hybrid-style 20-page, 104-year Mesoamerican divinatory Venus Almanac. With new radiocarbon dates that place it in the 13th century CE, it is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research,* it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure as it has never been officially recognized except in the State of Chiapas. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice, the goal of which was to obtain captives whose blood was shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The Grolier Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus (named in the Maya Dresden Codex), greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions documented in four other pre-Columbian codices as well as numerous archaeological and ethnohistoric sources. This article is a summary of the talk given on November 7, 2014 to the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC and includes a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Grolier Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries leading to an interpretation of the Codex—based on the Dresden Codex and other sources; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the “Codex Mayano-Mexicanus” is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.

          *See <http://umd.academia.edu/JohnBCarlson>.

Also utilized as part of the November 7, 2014 talk are TWO 1983 historical STUDY GUIDE documents which can be viewed at the following academia.edu links:

• GROLIER CODEX Page Study Guide: Pages 1-9 and Reconstructed Page 10/11 (1983): 

https://www.academia.edu/7911420/GROLIER_CODEX_Page_Study_Guide_Pages_1-9_and_Reconstructed_Page_10_11

• GROLIER CODEX Comparative Study Guide (1983): Grolier pages 1-9 and reconstructed page 10/11 with Maya Dresden Codex Venus Almanac page numbers 48/1 – 50/2 with Venus Station and Directional Associations; Names (on Dresden Rows 17 & 22) of the associated Venus Impersonators; and Initial (1983) interpretations of the Grolier Codex scenes & iconographic interpretations. Over the three decades since 1983, some of the glyphic and iconographic interpretations have changed, as discussed in the presentation. The details are in press:

https://www.academia.edu/9208071/GROLIER_CODEX_Comparative_Study_Guide_1983_

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This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex, the only one discovered in the twentieth century, was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the  Grolier Codex is half of a 20-page, 104-year divinatory hybrid-style Mesoamerican Venus Almanac, probably the physically oldest surviving pre-Columbian book, and with new radiocarbon dates that place it in the thirteenth century CE. It is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research, it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure, as it has never been officially recognized. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare, the goal of which was to obtain captives for sacrifice, their blood shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The  Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus, greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions. The present study offers a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; presents a documented photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the Codex Mayano-Mexicanus is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.


*****
This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

This paper addresses the question of Classic Maya color classification looking beyond "basic" or "simplex" color terms. It is based on a comprehensive survey of ancient Maya inscriptions, primarily from the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-800). Until now, only "basic" color designations have been identified in Maya texts. However, this paper will present some preliminary evidence suggesting the use of complex or compound color terms, which are well-attested in Maya languages today. In addition, the paper will discuss some emerging patterns or webs of associations between different colors and certain important concepts, places, objects, and supernatural beings.

Esta es una tesis de maestría (Lingüística Indoamericana del CIESAS). En este trabajo se describen los predicados expresivos y los ideófonos como dos categorías independientes de las demás clases léxicas conocidas en las lenguas del mundo. Los predicados expresivos son una clase intermedia entre predicados verbales y predicados no-verbales, y muestran ciertas construcciones únicas. Los ideófonos aparecen únicamente en una construcción con verbo ligero, y siguen los rasgos descritos en la tipología. En ambas clases se asume una multimodalidad en su codificación semántica y se propone un análisis que incluye gestos y prosodia para un mejor entendimiento. Además, se propone un proceso de gramaticalización de ideófonos a predicados expresivos, de lo más periférico a lo más nuclear.

In this paper, I present important interdisciplinary evidences that two of the main Mesoamerican populations may have originated in South America, namely the forefathers of the so called Otomangueans and of the Proto-Mayans. Those evidence point to the probability that the Homelands of the Otomangueans’ forefathers and of the Proto-Mayans’ forefathers were respectively Western Colombia and the North-Central Peruvian Coast. The Otomanguean linguistic connections with South America will be dealt in §1. Possible linguistic connections related to the Kandoxis, Kunzas and Mosetens – as well as those related to the Lencans and Misumalpans – will be dealt in §2. Finally, by using the archaeoecolinguistic perspective, an interdisciplinary discussion linking the aforementioned linguistic connections to archaeological and climatological data and a Panorama of some possible prehistoric population movements in the Mesoamerica-Andes Axis are offered in §3-4.

