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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



and chikin (see e and/, respectively, iig. 13), each of which has Tcin tis 

 its last syllable. Again, the phonetic value tun is expressed by the 

 glyph in g, and the sound ca (c hard) by the sign h. The sound Tcatun 

 is represented by the character in i, a combination of these two. 

 Sometimes the glyph for this same sound takes the form of j, the fish 

 element in Ic replacing the comblike element h. Far from destroy- 

 ing the phonetic character of this composite glyph, however, this 

 variant Tc in reality strengthens it, since in Maya the word for fish is 

 cay (c hard) and consequently the variant reads caytun, a close pho- 

 netic approximation of Jcatun. The remaining element of this glyph 

 (I) has the value cauac, the first syllable of which is also expressed by 

 either h or Tc, figure 13. Its use in i and j probably may be regarded 

 as but a further emphasis of the phonc^tic character of the glyph. 



It must be remembered, however, that all of the above glyphs have 

 meanings quite independent of their phonetic values, that primarily. 



Cj^S^ 



hi j k 



Fig. 13. Glyphs built up on a phonetic basis. 



their fimction was to convey ideas, and that only secondarily were 

 they used in their phonetic senses. 



If neither the phonetic nor the ideographic character of the glyphs 

 can be wholly admitted, what then is the true nature of the Maya 

 writing? The theory now most generally accepted is, that while 

 chiefly ideographic, the gly]:>lis are sometimes phonetic, and that 

 although the idea of a gl}^)hic alphabet must finally be abandoned, 

 the phonetic use of syllables as illustrated above must as surely be 

 recognized. 



This kind of writing Doctor Brinton has called iJionomatic, more 

 familiarly kno'WTi to us under the name of rebus, or puzzle writing. 

 In such writing the characters do not indicate the ideas of the objects 

 which they portray, but only the sounds of their names, and are 

 used purely in a phonetic sense, like the letters of the alphabet. 

 For example, the rebus in figure 14 reads as follows: "I believ(> Aunt 

 Rose can well bear all for you." The picture of the eye recalls not 

 the idea "eye" but the sound of the word denoting this object, which 

 is also the sound of the word for the first person singular of the per- 



