But are Mesoamerican glyphs still used today?

[@NativLang]

(Insert glyphic comment here once Unicode support is implemented.)

[@bukhchuluunochir6836]

don't mind me i'm just droppin a reply while i am early enough

[@comeanomalocaris8267]

You should do a video on Nauruan or Tzez !

[@comeanomalocaris8267]

Or Sami

[@szilveszterforgo8776]

@@void_p This original comment will stay for a while, I'm afraid :(

[@jerkfac310]

Very good thumbnail 👍👍

[@CGaboL]

Not Maya, but here in Mexico City there are some Nahuatl glyphs used as symbols for public transport, most notably the metro. As 50 years ago, there was an illiteracy problem so they added pictograms to all stations and some are Nahuatl glyphs like Ciudad Azteca or Apatlaco

[@andrewdunbar828]

In minority areas of Southern China that had their own traditional writing systems it's also very common. Usually though the local people don't know how they work anymore so a language nerd can spot the occasional upside-down sign and random jumbles of letters.

[@Riyoshi000]

Nikan Ashkan it sucks

[@Riyoshi000]

Nikan Ashkan for those dreadful simplifications, better keep writing latin

[@heyitstobias]

@@nikanashkan9456 Hmm, the article got deleted.

[@Joridiy]

@@heyitstobias Here’s what the blog wanted to say: omniglot.com/conscripts/machiotlahtololoztli.htm Basically someone suggested the traditional nahuatl glyphs to be simplified and then used as an abujida script for the language.

[@danielocheita7576]

As a Guatemalan who's been to Iximche several times, I never knew about that new stela. Awesome!

[@danielocheita7576]

While I have your attention, check out this maya q’eqchi’ poet :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3iveYt_j9pobKs

[@NicholasShanks]

Danwoop now I know “sum wank” means “live together in reverb” :-)

[@servantofaeie1569]

[(ʔ)iʃimt͡ʃe̞]?

[@erickvillegas2544]

So you’re Chapin

[@TsukiCondor]

I bet the site is a beautiful to see. Guatemalan love from America 🇬🇹🇺🇸

[@MarcoLandin]

Traveling through the Mayan countryside in Yucatan I can attest to their mild use not only in regional tourism but in daily life.

[@strategoscastaneda9095]

Probably. I'm from Guatemala and I don't see its use in every day life. Probably mexico.

[@strategoscastaneda9095]

@Almost blank anthropologist, maybe. I don't know about the average John Doe.

[@davidm8135]

@@strategoscastaneda9095 there are some regional movements to resurrect the language. Some Modern Mayans attend classes to learn the glyphs and teach their children

[@strategoscastaneda9095]

@@davidm8135 Wow! That's pretty cool!

[@yourstrulykeren]

As a Guatemalan Maya, I love this!!!!! So often people discuss Maya people as a dead civilization when it is very much alive and has the potential to reach new levels of complexity! Appreciate your work!

[@nyxgarcia3258]

True

[@baggioardon8430]

I've actually concepted and designed a Mayan keyboard, but clearly ran into trouble making it functional (my idea was to model it after the Japanese keyboard which allows you to pick from a syllabery or draw out characters). I also referenced and communicated with Frida Larios and her work who you might be interested in. She's been developing new ways of incorporating the Maya script in the modern day!

[@absalomdraconis]

The "proper" way would probably be to look at how emoticons get modified in Unicode: have a "generic cursive" form, and do the variant glyphs with dedicated modifier characters.

[@forresteveretttownsend7570]

Jared Maddox I presume you’ve never tried to write a mayan word? You’ll need to be able to fix any glyph to any of the four sides of a glyph or partially hide it behind another to spell in mayan.

[@baggioardon8430]

Forrest Everett Townsend you'd presume incorrectly. My method was to be able to type separate syllables which would be "autocorrected" into a glyph. I could type "ba" "la" "ma" and the keyboard would recognize it as "balam".

[@scoochalot8486]

@@baggioardon8430 thats actually really clever

[@blackpinkistherevolution0808]

Well maybe just like chinese, we could have an option to write in romanization and just converts to glyph

[@2122Hellfire]

Kind of a tangent, but in general i think it's weird how often people refer to indigenous people and cultures that are still around in the past tense.

[@sion8]

It is an assumption they have all been assimilated into the modern national culture of the countries that exists today and for the most part that is correct, but not completely, obviously.

[@fimbulsummer]

That is what it is like in Australia. The stereotypical image of an Aborigine is like the one on the two dollar coin - a very dark, very traditionally dressed old man with a long beard. Very black and naked. Although there are of course many people still living a traditional life, every day people dress normally (with the exception of ceremonies and cultural events). By keeping a stereotype of the “primitive”, non-indigenous can easily deny any modern indigenous their identity as non-conforming to the stereotype. But modern indigenous are just like modern people everywhere, requiring good espresso, a killer internet connection and living in cities with executive jobs in non-indigenous organisations. For the average migaloo/balanda, you’re either too black or not black enough - you can’t win. But just because they deny us our present day existence doesn’t mean we don’t still exist, right here in the present.