In this research I developed a proposal of reconstruction of all the morphemes that belong to the gramatical person system in protohuastec (including bound and independent marks). In doing so, I considered linguistic data collected in fieldwork in 28 communities currently huasteca speaking as well as two colonial documents : La Noticia de la lengua huasteca de Carlos de Tapia Zenteno (1767) and the Doctrina cristiana en la lengua guasteca of Fray Juan de la Cruz (1571). The work was done under a descriptive and historical basis of two basic conceptual and methodological notions: the structure of word and the communalect. The main results are that the person system shows that there is not a unit called “huasteco language”, not in the present days or for the colonial time. The variation from the data of the different analyzed communalects challenges the idea that it is only three dialects of the huasteco and poses a new challenge in terms of dialect classification. Bound person markers can be reconstructed in protohuastec as clitics in both verbal and in the nominal sphere. Independent pronominal person markers have a CV.CVC structure. The variation of person markers in the verb points to the development of a hierarchy of person that is  performed as "total inversion" in a group of communalects and "partial inversion" in others. The hypothetical development of inversion feature may have been developed from contact with mixezoquean groups during the Late Preclassic.

[English translation of: Matsumoto, Mallory E. 2015 La estela de Iximche' en el contexto de la revitalización lingüística y la recuperación jeroglífica en las comunidades mayas de Guatemala. Estudios de Cultura Maya 45:225-258. Please do not reproduce or cite without author's permission.]

ABSTRACT: The revival of the Mayan hieroglyphic script constitutes a dynamic component of the Maya movement in Guatemala and offers a rare opportunity to observe the reclamation of a dormant writing system. This study analyzes the hieroglyphic text on the recently erected stela at Iximche’, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, and proposes that it manifests various strategies used in revitalizing the modern Mayan languages and in the construction of a Pan-Maya identity. The acquisition and active use of the ancient script in the present in this and other media reflects the dynamic between the Pan-Maya identity and the distinctive identity of the Kaqchikel people. Furthermore, by reasserting an ancient monumental and scribal tradition, it affirms the cultural link experienced by the Maya peoples with the pre- Columbian past. The study of the revived script thus may also enhance our understanding of the role of writing in expressing, reinterpreting, and developing traditions and identities.

Una revisión de los datos sobre los mayas de Yucatán y el grande centro ceremonial de Chichen Itzá, buscando las raíces de una historia dada como cierta sin tener evidencias reales. Hasta hoy. Un descubrimiento epigráfico que abre el camino a nuevas investigaciones.

This is a preliminary version of a transcription of the vocabulary section of Charles Wisdom's "Materials on the Chorti Language" with limited commentary, currently undergoing editing. Highlighting marks text that the editor means to review or revise. It is the intent of the author to eventually include Spanish translations of Wisdom's glosses.

Esta es una versión preliminar de una transcripción del vocabulario de los "Materials on the Chorti Language" de Charles Wisdom con commentario escaso, la cual actualmente está experimentando la edición. Es la última intención del autór incluir traducciones en español de las glosas de Wisdom.

This dissertation explores the nature, purpose, function and role of language documentation in order to further our understanding of mechanisms of language transmission and maintenance in the face of language endangerment and the repression of indigenous identity. Beyond its traditional use for generating linguistic data, I argue that the act and the process of language documentation can be understood as a comprehensive means to evaluate the interactions between speakers and researchers and as the stage where various beliefs and emotions are displayed. Extending the notion of “sites” developed by Silverstein (1998) and Kroskrity (2009), I argue that the act of language documentation can create “sites” of linguistic transaction, of self recognition, and of ideological and emotional stance shift.

