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UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics Title A Descriptive Grammar of Palenque Mayan Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8w84p30v Author Macri, Martha Publication Date 1988 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California A D e s c rip tiv e Grammar o f Palenque Mayan By Martha Jane Macri A.B. (California State University, Fullerton) 1968 M.A. (University of California) 1982 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in LINGUISTICS in the GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Approved: 'X.. 'X Chairman Em £. iCTOMRKCOin iUp,M..... Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A Descriptive Grammar of Palenque Mayan Copyright © 1988 Martha Jane Macri Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A Descriptive Grammar of Palenque Mayan Macri, Martha Jane, Ph.D. The University of California at Berkeley, 1988. 265pp. Supervisor: Leanne Hinton. This dissertation is a description of the language recorded in Maya hieroglyphic writing, during the seventh century A.D., at the archaeological site of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico. It differs from previous treatments of the Maya script in that it is a linguistic description of a single dialect, rather than a generalized description of texts recorded in a writing system that was in use for over 1,500 years. The grammar begins with an introduction to the texts of Palenque, the status of Palenque Mayan within the Mayan family, and a description of the writing system. The rest of the grammar follows a traditional outline describing the phonology, morphology, and syntax of ancient Palenque Mayan. The grammar includes numerous figures in which the hieroglyphic signs of individual glyph blocks have been separated and labelled for purposes of illustration. New phonetic readings are proposed for several signs including T60, T180, T559, T606, T713, T757, and T758. Newly proposed moiphological inteipretations include a verb in the future tense, a reflexive verb, and a discussion of the inflection of positional roots. The importance of the role of syntax in interpreting the hieroglyphic texts and discerning language and dialect differences is illustrated by a discussion of prepositions and complementizers in modem and ancient Mayan languages. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To the memory of my mothers E. Virginia Mitchell and Giovanna Macri, and to the future of my children Christopher John, Monique Noel, and Benjamin Joseph Macri Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Some of those works which appear to be individual accomplishments are, in fact, greatly aided by the generosity of a large number of people. That is certainly true of this dissertation. It is only possible to name a few of them here. They are, of course, not necessarily in agreement with all ideas expresed here, and are in no way responsible for any shortcomings this dissertation might contain. First of all, thank you to the members of my dissertation committee for their advice and encouragement: Leanne Hinton, my advisor and friend, Wallace Chafe, Eve Sweetser, and John Graham. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Survey of California and other Indian Languages for providing funds for fieldwork on various Mayan languages. Thanks also to Jeanette Lemer, Frederick Lupke, and Birch Moonwomon for their helpful comments on the manuscript. I would also like to thank my first teacher of linguistics, Shirley Silver, for communicating her knowledge and enthusiasm. Some other teachers who have been especially helpful to me include Brent Berlin, Louanna Furbee, Nicholas Hopkins, Kathryn Josserand, Terrence Kaufman, Marianne Mithun, Johanna Nichols, Richard Rhodes, and Lawrence Watkins. I am especially grateful to Linda Scheie for her generosity in sharing her knowledge through the annual Maya Workshop and Advanced Seminar at the University of Texas at Austin. These workshops and seminars have been an essential part of my education. I would also like to express m y appeciation to Linda Scheie and Merle Greene Robertson for permission to use their drawings of the Palenque texts. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Thanks also to my fellow students whose support has been especially important: Monica Macaulay, Jean Perry, Kathy Turner, James Porter, Thomas Larsen, Ruth Krochock, Virginia Fields, and Barbara MacLeod. Thank you to all of my family, especially my children, Ben, Chris, and Monique for their sunshine, and to John Macri, without whose cooperation I would not have been able to finish. Thanks also to Susanne Duffin, Rosemary and Phil Rasori, Vickie Dendinger, Sue and Julian Romero, Deborah Karish, and Ressa Norris. Finally, I would especially like to thank Linda Moorhead for providing tranquil shelter during the last months of writing. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. v Abbreviations and Symbols ..................................................................................................... xii Part I. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 2 1.1. The Maya Script as a Medium of Communication .................................4 1.2. Texts and Comparative Reconstruction. ..................................................6 1.3. The Maya Coipus and the Choice of Palenque.......................................7 1.4. The Palenque Texts...................................................................................8 1.4.1. Early Period: P'acal.................................................................9 1.4.2. Middle Period: The Group of the Cross ............................. 10 1.4.3. Late Period: Miscellaneous Tablets ......................................11 1.5. Previous Work on the Palenque Inscriptions ............................... 12 1.6. Databases Used in This Investigation. ..................................................14 1.7. Scope of This Description ......................................................................15 Chapter 2. The Mayan Language Family.........................................................................20 2.1. Diversification of Mayan Languages .............................................. 20 2.2. The Linguistic Affiliation of the Hieroglyphic Texts.......................... 23 2.2.1. Non-linguistic Evidence ........................................................23 2.2.2. Linguistic Evidence ...............................................................25 2.3 Eastern Mayan Languages and the Formation of the Script ................26 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2.4. Diversification in the Classic Period ..................................................... 30 2.5. Yucatec................................................................................................... 31 2.6. The Yucatecan/Cholan Question ...........................................................31 2.7. Criteria for Identifying Linguistic Variation ........................................ 32 2.8. Criteria for Preliminary Identification of Individual Languages ......... 35 2.9. Use of Lexical Sources in Decipherment .....................................37 Chapter 3. The Maya Hieroglyphic Writing System...................................................... 41 3.1. The Texts as Written Lan guage ............................................................ 41 3.2. Definitions of Terms ............................................................................. 42 3.2.1. Glyph..................................................................................... 42 3.2.2. Compound Glyphs................................................................ 44 3.2.3. Prefix, Postfix, Main Sign ....................................................45 3.2.4. Abstract, Personified .......................................................47 3.2.5. Decipherment.........................................................................48 3.2.6. Phonetic Sign, Logograph ....................................................49 3.3 Major Figures in Decipherment .............................................................49 3.4. CV Phonetic Signs at Palenque .............................................. 52 3.5. CViC(Vi), Syn'harmony.......................................................................56 3.6. Acrophony........................................................................................... 58 3.6.1. Acrophonic Origins of CV Syllabic Signs ..................... 59 3.6.2. Acrophonic Representation of C.VC Roots ..........................61 3.7. Phonetic Content of Signs ....................................................................
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