[@DrWhom]

@@fimbulsummer Yes. As pointed out in a famous book (I think it was Guns, Germs, and Steel), the traditional skill and knowledge the Aboriginal possesses when it comes to survival is cognitively on a par with any "western" professional skill set. Not surprising, of course: Aboriginals are biologically modern Homo sapiens in precisely the same was as Europeans are, and surviving the Australian wilderness is extremely challenging. ...in fact, Europeans are more extensively crossbred with Neanderthals. Who were not dumb brutes, either!

[@sophiejones7727]

Well, unfortunately it isn’t just “weird”. It’s more often than not either intentional racism on the speaker’s part or else thoughtless parrotting of a racist source.

[@zimriel]

@@sophiejones7727 More likely it's intellectual dissonance. The culture changed *drastically* after the Spanish / Catholic conquest. There was some continuity: the spoken language, the artistic motifs, the legends, even the ball game. But the human sacrifice, the slavery, and the literacy were gone. Reducing it to "racism" seems... well, it's white.

[@pierreabbat6157]

Cuauhtemallan (Guatemala) is a translation of K'iche', a Mayan word meaning "many trees". There are Mayan Mayanists, such as Pablo García Ixmatá, who's written books about the Tz'utujiil language.

[@LEO_M1]

Who’ve* The subject of the second sentence is “Mayan Mayanists” so you’d need to use the third-person plural form

[@pierreabbat6157]

@@LEO_M1 Ixmatá is singular; he's written more than one book about Tz'utujiil. Sam Colop was another Mayan Mayanist. He wrote an edition of Popol Vuh and other works in K'iche'.

[@kendalljohnson9172]

Pierre Abbat to make “whose*” describe Ixmatá you’d need to delete the second comma, otherwise previous comment stands. I think he was trying to be more helpful than grammar naziish btw

[@mmyr8ado.360]

So Guatemala just means 'forest'?

[@jrdardonl]

@@mmyr8ado.360 "Forest's Land" for more precision.

[@luizfellipe3291]

0:48 OOOOH Acapulco!!! This place is sooo famous in Brazil. You see, there is an old (1950's I think) Mexican TV show called El Chavo de Ocho (that still shows to this day in Brazil) and like every Brazilian might have seen this, there one _special episode_ where Chavo and "the rest of the village" all go take some vacations in this place. Then it became very popular in Brazil

[@luizfellipe3291]

I know this literally has nothing to do with the vid But I like to share Brazilian facts with random people for some reason

[@Luboman411]

Acapulco is famous all over Spanish-speaking America because it was the "IT" place for all the rich and famous in Mexico in the 1960s and 1970s. Mexican pop culture, such as shows like "El Chavo del Ocho" and "Chapulin Colorado," was well-known and loved throughout Spanish-speaking America and even including Brazil. The only nations that really didn't submit themselves to this Mexican cultural domination were Southern Cone nations like Argentina and Chile. I know because I grew up in Guatemala always hearing about how fabulous Acapulco was as a destination. Too bad now Cancun and the other major Pacific resort towns of Puerto Vallarta (which I've been to) and Mazatlan have stolen Acapulco's thunder. Nowadays the city is known more for its drug cartel massacres than its lovely beaches and grand hotels...

[@therevelistmovement4683]

Mayan: easily, the single MOST artistic writing system on Earth.

[@anonb4632]

Ooh controversial! Arabic, Hebrew and Chinese/Japanese characters can all be beautiful.

[@therevelistmovement4683]

@@anonb4632 Agreed, but these AREN'T simple logographic representations by way of stylization, these are full-on pictures. Only Egyptian, to my mind, comes close.

[@anonb4632]

@@therevelistmovement4683 Oriental characters are. Something which is more obvious in some cases than others.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

@@therevelistmovement4683 hieratic script of Egypt getting no love on the internet again. It's simplification through abstraction is pretty beautiful.

[@absalomdraconis]

@@anonb4632 : You mean "Chinese" characters? Many of the Asian scripts (e.g. both katakana & hiragana in Japan, as well as the Korean writing system, and certainly others I don't remember) are simply not pictographic (in the case of the Japanese examples, _despite_ their origins), and even the Chinese characters are only dimly pictographic. The Chinese characters themselves aren't even close to being as pictographic as they used to be: many of the characters that might be claimed to be pictographic are instead _formerly_ pictographic, as the changes that have made them more stylistically compatible with other characters have rendered the pictographic information illegible.

[@LautaroArgentino]

This is quite interesting! I have two PDF simply named "Writing in Maya Glyphs", which you can find on the internet, and acts as great introduction to writing in glyphs. It guides you through writing your name as a first activity and it couldn't be more fun! The second part gives you more vocabulary so you can also write simple sentences.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

I personally want to live in a world where every writing system is as easy to type in on a computer or phone as the Latin scripts. Where people get in touch with their native language using the script of their ancestors. Where you can send a text in Old English Runes or Maya glyphs. I think that would just be lovely.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

@Evi1M4chine Holy shit. *HOW.*

[@julijaknaz5809]

First, big companies like google and Apple who produce keyboards for different languages would have to come up with a perfect keyboard for ancient languages that weren't written on paper, second, the writing system of that langauge could up to down for a sentence or down to up.Third, the "Qwerty" keyboard could break the entire langauge if it has more the 27 characters in it's alphabet.