      To attain this goal, this project linguistically and ethnographically documents and describes Belizean Mopan, an endangered Mayan language spoken in the southern Petén region of Guatemala and in the Maya Mountain region (Toledo District) of Southern Belize as a case study. Ethnographic and linguistic observation suggest that characteristics of Belizean Mopan do not simply stem from its linguistic features but rather are derived from ethnic complexity, language ideologies, identity politics, the history of Belize and speakers’ awareness of the self. Linguistic biographies, interviews, participant observation, and ethnographic accounts indicate that the individual’s emotional attachments to the language and the sense of belonging to one’s linguistic community are crucial keys for effective language documentation and revitalization. Discourse and grammatical analysis of sound symbolic words in narratives suggest that speakers’ linguistic affects can be evoked through sound itself. The devices used during language documentation, such as voice and video recorders can be understood as “signifying instruments” (J. D. Hill 2014), which amplify or evoke speakers’ and researchers’ linguistic ideologies and/or affects.

    Tzik ‘respect’ plays a pivotal role in distinguishing Mopans from other Maya groups and many stories and personal narratives either explicitly or subtly demonstrate the concept and importance of tzik for regulating and maintaining the traditional community and for having a successful life, which resembles the secretos ‘secrets’ described in Hofling’s (1996: 109) account of Itzaj Maya lives. Focusing on tzik gained through being a ch’ija’an kristiyanojo ‘the grown-up people’, I argue that storytelling is a primary device to transmit and circulate traditional knowledge, worldview, ideologies and memories of Maya people from the present, the immediate past, and the mythological past and that in a sense, the role and meaning of dream divinations and my language consultant, Orlando Sho’s musical performances can be equated with the practice of storytelling. The act of language documentation is a portal to the site of linguistic and cultural transaction and of world learning, in which I see a key to successful language renewal and revitalization.

y puramente Latina. C. Lucan. Prolog. E los que labran, et crian, et trabajan, et cazan, et facen las otras cosas." La t de et latina nunca se pronunciaba, aunque se escribía de esa manera, según el Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (1991).

The 1983 manuscript published in "Calendars in Mesoamerica and Peru: Native American computations of time". Aveni, Anthony F. & Brotherston, Gordon, eds., BAR International Series 174, Oxford from the 1982 manuscript presented both at the 44th International Congress of Americanists, Manchester, England in 1982 and the American Astronomical Society in Boston, January 1983.  This research article is the only scholarly study that provides an independent proof that the Grolier Codex must be a genuine pre-Columbian codex – because it contains key iconographic and other data that could not have been known to a potential fabricator in the mid-1960s when the Codex was found.  One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. The author also demonstrates his discovery that the previously labeled pages 10 and 11 of the Codex are actually two parts of the same page "10".

This 1983 version of the manuscript has publisher introduced typographical errors. Please see the original 1982 manuscript (click "LINK" on this paper listing) for the complete version or follow the link below: 

http://www.academia.edu/7908428/The_Grolier_Codex_A_Preliminary_Report_on_the_Content_and_Authenticity_of_a_Thirteenth-Century_Maya_Venus_Almanac_1982_

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

The April 21, 1971 New York Times article by George Gent covering the opening of the Grolier Club exhibition, "Ancient Mayan Calligraphy" with interview quotes by Yale anthropologist Michael D. Coe. The article focuses on the significant importance of the Grolier Codex and features the first published photographs of four of the Codex pages by a NYT photographer.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

Given that the existence of a productive causative affix in Classic Mayan inscriptions has recently been questioned (Hopkins and Josserand 2010:54; Law and Stuart 2017:147), the purpose of this paper is to revisit some of the evidence previously presented in favor of this identification (Zender 1999:78 n. 48, 2004a:195, 2005:7 n. 5, 2010a:84), as well as to update those studies with several additional contexts which have only come to light in recent years. As will be seen, the evidence in favor of the original identification is considerable. Nonetheless, it can readily be admitted that of the seven uncontroversial contexts presently known, the causative appears without further derivation in only three of them: a state of affairs which has certainly impeded the recognition and acceptance of its identification more than might otherwise have been the case.

