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LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL CONTINUITY THROUGH THE SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF THE NAJ ‘HOUSE’ IN CONTEMPORARY MAYAN POETRY by Manya Wubbold B.A., Portland State University, 1998 M.A., Portland State University, 2002 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Hispanic Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) March 2015 © Manya Wubbold, 2015 Abstract This interdisciplinary study (linguistic and literary) is based on a corpus of contemporary Mayan poetry that has been written in Peninsular (Yucatec) Maya and translated into Spanish by the authors. These particular poets were selected for this investigation because they have all participated in, or were influenced by the Resurgence in Mayan contemporary literature. And as writer/activists they write to promote and disseminate Mayan language and culture through poetry. All of the poems were selected for this corpus due to their rich depiction of Mayan cultural beliefs and symbolism and because they all feature the concept of naj ‘house’ as an essential and unifying theme. As the naj embodies (physically and metaphorically) the heart and/or center of Mayan Creation and re-Creation and is a recurrent conception in both pre- Colombian and contemporary Mayan literature, it is a key symbol utilized by these poets in reference to Mayan linguistic and cultural continuity. In addition to the naj, there are two other essential symbols―the three-stone hearth and the Ceiba or Mayan sacred tree―that unite these poems into a cohesive narrative. Like the naj, the three-stone hearth and the Ceiba are important icons in Mayan symbology representing the process of cultural generation and regeneration. By combining a linguistic (semantic) and literary analysis of the Mayan version of each poem, this investigation reveals information on how cultural symbolism is conceptualized and communicated through language and poetic expression unique to Mayan culture. In particular, this study focuses on the poets’ utilization of polysemous terminology and the poetic devices of difrasismo and parallelism to express complex networks of symbolic meaning. As this linguistic ii and poetic expression reflects structural aspects of the language as well as literary tropes recurrent in ancient (glyphic and pictorial) and contemporary works, it demonstrates a conceptual, linguistic, and literary continuity spanning millennia. The combined linguistic and literary analysis of this corpus was then utilized as the basis for a pedagogical proposal to be used in the training of bilingual teachers (Spanish/English) working in schools in Portland, Oregon serving a large community of Yucatec Maya living in diaspora. iii Preface This dissertation is an original, unpublished and independent work produced by Manya Wubbold. The doctoral research involved the collaboration of consultants; therefore a certificate of ethical approval was requested from the Office of Research and Ethics’ Researcher Information Services (RISe) at the University of British Columbia. The Behavioral Research Ethics Board (BREB) unit assessed the methods, risks and benefits associated with this research and found it to be in compliance with RISe’s rules and regulations. An Ethics Certificate of Approval – Minimal Risk (H12-01967) was issued. iv Table of Contents Abstract.………………………………………………………………………………………….ii Preface …………………………………………………………………………………………...iv Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………………..v List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………..xiii List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………….......ix Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………......xi Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………………....xii Chapter 1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2 Peninsular Maya: A Historic Perspective of Language and Literature………….7 2.1 Introduction to Peninsular (Yucatec) Maya……………………………….....7 2.2 Peninsular Maya Speakers in Portland, Oregon…………………………….11 2.3 A Concise Overview of the Linguistic and Literary History of Peninsular Maya………………………………………………………………………...15 2.4 The Resurgence of Contemporary Mayan Literature……………………….20 Chapter 3 Conceptualization in Maya: Translation, Composite Language and Poetics…..27 3.1 The Process of Translation………………………………………………….27 3.2 The Relationship between Language and Conceptualization and a Working Understanding of the Terms “Symbol,” “Concept” and “Conceptualization” ……………………………………………………………………………..31 3.3 Composite Language………………………………………………………..36 3.4 Poetics in Maya: Difrasismo and Parallelism………………………………49 3.5 The Traditional Maya “Naj” ‘House’ as the Corpus’Unifying Theme……..67 v Chapter 4 Introduction to the Corpus and Interdisciplinary Methodology.…...