Since Maya glyphs can be read either as syllables or as entire words (morphemes), this article uses small caps to mark morphemic readings and lowercase for syllabic readings.
Maya script
Maya glyphs were often carved into stone and had minor depth when done so and these glyphs had high complexity
Script type
Logosyllabic
Time period
3rd century BCE to 16th century CE
Direction
Mixed
Languages
Mayan languages
ISO 15924
ISO 15924
Maya(090), Mayan hieroglyphs
Unicode
Unicode range
None (tentative range U+15500–U+159FF)
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
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Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE in San Bartolo, Guatemala.[1][2] Maya writing was in continuous use throughout Mesoamerica until the Spanish conquest of the Maya in the 16th and 17th centuries. Though modern Mayan languages are almost entirely written using the Latin alphabet rather than Maya script,[3] there have been recent developments encouraging a revival of the Maya glyph system.[citation needed]
Maya writing used logograms complemented with a set of syllabic glyphs, somewhat similar in function to modern Japanese writing. Maya writing was called "hieroglyphics" or hieroglyphs by early European explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries who found its general appearance reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphs, although the two systems are unrelated.
^Saturno, William A., David Stuart, and Boris Beltrán. (2006). "Early Maya Writing at San Bartolo, Guatemala" (PDF). Science. 311 (5765): 1281–1283. Bibcode:2006Sci...311.1281S. doi:10.1126/science.1121745. PMID 16400112. S2CID 46351994.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Symbols on the Wall Push Maya Writing Back by Years". The New York Times. 2006-01-10. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
Mayascript, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican...
modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Mayascript is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in...
Maya codices (sg.: codex) are folding books written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark paper. The...
disputed partial decipherment, it is structurally similar to the Mayascript, and like Maya uses one set of characters to represent morphemes, and a second...
the classic Mayascript. Earlier scripts with poorer and varying levels of decipherment include the Olmec hieroglyphs, the Zapotec script, and the Isthmian...
numeral system was the system to represent numbers and calendar dates in the Maya civilization. It was a vigesimal (base-20) positional numeral system. The...
Mesoamerican creation myths, ritualistic sacrifice, etc. written in the form of Mayascript on the rises of the steps of the pyramids, on the walls, and on the sculptures...
Yucatec Maya (/ˈjuːkətɛk ˈmaɪə/; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as maaya t’aan [màːjaʔˈtʼàːn]) is a Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán...
The Maya (/ˈmaɪə/) are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group...
were written in the logo-syllabic Mayascript. Its use was particularly widespread during the Classic period of Maya civilization (c. 250–900). The surviving...
and Yucatán, especially Yucatec. There is also some evidence that the Mayascript may have been occasionally used to write Mayan languages of the Guatemalan...
phonetic complement is 動, 泉, 遣 respectively. The MayaScript, the logosyllabic orthography of the Maya Civilization, used phonetic complements extensively...
forward in the eventual decipherment of the Mayan script, the writing system used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica. Knorozov was born...
syllabic script, though this is not proven. Chinese characters, the cuneiform script used for Sumerian, Akkadian and other languages, and the former Maya script...
pre-Columbian Mayascript, which the 16th-century bishop of Yucatán, Diego de Landa, recorded as part of his documentation of the Maya civilization. Despite...
excavated in 2005 have pushed back the origin of Maya writing by several centuries, with a developed script already being used at San Bartolo in Petén by...
Series: Precession in the Maya Dresden Codex page 55 p. 206 Maya Hieroglyphic Writing 1961 pp. 212–217 Decipherment of MayaScript, David Kelley 1973 pp. 56–57...
Mesoamerican Glyphic Scripts remain undeciphered, with the only exceptions being the MayaScript and the Aztec Script. There were other scripts in several areas...
emerging c. 3100 BCE Chinese characters emerging c. 13th century BCE Mayascript emerging c. 1 CE According to Handel: "While monosyllabism generally...
developed, and has been fully deciphered, is the Mayascript. The earliest inscriptions which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE, and writing was...
logograms in logographies, which represent morphemes. Syllabograms in the Mayascript most frequently take the form of V (vowel) or CV (consonant-vowel) syllables...
Maya languages is written in Latin script rather than Maya glyphs. Some commercial companies in southern Mexico use Maya glyphs as symbols of their business...
Mesoamerican writing systems, including the Isthmian (Epi-Olmec) and Mayascripts. Well-known archaeologist and writer Michael D. Coe interprets the San...
shows a bird, speech scrolls, and glyphs that are similar to the later Mayascript. Known as the Cascajal Block, and dated between 1100 and 900 BCE, the...
{\displaystyle |} Wavefront". In the early days of development Maya started with Tcl as the scripting language, in order to leverage its similarity to a Unix...
ritually decapitated him; such royal sacrifices were often recorded in Mayascript with the "ax event" glyph. The decapitation of an enemy king may have...
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