This article presents a proposal for the translation and interpretation of the Classic term iximte’el kakaw, based on a review of Mayan lexical sources from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Although in the past several scholars have proposed interpretations of the term largely based on epigraphy, iconography, and/ or linguistics, this review presents a slightly different vision. It is my hope that this approach will help deepen understandings of the Classic Maya economy with regard to the names of beverages and foods—especially that of cacao.

Published in Mesoweb: https://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/journal/2103/Kakaw.pdf

The December 13, 1977 New York Times article by Laurie Johnson giving a brief history on the whereabouts of the Grolier Codex since its exhibition at the Grolier Club in New York City in 1971.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

En este trabajo se examina la relación entre la tradición oral y las repre-sentaciones de la historia y la coyuntura social entre los k'iche's del altiplano de Guatemala. Se muestra que la tradición oral consta de una gran diversidad de géne-ros con estructuras discursivas y fuerza ilocutiva. Se discuten las aparentes incon-sistencias entre narrativas y se demuestra que son expresión de disensos, debates y ansiedades en el seno de las comunidades frente a los cambios impuestos por la modernidad guatemalteca. En particular, se analizan historias de santos y " brujos " y las diferentes y contradictorias posturas que dramatizan frente a la expansión de la Acción Católica y de las iglesias pentecostales en los años cincuenta y sesenta del siglo pasado. Se muestra que la tradición oral es también modelo prescriptivo de la naciente prosa en idioma k'iche'. PalabRas clave: historia oral, discurso, religión, k'iche', Guatemala. abstRact: This paper examines the relationship between oral traditions and K'iche' representations of history and current social and cultural dilemmas in the Guate-malan highlands. I show that oral tradition include a great variety of genres with different discourse structures and illocutionary force. I discuss apparent inconsistencies among narratives and show that they embody dissent and anxieties in K'iche' communities in regard to changes provoked by Guatemala's violent modernity. In particular, I examine stories of patron saints and " witches " and the different stances vis-à-vis religious conversion that they dramatize after the expansion of Catholic Action and Pentecostal denominations in the 1950s and 1960s. Oral traditions are also prescriptive models for the emerging K'iche' narrative prose.

The original 1982 manuscript presented both at the 44th International Congress of Americanists, Manchester, England in 1982 and the American Astronomical Society in Boston, January 1983.  This research article is the only scholarly study that provides an independent proof that the Codice Maya de Mexico, (CMM) formerly known as the Grolier Codex, must be a genuine pre-Columbian codex – because it contains key iconographic and other data that could not have been known to a potential fabricator in the mid-1960s when the Codex was found.  One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. The author also demonstrates his discovery that the previously labeled pages 10 and 11 of the Codex are actually two parts of the same page "10".

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

A raíz de una propuesta de Lema (1995) sobre la influencia de la sintaxis del maya yucateco en el español de Yucatán, se revisa la organización de los sistemas de alineamiento ergativo-absolutivo y nominativo-acusativo, como paso previo a la presentación de estructuras ergativas correspondientes a algunas lenguas de la familia maya: el chuj, el mam, el chol, y de manera particular, el maya yucateco.

