Doctoral Dissertation Research: What Do Maya Pseudo-Glyphs Say? An Analysis of Late Classic Period Pottery from the Southern Maya Lowlands

在过去的50年里，我们对古典时期(公元250-900年)玛雅社会的理解越来越多地来自于对玛雅象形文字的研究。学者们现在认识到，玛雅抄写者使用混合的语音和图像书写系统来记录精英功绩，记录王室血统，并在文物上刻上所有权声明。玛雅象形文字被语言学家定义为完整的文字，它代表了一种图形符号系统，可以用来记录和传达任何可以说话的思想。对彩陶上绘制的文字进行鉴定，揭示了关于特定容器的功能、地理和社会起源的信息，并提供了对玛雅信仰和精英互动性质的洞察。在研究这些陶瓷文本的过程中，金石学家将绘制的符号分为两类：(1)可以语音阅读并翻译成有意义的单词或短语的传统象形文字；(2)被描述为“伪字形”的符号，因为它们不符合既定的字形形态规范(LongYear 1944,1952)。在国家科学基金会的支持下，这项研究试图通过记录和检查大量用伪字形装饰的科学发掘的陶瓷样本，更清楚地定义古典时期玛雅社会成员的识字本质。这项研究将强调考古背景和字形分析，以评估伪字形装饰陶器的社会功能和意义。在创建了危地马拉Antropologia e ethnologia博物馆、Antropologia e历史馆和Morley博物馆的陶器以及各种正在进行的实地项目的器皿的综合照片数据库后，本研究试图建立伪字形陶器是否像传统陶器文本一样，形成一个传达含义的书面符号系统。对文本的统计和比较分析应该揭示哪些伪字形(如果有的话)被一致地使用或组合，以及伪字形是否表现出语法。此外，对不同地点出土的船只进行比较，可能会揭示伪字形是否在风格上起到了象征种族、性别、亲属关系或经济身份的作用。例如，伪字形装饰的陶器最常出现在家居或地位较低的环境中吗？或者，是否有迹象表明，这种陶器在特定遗址或遗址群中出现的比例不成比例？通过创建第一个用伪字形装饰的科学发掘的玛雅陶瓷数据库，这项研究将为未来解释古典时期玛雅文化的性质奠定基础。更广泛地说，这种分析可能会与其他社会中写作的使用进行跨文化比较。

Over the past 50 years, an increasingly significant part of our understanding of Classic Period (A.D. 250-900) Maya society has derived from the study of Maya hieroglyphics. Scholars now recognize that Maya scribes used a mixed phonetic and iconographic system of writing to record elite exploits, document royal lineages and inscribe artifacts with ownership statements. Defined by linguists as full writing, Maya hieroglyphics represent a system of graphic symbols that could be used to record and convey any thought that could be spoken.Deciphering the texts painted on polychrome pottery has revealed information regarding the function, geographic and social origin of particular vessels and provided insight into Maya beliefs and the nature of elite interactions. In the process of examining these ceramic texts, epigraphers have divided the painted signs into two categories: (1) conventional hieroglyphs that can be phonetically read and translated into meaningful words or phrases, and (2) symbols described as "pseudo-glyphs" because they do not conform to the established canons of glyph morphology (Longyear 1944, 1952). With National Science Foundation support, this study seeks to define more clearly the nature of literacy for members of Classic Period Maya society by documenting and examining a large sample of scientifically-excavated ceramics decorated with pseudo-glyphs. This study will emphasize both archaeological context and glyphic analysis to assess the social function and significance of pseudo-glyph-decorated pottery.After creating a comprehensive photographic database of vessels curated in Guatemala by the Museo de Antropologia e Ethnologia, the Ceramateca of the Instituto de Antropologia e Historia and the Morley Museum, and vessels from various in-process field projects, this study seeks to establish whether pseudo-glyphs, like conventional pottery texts, form a written symbol system that conveys meaning. Statistical and comparative analysis of the texts should reveal what pseudo-glyphs, if any, are consistently employed or combined and whether pseudo-glyphs exhibit a grammar. Additionally, comparing the vessels excavated from different locations may reveal whether pseudo-glyphs functioned stylistically to signal ethnic, gender, kinship, or economic identity. For example, does pseudo-glyph embellished pottery appear most frequently in household or lower-status contexts? Or is there an indication that such pottery appears disproportionately at a particular site or group of sites?By creating the first database of scientifically-excavated Maya ceramics that are embellished with pseudo-glyphs, this research will form a foundation for future interpretations of the nature of Maya literacy during the Classic Period. More broadly, this analysis may be cross-culturally compared with the uses of writing in other societies.