[@prophetofgarfield]

@@julijaknaz5809 The Chinese Pinyin keyboard is one example of how they got around this. Just type a logographic language based on romanized sound or stroke order instead of pure glyphs

[@JoshTsukayama]

@@julijaknaz5809 screw qwerty. why not come up with something completely new and optimised for the language it's developed for, rather than trying to make everyone stick to a sadly outdated standard?

[@Nikku4211]

If only you could text your ancestors from beyond the grave...

[@AncientAmericas]

Another great video! I could watch your Mesoamerican videos all day long!

[@yuppi3495]

I love how as soon as the language was rediscovered, the experts took a step back and instead of keeping the studies to themselves, they gave it back to the descendans of the Maya. Also, i'm not sure if the inspiration came from there, but one of the svripts used for Toki Pona strikes me as very similar to maya glyphs.

[@Memezuii]

isn't it called "sitelen sitelen"?

[@hugonegrete6325]

It's called sitelen sitelen

[@jacobparry177]

It'd be so heartening if in a few years, people could send texts to their friends, write emails to their bosses or whatever, all in the glyphs their ancestors used all those hundreds of years ago. Although it was created in the 18thC, I wish my fellow Welsh speakers would use the Coelbren y Beirdd, bardic alphabet, as a show of our uniqueness as a nation. It also made a lot of good changes to the orthography of Welsh, which is also good.

[@rvat2003]

I agree. That would be a marvelous sight. In regards to the Philippines, some people are interested in the Suyat scripts, but not enough to advocate for reviving them throughout the country. Also, most people only know about Baybayin, even if it was only used in a particular area. Which shows how much the average person doesn't know about this topic. It's the only script introduced in Filipino language classes. Even if you're not in a place that was part of its historical range, Baybayin is the only script labeled as the pre-colonial writing system of our country. Which is a bummer because there are a lot of other scripts that were used in the Philippines. I hope more awareness is given to them.

[@jacobparry177]

@@miss_pinya Couldn't they revive the other native writing systems for the appropriate languages of the nation, though; where Tagalog isn't the dominant language (Or where another native language was historically spoken)? Doing this might help standardise languages like Cebuano, Ilocano, Bicolano (etc), while strengthening and promoting their use of in schools in areas where said languages are spoken, and it might very well lead to speakers becoming more proficient at reading and writing in their native tongues? And, to be fair, we don't know. Tagalogs might find it easier to read and write their language in Baybayin, their ancestors did develop it for their language, after all. It's not too complicated a system, but it could definitely be simplified. But, I guess the Latin script sort of helps to bind all the peoples of the nation, though, I don't see why it would matter much if, for example, the Ilocanos started using their script and not the Latin, especially since Ilocano and, e.g. Tagalog, are unintelligible in the first place. Sorry for the long reply!

[@rvat2003]

@@miss_pinya That is so true. The fact that the education system is not even teaching the existence of other suyat scripts just shows how much imperialism is happening to the other regions. The local cultures and histories of other regions are less thought to the whole country than the Tagalog ones. Only thought locally while Tagalog language and culture are thought everywhere. As can be shown with the many proposals to impose Baybayin as a national writing system.

[@amlans5314]

@@miss_pinya I dont think Baybayin is only associated with Tagalog tbh. Baybayin with minor variants were also used for Ilocano, Bisaya and Bikol languages which constitute about 70% of Philippine languages. So Baybayin would be in some sense native to 70% of Filipino regions. The rest 30% do use other scripts like- Hanunuo, Buhid, Tagbanwa and Kulitan and also Arabic-Jawi for Sulu region.

[@jacobparry177]

@kamalendu mohanty I couldn't agree more with you!😄 And, thank you for paying such respect to Welsh. Out of curiosity, can you personally use an of thee indigenous scripts of your languages(s)?

[@theconqueringram5295]

Good to know that the Maya script is being preserved.

[@Luboman411]

As a Guatemalan-American with some Mayan ancestry who has learned Mandarin Chinese, I can give my two cents here--the Mayan glyphs have to be simplified and standardized. There's some beautiful cursive Mayan on cups and plates discovered in royal tombs that date from 750 AD to 900 AD. That is where we should start, just like simplified Chinese invented by modernizing linguists in China in the 1950s and 1960s embraced cursive Classical Chinese as the starting point. Cursive writing is historically and culturally accurate while providing some very simplified forms that all speakers of that particular language can agree on. Then you have to standardize the script--no more of this "let's have 5 to 10 symbols for the same syllable" confusion that Classical Mayan writing has. There should be one symbol, one syllable. Simplified and modernized traditional Chinese characters are somewhat easy to learn because there is a strict correspondence of one character going to one syllable. And the 70 to 75 radicals that comprise ALL Chinese characters remain strictly in those forms--there are no fancy flights of the imagination by writers. Better yet, the order in which these radicals are written and placed within characters is also never changed but strictly adhered to. Writers in traditional and simplified Chinese don't get to be playful like they are allowed to be in Classical Mayan writing. It's too damn confusing to be this loosey-goosey with writing norms that utilize visually complex characters/glyphs. So modern Mayan writing--if we want to teach it to huge numbers of people, especially children--has to embrace what modern Chinese writing and orthography already does so successfully.