INTRODUCCIÓN A LA TESIS. El objetivo principal de esta Tesis es indagar en la relación que tenían los eventos de nacimiento, toma de poder y muerte de los gobernantes de la ciudad clásica de Palenque con determinadas fechas de la cuenta de 260 días (Tzolk'in).
Esta tesis se divide en cinco capítulos. El primer capítulo, en el que se desarrolla el marco teórico, aborda los aspectos básicos de los calendarios mesoamericanos, su funcionamiento, características y los primeros estudios. Se mencionan los trabajos más básicos y clásicos con respecto al tema, enfatizando el estado actual de los estudios calendáricos. En el capítulo 2 se mencionan las fuentes primarias que explican la relación de ciertos días o fechas con determinados augurios en Mesoamérica y también se revisan algunas de las propuestas académicas que refieren tanto a la “manipulación” de textos históricos, como a la elección, preferencia o uso de fechas del Tzolk’in, entre los mayas clásicos. El capítulo 3, aborda los significados lingüísticos y las variantes gráficas de los números y los días del Tzolk’in, tomando esto como base para profundizar en el simbolismo de los mismos. El siguiente capítulo, el 4, revisa brevemente las etimologías y la iconografía de los términos relativos al nacimiento, toma de poder y muerte entre los mayas clásicos y también considera ejemplos del período colonial y reciente que sirven para establecer analogías y mejorar el marco de interpretación de la información que tenemos del Clásico. Finalmente, el capítulo 5 analiza las fechas de nacimiento, entronización y muerte (incluyendo numerales, días y trecenas), de los gobernantes clásicos de Palenque, enfatizando la información de 6 de ellos (los que tienen sus fechas completas) e indagando un poco en las vicisitudes políticas de la época.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS. The principal aim of this Thesis is to investigate the relationship that the events of birth, enthronement and death of the rulers of the classic city of Palenque had with certain dates of the 260-day count (Tzolk'in).

This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter, in which the theoretical framework is developed, addresses the basic aspects of Mesoamerican calendars, their function, characteristics and the first academic studies. The most basic and classical works on the subject are mentioned, emphasizing the current state of calendrical studies. Chapter 2 mentions the primary sources that explain the relationship of certain days or dates with certain omens/fates in Mesoamerica and also reviews some of the academic proposals that refer to both the "manipulation" of historical texts, as well as the choice, preference or use of dates from the Tzolk'in, among the classic Maya. Chapter 3 deals with the linguistic meanings and the graphic variants of the numbers and the days of the Tzolk’in, taking this as a basis for deepening in their symbolism. The next chapter, 4, briefly reviews the etymologies and iconography of terms related to birth, power-taking (enthronement), and death among the classic Maya, and also considers examples from the colonial and recent periods that serve to establish analogies and improve the framework for interpretation of the information we have on the Classic monuments. Finally, chapter 5 analyzes the dates of birth, enthronement and death (including numerals, days and thirteen [trecenas]), of the classical rulers of Palenque, emphasizing the information of six of them (those of whom we have complete dates) and inquiring a little into the political vicissitudes of the time.

My study approaches the use of Guatemalan Spanish in modern Maya literary works through a theoretical framework drawn on theories of "purity" and mestizaje, the concept of minor literature, and "image" and ideology of language. I problematize the "major"/"minor" dichotomy of language based on a Eurocentric view of the dominance of national languages as the extremely diverse linguistic ecology of Latin American lends itself to the deterritorialization of hegemonic discourse, but without sustaining a neat categorization of language. Guatemalan Spanish is a heavily Maya-inflected interlanguage share by all Guatemalans. Mayan writers chose purposefully to counter the ladino ethnocentrism of the time, including its ideologies of racial and linguistic "purity." In spite of the racial caste system that stealthily thrives to this day, these literary works force readers to confront that not only ladino (mestizo) culture has infiltrated Maya society, but that all Guatemalans have been culturally and linguistically mayanized.

Ever since David Stuart's decipherment of the hand-holding-celt sign as K’AL in the 1990s, epigraphers have grappled with the semantics of the /k’al/ verb. Coupled with Stuart and Houston's demonstrations that the BAAH ‘gopher’ sign often functioned as a rebus for ‘head’, many epigraphers have come to translate a common Classic Mayan coronation phrase as /k’ahlaj sakhuun tu'baah/, literally ‘the white headband is tied (up)on his head’. This paper reconsiders the semantics of this phrase in the light of new evidence drawn from epigraphic, linguistic, iconographic, and ethnohistoric sources. First, a widespread sense of ‘hold’ is also attested in the Ch'olan languages for /k’al/, and perhaps better fits the iconic origins of the hand-holding-celt sign. Second, Mayan languages commonly derive locatives from body parts, strongly suggesting that a form like t-u-baah, although literally meaning ‘(up)on his head’, frequently also signified ‘above him’. Third, occasional depictions of coronation scenes appear to show a priestly attendant literally ‘holding’ a royal crown above the head of the acceding king, rather than tying or placing it on his head. Taken together, the evidence suggests that this phrase may have codified a key moment in the coronation ceremony where a priestly attendant held the crown aloft, perhaps for an adoring public to observe from a distance. As will be seen, intriguing comparisons can be drawn with coronation ceremonies cross-culturally, including those documented for the Late Postclassic Aztecs.

