From: Pblair@worldbank.org
Date: Thu Mar 27 2003 - 10:14:01 EST
I think these characters you have caught in de la Parra (as reported by Brinton)
can best be left on the side-tracks for a while. Two reasons:
1. They are not in use in current (and official and Maya-themselves-endorsed)
Maya orthographies, and there is no pressing need for them. Their importance
lies mostly in dealing with the history of Maya studies, and in reprinting or
transcribing old texts. Since the days of de la Parra and Brinton there have
been some singularly ugly accomodations to the typewriter, like "7" for a
glottal stop, which I'd also like us to let moulder for a while too.
2. The Jesuits and other missionaries of the Age of Exploration worked and
published intensively in then-exotic languages on four continents. There are
scholars and groups of scholars now attempting to look systematically at that
body of work. I suspect that there is no stange character that could turn up in
a Maya text from that period that wouldn't also turn up in texts about South
American, Asian, or African languages, and when we do deal with these characters
it would be best to do it in a systematic and comprehensive way. They will all
reflect a common origin in the missionary training institutions of Europe.
Phil
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