[@fenghualiu2653]

Finally, someone who talks about simplification of Chinese characters without one word about communism. Really tired of the debates

[@quetzalcoatl3242]

Evi1M4chine what? What you called simplification of English was a natural process that started in the early Middle Ages. English was never German. Even though, it’s a germanic language. English has a very consistent an simple grammar and a rich vocabulary, due to its characteristic in adopting new words. Meanwhile, German became artificially complicated it the efforts of Martin Luther to make German’s grammar to look more like Latin’s grammar after translating the Bible to German.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

@Evi1M4chine the complexity in Chinese writing isn't lost it's still very much evident Chinese calligraphy art.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

Yeah Mayan glyphic script needs to go through a abstraction phase like Egyptian. I

[@JustHatcheted]

Got any sources for the cursive Mayan? That sounds really cool and I can't seem to find anything online

[@julioareck]

Actually, since some decades ago, Guatemalan currency banknotes have their denominations written also in Mayan glyph numbers, and this is not only as a decoration: at school, Guatemalan children learn the Mayan numbering system with glyphs, so Guatemalans can actually read those glyphs on the paper money.

[@almostclintnewton8478]

Nothing makes me happier than "dead" cultures being revived •́ ‿ ,•̀

[@cerberaodollam]

you'd love Luke Ranieri then :))

[@hadrianuscaesare4918]

If u are interested in reviving cultures than you should know there is 'akkadian revival project' on facebook. I think you could like it

[@ztac_dex]

Hebrew was one of the successful ones

[@funwithrandomnesable]

The thing is, Maya was never dead. Although the writing system might've been lost, the language, culture, and identity were still maintained despite centuries of colonization.

[@RCSVirginia]

@@ztac_dex Hebrew is the only truly successful revival of a language that was no longer in everyday usage that has been revived and used by a large number of people.

[@ryangunnison38]

I appreciate the respect with which you refer to Maya speakers and native experts! And it is exciting to see that they can play prominent roles in the research and use of the language in a Eurocentric field

[@itacom2199]

Thank you, Josh, for this birthday present!

[@NativLang]

Happy birthday!

[@itacom2199]

@@NativLang thank you!

[@JosePineda-cy6om]

Fun fact: Spanish was the first modern European language whos grammar was described in scientific ways. After centuries of European erudites fixating on Latin and Greek and pissing on the vulgar tongues, Antonio de Nebrija focused on the vernacular Castillian and created a book describing it - and, inadvertently, mostly fixing it as well. He was very visionary when he told Queen Isabella that this was necessary in order to make Spain a great empire, "as empires always propagate their language". And, wanna know which Western language was the 2nd to have its grammar described (more or less) properly? Rum droll please... it was Nahuatl, the Aztec's tongue. Next was French, then italian, some time latter Purepecha (the language of the Tarascan Empire, the fierce rivals of the Aztecs) and Quechua (the Inca's speech) were documented, latter came Otomi, Aymara, Mayan, Huastecan, and a number of other, less spread native languages. Spanish priests and monks were *incredibly* active in their anthropological/linguistic endeavors in the New World, documenting dozens of languages in order to ease evangelization efforts. Their cousins the French, on a smaller scale, did also an astounding work in today's Canada - up there, even the nuns were doing linguistic work and some nuns' works were instrumental in understanding the grammar of Algonquinian languages. Too bad the Anglos were not interested at all in preaching to the natives of New England, or documenting their languages

[@AlexThomson-EasternApproaches]

“Not interested at all”? There were translations of the Bible and Lewis Bayly’s _The Practice of Piety_ into the Massachusetts language Wampanoag, just off the top of my head.

[@JosePineda-cy6om]

@@AlexThomson-EasternApproaches I've searched thoroughly, that translation you mention is the only one I've seen. There are exactly ZERO descriptions of the Native languages from current US' Atlantic Coast, ZERO hymns or theater plays in Native languages, just 1 bible translation, and that book you mention (which could be the equivalent of the dozens of catechisms printed in indigenous languages in French and Spanish lands) and... that's it. To me, this shows a complete disinterest in the Natives' soul that's shocking considering most Anglos' variants of Protestantism where HUGE anti-Catholics and HUGE in the line of thought that "MY particular variant of Christianity is THE right one - everyone else, especially Catholics, goes to hell"

[@eomguel9017]

I was taught this interesting fact when I took the Nahuatl course in UNAM a couple years ago. So proud of my country's heritage!