…………..72 4.1 Introduction to the Corpus…………………………………………………..72 4.2 Linguistic Analysis………………………………………………………… 75 4.3 Literary Analysis…………………………………………………………… 77 Chapter 5 Corpus Analysis………………...…………………………………………………..84 5.1 “The Three Stones of the Hearth” written by Donny Limber Brito May….. 85 5.1.1 Summary of “The Three Stones of the Hearth”……………..139 5.2 “The House of Your Soul” written by Jorge Cocom Pech………………...141 5.2.1 Summary of “The House of Your Soul”……………………156 5.3 “Naj” written by Briceida Cuevas Cob…………………………………….156 5.3.1 Summary of “Naj”…………………………………………...169 5.4 “You Will Go To School” written by Briceida Cuevas Cob……………...170 5.4.1 Summary of “You Will Go To School”……………………..217 5.5 “I Am This” written by Feliciano Sánchez Chan………………………….217 5.5.1 Summary of “I Am This”…………………………………....240 Chapter 6 Corpus Summary and Main Theme Synopsis and Discussion ……………..….241 6.1 Corpus Summary…………………………………………………………. 241 6.2 Synopsis of Main Themes………………………………………………….246 6.3 Discussion of Main Themes………………………………………………. 260 Chapter 7 Pedagogical Proposal…………………………………………………………….. 264 7.1 Background Information for Pedagogical Proposal………………………. 264 7.2 Pedagogical Proposal……………………………………………………... 270 7.2.1 At the University……………………………………………. 270 vi 7.2.2 In the Community……………………………………………274 Chapter 8 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………....279 8.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….. 279 8.2 Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………..282 8.3 What Comes Next………………………………………………………....286 References……………………………………………………………………………………..288 vii List of Tables Table 1. Mayan Languages According to Linguistic Branch……………………………………10 Table 2. Grammatical and Syntactical Differences between Spanish and Maya………………..23 Table 3. Contrasting Occidental and Mayan Perspectives and Definitions of the Term “Concept” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………34 Table 4. The Five Contrastive Vowels in Maya…………………………………………………45 Table 5. Analysis of Brito May’s Use of Parallelism……………………………………………62 Table 6. Analysis of Cuevas Cob’s Use of Parallelism……………………………………….....64 Table 7. The Semantic Analysis of the Frase Ti’e’ úuchben xa’anilnaj…………………….....76 Table 8. Identification of Key Terms as First Step in the Literary Analysis Process……………79 Table 9. Semantic Analysis of the Term Xook…………………………………………………174 Table 10. Semantic Analysis of the Term Páak (paak, páak’al, and paakal)…………………183 Table 11. Couplets or Corresponding Elements that Focus on and Develop the Notion of Head or Consciousness…………………………………………………………………………………..185 Table 12. Analysis of the Composite Term Joolnaj……………………………………………186 Table 13. Example of Parallelism from the First Three Sections of “I Am This” Sánchez Chan (1999)…………………………………………………………………………………………...228 viii List of Figures Figure 1. Linguistic Map of the Distribution of Modern Mayan Languages……………………...8 Figure 2. Important U.S. Destinations for Yucatecos……………………………………………12 Figure 3. Mexican States with Highest Percentage of Indigenous Populations…………………12 Figure 4. The Four Main Branches of Mayan Languages…………………………………….....16 Figure 5. Terrence Kaufmann’s (1976) Theory of Mayan Language Migration………………...17 Figure 6. Diagram of the Polysemous Compositionality of a Mayan Construction through a Semantic Analysis of the Term Ka’anche’ ‘Altar’………………………………………………39 Figure 7. Examples of Difrasismo in Mayan Glyphic Writing………………………………......52 Figure 8. An Example of Parallelism in a Glyphic Poem……………………………………......58 Figure 9. Classic Maya Glyph for Naj ‘House’………………………………………………….67 Figure 10. Traditional Mayan House ………………………………………………………………68 Figure 11. The Cosmic Division of the Earth (Madrid Codex)………………………………….96 Figure 12. Wakah-Chan, The World Tree…………………………………………………….....97 Figure 13. The Three Stones Being Placed on the Celestial Turtle’s Back as Depicted in the Madrid Codex…………………………………………………..………………………………101 Figure 14. The Maize God Reborn from the Shell of the Cosmic Turtle………………………102 Figure 15. The Great Ceiba and the Structure of the Universe…………………………………106 Figure 16. Classic Mayan Hieroglyphs Representing the Four Directions…………………….108 Figure 17. Vision Serpent………………………………………………………………………110 Figure 18. The Deity Itzamna with the Crocodile Tree………………………………………...114 Figure 19. The Crocodile Tree………………………………………………………………….115 Figure 20. The Moon Goddess Holding a Rabbit………………………………………………122 ix Figure 21. Glyph for Na ‘Mother’……………………………………………………………...123 Figure 22. The Creation Place between Gemini and the Orion Turtle…………………………134 Figure 23. Yucatecan Traditional Mayan House Naj………………………………………......142 Figure 24. Construction of a Traditional Mayan House in the Yucatan Peninsula…………….148 Figure 25. Graphic Representation of Uinicil Te, Uinicil Tun…………………………………152 Figure 26. A Traditional Naj Showing Its “Ribs”……………………………………………...158
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