“Interculturality” has become a key concept in the conceptualising and struggling for new relationships between dominant and subordinated identities and knowledges in Latin America. My research is based on a collaborative effort to document and examine how “interculturality” is realised as a “dialogue between equal actors and knowledges” in the creation of Indigenous and Intercultural Universities. It follows a multi-level analysis that begins by interrogating the diverse ways in which different education projects formulate and negotiate their “interculturality” in the Latin American region. It pays particular attention to the political dimensions of “dialogue” by examining the diverse engagements between social actors, discourses and agendas. Secondly, it focuses on the specific design and development of the Peasant and Indigenous University Network (UCI-Red for its Spanish acronym) as a case study. UCI-Red promotes and supports endogenous and sustainable development processes in different micro-regions of the Peninsula of Yucatan, Mexico. This is a collective project where Mexican Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) have become engaged and allied with Yucatec Mayan peasants. “Interculturality” has become one of the main principles of their definition of sustainable development and it has been assimilated into their practice of development promotion. After examining the intellectual trajectories and the perspectives on “culture”, “identity” and “learning” of the organisations involved in UCI-Red, I argue that a deeper understanding of cultural difference that goes beyond discursive and objectifying definitions of identity and knowledge is needed. Indigenous knowledge is a notion that involves not only concepts and principles but most importantly embodied forms of knowing, social and symbolic practices, and a particular ideal of personhood. Hybrid forms of learning can and must be constructed in continuity with these overlooked epistemologies if education projects want to commit to a true “dialogue between knowledges”.

In this paper, I question Francisco Ximénez’s interpretation of the colonial K'iche' god Hunahpu, as "One Blowgun Hunter." I discuss the terminology of blowgun hunting in Maya languages, explore the calendrical connotations of the name and its links to the name of God S in Maya hieroglyphic writing. I explore the connotations of God S and Hunahpu as solar heroes, and offer an interpretation of the hieroglyphic name tag of God S on the Classic Maya vase K7727 as Jun Pu’w, “One Pus.”

In this language we have a lot more than Montgomery says. This language was spoken for many thousand years before it was written and the writing system that we can follow in its evolution must have taken millennia to become fully developed and significant, and it must have develop slowly along with the architectural ability and the technology to provide surfaces where to write it, material media without which the written medium will never reach people several thousand years later. The Sumerian writing system took at least 5,000 years to emerge and it was rather simple when compared with the extreme intricacies of this written system. But saying that means that these Mayas are the descendants of people who must have arrived in the Americas a long time before the Clovis hypothesis that is maybe valid for northern American Indians but does not work for the highly sophisticated civilizations of Mesoamerica and Southern America. We have to come to another hypothesis that gave these people at least 15,000 years or more to devise their architecture, language and writing system, not to speak of their religions and of the cultivation of their god Maize, often know as Corn or Atole, T278, Tnn, T630, T630v and a few others all standing for /sa/.

Learn to read and write in Maya glyphs to discover the most spectacular civilization in the Americas in its own words! This course covers the basics of Maya writing and art using the outstanding visual and material collections of the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. It explores the indigenous Maya myths, histories, and stories of life at the ancient courts of lords and nobles.
The course begins with an overview of Classic Maya writing and its historical and cultural contexts. After the introductory section on the fundamentals of Maya glyphs, each week will combine a discussion of the grammar of the Hieroglyphic Mayan with thematic lectures on a range of topics from tags and texts on drinking cups to parallels between Pre-Columbian, Colonial, and present-day Maya literatures. The lectures are accompanied by practical translation exercises and quizzes.