[@AlexThomson-EasternApproaches]

Jose Pineda Try not to make broad-brush descriptions of Protestantism if you’re not as familiar with it as you are with linguistics. There are many socioeconomic factors at play, principally the kind of expedition and project that the New England colonies represented (much less crown-intensive and more commercial enterprises than the Spanish and French colonies) and the priorities of the particular brand of Presbyterians who dominated in most of New England. Also, with the dissolution of the monasteries and banishment of priests from court after the Reformation, scholarly churchmen did not enjoy easy access to court in England. They had enough of a struggle on their hands in that generation even to get permission and resources for the perfecting of the English Bible at home.

[@jrdardonl]

@@AlexThomson-EasternApproaches Compared to the Spanish work during the Imperial period in the Indies, English "interest" in Native linguistics was irrelevant.

[@eomguel9017]

1:12 There is an unofficial interpretation of the modern version of Mexico's national emblem. Yes, it does represent the myth of the foundation of Mexihco-Tenochtitlan, but in the few surviving codices from precolonial times there is no snake, just the eagle on the cactus. Some scholars believe that the snake was added by the Spaniards who, abhorred by the Mesoamerican widespread worship of the feathered snake god Quetzalcoatl which they considered demonic, attempted to symbolise its destruction by the European Christian monarchy. In fact, a mural in Mexico's National Palace by Diego Rivera metaphorically depicts the ultimate defeat of the European monarchic rule over Mexico as a departing golden eagle. If you pay close attention to the emblem though, the snake is not dead and it shows its fangs as if about to strike a bite. So, in a way, the golden eagle represents Mexico's Spanish heritage which to this day tries to devour the snake, which in turn represents Mexico's indigenous roots and native population/cultures/languages that are pretty much alive and resisting.

[@quetzalcoatl3242]

Other theories about the eagle and the snake point out that the snake is a miss interpretation of the “atlachinolli” a glyph of war that can be seen in some prehispanic Nahua artifacts. Others say that effectively it’s an eagle and a snake as it’s visible in some codex where the eagle= sun, and snake= earth. It would represent the divine duality in the prehispanic religion.

[@quetzalcoatl3242]

EOM Guel The current eagle follows a prehispanic design. Prehispanic codices and sculptures show similar profiled eagles, some of them look like fighting another animals such as jaguars and snakes, again “opposite” animals in prehispanic mythology.

[@quetzalcoatl3242]

EOM Guel the kingdoms from Mesoamerican Culture shared similar cultural traits. Search about the “toltecayotl” and the “prehispanic/ precolumbian duality”

[@quetzalcoatl3242]

EOM Guel Toltecayotl literally means “art” or “Tolteca hart” in nahuatl. But it was also the ancient “religion” or “philosophy” of ancient Mesoamerica. I recommend you to read Leon-Portilla about the topic 😉

[@Neoprototype]

In the original the eagle is holding a glyph that incorporates elements such as fire and water. On its claw a small bird that might be a quetzal.

[@balaynganiyebe]

I think what I'm about to say was popularised on tumblr but this video really hit the happy language spots. So inspiring and just as informative on such old yet recovering linguistic tools.

[@--Paws--]

3:00 My teacher in 5th grade, introduced the class to Maya numerals. To this day, I remember it. She was a great professor.

[@diegoreckholder945]

Everytime you mention my country, Guatemala, I get so excited! 😄 And, thanks to you, I am more inspired than ever to learn a language from my country! (Which is not that easy, actually 🤔 Everything is in Spanish here in the capital city)

[@Ash-gi4eq]

Could you make a video on the Zenú language? It be amazing to see my tribe's language be exposed to a much larger audience

[@Just4Kixs]

I'm telling you, this guy is obsessed with Mesoamerica.

[@John_Weiss]

Nope. His Patreon patrons are. 😁 He gives us a list of 4-5 different options … and they are all different from each other … then we pick.

[@Captain-Waffles]

I am obsessed with the Mayan script and I've been learning it for a while now, definitely worth a look.

[@leysont]

@İnsan Same but more generally dying or dead languages. Big fan of reviving Phoenician and Coptic or strengthening Low Saxon and Celtic languages, also Basque and Ainu. I literally have more feelings for languages and cultures than for individuals. This video made me smile and when I hear about extinct languages, it has the effect of an actual death to me.

[@faeishhh]

@İnsan also hawaiian as well.

[@Ida-xe8pg]

God damn it there are languages in other parts of the world too give some respect to them too

[@DarkMatters96]

That's sooo fascinating indeed. To me, as an artist, these glyphs look like a masterpiece.

[@kuroazrem5376]

It's great to see how these languages are being revived today.

[@jan_kala]

Love the content! It would be cool if you could do a video on whistled speech and registers that goes a bit more in depth, maybe as a segue from the mesoamerican languages too because its an important issue among the Mazatec, Chinantec, etc.

[@hugonegrete6325]

yo but your thumbnail 🛐🛐 I find it really cool that you understand common modern day speech of other languages just that one k made it a 10/10 thumbnail

[@gustavovillegas5909]

Incredibly interesting! I actually wanted to attempt to simplify Mayan glyphs to be easy to write and use either as breaking into syllable blocks like the original or something like the Korean alphabet so as to not use as many characters, but it's a challenge. I wanted to make it possible to write many native languages in it, but they are obviously so diverse and my expertise is really only in Nahuatl, go figure

[@NativLang]

What is your take on Lacadena's "Nahuatl syllabary"?

[@AliMcJampoppin]

Dude your videos are amazing

[@achimschaffeld9653]

Please keep following up this topic! BTW, I love your videos!

[@EAraceliMD]

Your pronunciation is exquisite!!!!!

[@faithwright7958]

I LOVE THIS!!!! *squeals in delight*

[@GaysianAmerican]

there are thousands of cjk character and emojis. Nothing makes me happier than a fellow glyphic writing thrive.

[@TheChicagoCourier]

Beautiful video! as a descendent of indigenous mexicans, thank you

[@twistysunshine]

So neat to learn! I love it when an old script returns!!

[@charliespinoza1966]

This is exciting! Also, please record audio books in your infinite spare time, your voice is very soothing. ♥️

[@saadamansayyed]

Glyphs are a very cool way of writing. I'd like to see more information on Mesosmerican culture and how their linguistic structure works. Nice job, keep doing this brother!

[@Automatik234]

This is great! I hope, this makes learning the glyphs easier for outsiders soon!

[@canis2020]

Just found your channel, great work and very interesting! Thank you.

[@quetzalcoatl3242]

Wonderful work. I need to correct you about the meaning of Acapulco. It means “Place of big reeds”. It comes from “Akapolko” -> akatl= reed; pol= augmentative; ko= locative. It’s a wide spread mistake to think that Acapulco means “place where reeds are destroyed” but it’s still however a mistake. Otherwise it would be “Akapolowayan.” I’m from Acapulco btw ;)

[@mikaelahobart8237]

Wow, this is so cool! I'm actually *really* excited about this, good for them! I found out I'm part Montaukett a couple years ago and, while I've *always* found this sort of thing heartbreaking, it felt like an unexpectedly personal blow to find out that *their* language, unfortunately, *IS* extinct... 😢 Apparently, some are working to revive it, though!

[@Alusnovalotus]

This is AMAZING!!!! I can now try to learn something of the writing systems of my ancestors in Oaxaca!!! Glad to have stumbled upon this vid!!!

[@lysanamcmillan7972]

I live in Kern County, CA, which is the southern end of the San Joaquin River valley. I'm about two hours north of Los Angeles. There is at least one barbershop in Bakersfield that uses the Mayan numbering system to mark its price for a haircut on the side of the building. I'm grateful to my Chicano Studies professor that I can read it. (For the record, he charges $8 for a basic cut.)

[@anonb4632]

You should do a similar one about the modern use of Ogham. The GAA kit supplier O' Briens has ogham in its logo.

[@Mirhaus]

Just discovered your channel. Really looking forward to your video on the aztecs!

[@narapo1911]

Woww!!! How delightful, I truly wish they succeed in developing a glyph writing for their languages!!! This is so fascinating

[@Urielwlf]

This video is wonderful !

[@bellewells2099]

Your voice is so soothing

[@BIZANTINO86]

Excelente trabajo. Felicidades!

[@williamvaux7500]

I tried yesterday to like. Simplify all the phonetic glyphs by hand and boy. They are detailed, and there's a lot of them .

[@Sergioluis93]

I'm not crying, it's just sweat from my eyes

[@rienzitrento8397]

Wow thanks for enlightening us

[@debilita9999]

3RD READING DIRECTION?!!! Blows mah mind. No ty vole to je šílený!

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Man I wish I was in the Yucatán right now

[@garfieldseviltwin97]

Wait the DPRK is not good enough for you, Great Leader?

[@MarkBonneaux]

I dunno, at time of posting this, there's a hurricane in that area so maybe visit later?

[@faeishhh]

How's North Korea?

[@therevelistmovement4683]

Your regime could retreat to Central America (like the Nazis) when your Godless, psychopathic stranglehold over North Korea has toppled.

[@sion8]

@WEASEL 🤨

[@iDuppyx]

Could you do an episode on the Sicilian language? Recently travelled to the island and the language is such an interesting mix of Italian, French, Greek and other languages

[@alfredomondragon3904]

Thank you for incorporating my hometown of Acapulco, sure it is compelling!

[@friendlypunk8975]

Great video!

[@scottrick7321]

I'm a huge fan of the show, long time watcher - and I hope to support you on Patreon when I get back to working. Mean time, I have a question for you: are there any commonalities that all Latin alphabet-using languages share? For example, nouns are always capitalized, things of that sort. Thanks!

[@天野やな丸]

So, it would be like writing something in japanese. Just by pressing space bar and selecting the character. That could be achieved easily and keeping the same keyboard, but the input language system would be mayan. It would need to use a great space in unicode and use even old characteres for academics, and a lot of time to create anykind of fonts for that.

[@antoniopop6524]

Ever making any video(s) on the other Romanian Languages; Aromanian, Istro-Romanian, etc.? Or a video on the possibility that Albanian derived from Dacian...

[@andrewdunbar828]

Albanian and Armenian are the most overlooked Indo-European languages that are national languages of countries. Even Romanian gets more coverage. I'm studying Romanian at the moment but at least it's on some of the language-learning apps. I haven't found any that support Albanian or Armenian yet. And no I'm not confusing Aromanian and Armenian, I just know less about Armonanian. When I think of Albanian I always think of Armenian too because they're both outliers despite being national languages spoken by millions.

[@DanielC01000100]

Wooo I really want to know more about the Unicode coding of Maya!!

[@TransSappho]

Not glyph related but I was fortunate enough to hear a presentation from a post doc about a radio station in yucatan that broadcasts entirely in maya and makes a point of avoiding any spanish loan words. Unfortunately I don't know the name offhand, but it's gneerally a very fascinating case edit: it's called radio yuuyum

[@blackpinkistherevolution0808]

Well there alot of stations in each region of guatemala that talk and stuff with their own regional language

[@matrythethird5464]

Increíble video, me sigue encantando la atención a la pronunciación y la historia, toda américa está llena de historia antigua, opacada por la colonización

[@skussy69]

Je suis omelette du fromage

[@andrewdunbar828]

The writing of Mesoamerica is fascinating but the diversity of language families is also amazing. It would be great to see stories on each language family moving down through Mexico and Central America. I find Purépecha really interesting as it's still alive and well, it's a language isolate, and the speakers are the people who the conquistadors taught to make guitars for them centuries ago, which they still do today. They are the people of Pátzcuaro, which has one of the most famous Dia de los Muertos celebrations too. Then when you get down to the coast of Belize and Honduras there are the Garífuna people who are of African descent but speak a language from the Arawak family down in South America. Down in Panama the Kuna people really stand out because they wear their traditional colourful clothing which reminds me of the Zapotecs up around Tehuantepec in Mexico. They also still speak their language. These are just a few that stood out to me. There are whole other families of languages in the area, some dying out and some still thriving. Most hardly heard about even by language nerds.

[@KaiSan3]

I found at the beginning of 2020 something called "Machiotlahtololiztli" that is a simplified nahuatl syllabary/abugida - the name of some of the "consonants" comes from culturally important things like: Ma=māpachtli, Na=nopalli, Cua=cuacuahuitl... and most of the letters seem to take the simplified form of the word/pictogram it substituted, although they somewhat resembles the latin counterpart too - the vowels and combinations that are not pure A go above the consonant; while the consonants at the end of the syllable go under it (so yöllotl [heart] is written as Yöl-Lotl, with both Os above the capital letter and l and tl being smaller and below it, making 2 "letter blocks" in line, instead of 7 latin letters) I wish very much that it gets recognition enough to be implemented, because I like to read/write in it and loved how it deals with ortographical discrepancies in latinalized nawatl (for example the use of J vs. H, or the whole ordeal of cu/kw/q and c/qu/uc - this last one gives me a headache everytime while trying to selfstudy)

[@srjskam]

I liked the system so much I made some alternative fonts based on it.

[@draggador]

beautiful & wonderful

[@mariosk3466]

Interesting video.

[@snorf525]

the thumbnail cracked me up please preserve it for the rest of time

[@TonyfromTO]

This is where my mind space is at... writing nahuatl in mayan glyph, or maybe cree syllabics?? Its time to code and go digital.🚀

[@arthurmoran4951]

please make a video about how the maya script was deciphered you always adds a very ggo side to this stories

[@56independent]

They probably asked native speakers

[@sascha1493]

This is so fucking cool!! I hope these people can reclaim there heritage this way :)

[@juansamano8159]

Thank you for shedding light into mesoamerican culture Saludos desde Sinaloa

[@wasolaso1840]

Sitelen sitelen - an alternate writing system for a conlang toki pona, is inspired by Mayan

[@MacawOz]

Nice video, but as a researcher living in Yucatán, I can say that it is impossible to revitalize glyph writing for three reasons: 1. Knowledge has become exclusive for researchers. Only among them are glyphs studied, and they're very jealous of teaching it to the common people. 2. If it was decided to teach writing with Maya glyphs, in what language would they be written? Let us remember that the language of the glyphs varied according to the region. Also, one would have to learn some of these languages ​​to make texts. 3. The same people of Mayan origin who can read and write glyphs are very jealous of his knowlegde. They earn a lot of money doing plastic arts with it and they prefer not to teach it to continue monopolizing the market. 4. In Mexico there is no interest in learning indigenous languages. I highly doubt that the population would dare to learn a complicated and extinct writing. Anyway, these are just some of my thoughts.

[@blackpinkistherevolution0808]

True but we have to encourage our generation to learn indigenous languages, and its not just mexico but also Guatemala suffers from that problem. Well about num.2 like chinese, chinese languages they all use the same script i think, so something like that could happen with mayan languages, about no.1 we have to encourage them to tell us lr something, and about no.3 i highly doubt they know what each glyph means.

[@MacawOz]

@@blackpinkistherevolution0808, holo. No es tan simple. Tendría que haber educación en masa o en grupos grandes con tal de que la información llegue a muchas personas para que puedan enseñarla. Para empezar no hay muchas personas actualizadas/formadas en estos temas, y si de por sí ya es difícil lograr que las personas aprendan alguna de las lenguas originarias, no me imagino promover esto. /: Es mi opinión.

[@galahadarmandomartinezluna6427]

Muy buen vídeo

[@saxorex7972]

Yes!!! México needs a revival of it's ancient scripts!

[@canmuller3437]

Most of them, even Mayan, are still incomplete and/or not that practicle. Sadly, many never got the chance to shine, due to some friendly Spaniards.

[@saxorex7972]

@@canmuller3437 Nahua and Mixtec pictography are largely dependant on knowledge of the language itself, but yes it isn't much to practicle in the way heiroglyhs aren't super viable either (keeping in mind the obvious differences between both. Zapotec scripture was abandoned in lue of the former, so unlikely to regain any momentum, but Maya, incomplete as it is, does have a ton of potential as a revived script.

[@mrdave507]

This one, was nice.

[@partlycurrent]

My classmates learned Maya and Nahua in University and they can somewhat have basic conversations in it and read the hyroglyphic texts. I chose Quechua instead, just because it required no writing :D We all study anthropology in Germany

[@TDHDN]

Hi I’m an incoming anthropology student and wanna learn these languages can we chat? :D

[@partlycurrent]

@@TDHDN what do you wanna know?

[@Capibaracapibara1992]

interesting fact: Mexico City metro uses aztec/nahuatl glyphs to indicate stations, for example, Chapultepec = Mount of the Grasshoppers, the logogram of the station is the grasshopper glyph

Amazing channel...

[@MrsKoldun]

Since I’m so early: Hi, I blame you for giving me unrealistic expectations when it comes to men: desire to talk about linguistics and history all day long and being cute 😉😊

[@Reubentheimitator6572]

I am a man and I might fulfill those expectations.

[@ktiemz]

Um. Hi 😶

[@Tesana]

Heh, oof! I think I feel the same, @@aduantas.

[@bigcat5348]

Japanese characters are typed by writing the name of the symbol in the Latin script, and then the parser basically autocorrects it to the kanji/katakana/hiragana form.

[@angrytedtalks]

I haven't been to Central America since 1967. I had no idea their native writing was still in use back then, let alone today. It would be a great font for messaging apps...

[@charlesrosenbauer3135]

As someone very interested in the Inca writing system, it will be truly fascinating to see if/when/how Unicode eventually decides to support khipus. On the other hand, as a software engineer, I dread the idea of having to implement such a thing.

[@nimmira]

beautiful

[@carlpult5235]

Much writing happening with keyboards rather than brushstrokes actually sounds like a great avenue of opportunity for such scripts. A great downside of complex glyphs is that it takes a fair amount of time, skill and care to write even singular words, a disadvantage that could be overcome with unicode, where depending on implementation it might be as accessible and convenient as any other script.

[@eddysanoli]

As a guatemalan myself this is reaally cool! Imagine writing in whatsapp with mayan glyphs using unicode magic. Awesome

[@guatemaltequista4197]

Eso sería basado

[@lucasm7781]

@@guatemaltequista4197 basado

[@MrSthotwhelz]

very cool

[@سلمانقتل]

👍 good video

[@babelKONI]

Hyped for Times New Tikal

[@jan_kisan]

i do see the emotional slash artistic side of the issue. but the glyphs themselves are the single most impractical writing system i have ever seen.

[@My-nl6sg]

Handwriting them do seem to be a pain, but I think their recognizability in print and display as well as artistic value would make them useful in the digital world. As a Chinese I find handwriting my script for daily use cumbersome (and I'm only using the simplified version so imagine my fellow people using Traditional characters), but in my opinion nothing beats Chinese Characters when used on digital devices and in print for their aesthetics, versatility, recognizability, and space-efficiency.

[@jan_kisan]

@@My-nl6sg sorry mate, are you serious with this praising the Chinese characters? have you ever tried actually reading a text written this way without knowing most of the words in advance? i don't know why for a script artistic value should beat readability. for that there are pictures. scripts are for writing and reading, aren't they.

[@My-nl6sg]

@@jan_kisan Im a native Chinese user and so can prove that: with sufficient education, you could use these insanely complicated scripts without much difficulty. Also its quite easy to guess what character/words mean by looking at what makes up them, comparably easier than to guess advanced English words.

[@Garbaz]

I hope this goes somewhere. Big fan of interesting writing systems, especially non-alphabets.

[@herddragon9215]

very interesting. its interesting when older "dead" or dyeing languages make a comeback in some form. theses a reservation near where I live who have started using their own language on some of the signs around. such as stop signs, or non-smoking signs. im trying to learn what they say but I am having little luck.

[@water594]

While not strictly a mezoamerican glyph system, toki pona might be worth an honorable mention as the sitelen sitelen writing is pretty popular and is at least thematically derived from these scripts

[@octubre_lilaka]

Sort of a sidenote: A script for toki pona (a conlang) was made that very much was inspired by and resembles Mayan glyphs. Some do use it, and a contract was even written in it.