 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Spanish. (May 2022)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
| Aztec | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | Pictographic and logosyllabic |
| Creator | The Nahua peoples |
Period | Most extant manuscripts from the 16th century |
| Direction | Top-to bottom, left-to right |
| Languages | Nahuatl |
| Related scripts | |
Sister systems | Mixtec |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
TheAztec orNahuatl script is apre-Columbianwriting system that combinesideographic writing withNahuatl specific phonetic logograms and syllabic signs[1] which was used in centralMexico by theNahua people in the Epiclassic andPost-classic periods.[2] It was originally thought that its use was reserved for elites; however, the topographical codices and early colonial catechisms, recently deciphered, were used bytlacuilos (scribes),[3]macehuallis (peasants), andpochtecas (merchants).[4]
The Aztec writing system derives from writing systems used in Central Mexico, such asZapotec script.Mixtec writing is also thought to descend from Zapotec. The firstOaxacan inscriptions are thought to encode Zapotec, partially because of numerical suffixes characteristic of theZapotec languages.[5]
Aztec waspictographic andideographicproto-writing, augmented by phoneticrebuses. It also contained syllabic signs and logograms. There was no alphabet, but puns also contributed to recording sounds of the Aztec language. While some scholars have understood the system not to be considered a complete writing system, this is disputed by others. The existence of logograms and syllabic signs is being documented and a phonetic aspect of the writing system has emerged,[1] even though many of the syllabic characters have been documented since at least 1888 by Nuttall.[6] There are conventional signs for syllables and logograms which act as word signs or for their rebus content.[6] Logosyllabic writing appears on both painted and carved artifacts, such as theTizoc Stone.[7] However, instances of phonetic characters often appear within a significant artistic and pictorial context. In native manuscripts, the sequence of historical events is indicated by a line of footprints leading from one place or scene to another.
Theideographic nature of the writing is apparent in abstract concepts, such as death, represented by a corpse wrapped for burial; night, drawn as a black sky and a closed eye; war, by a shield and a club; and speech, illustrated as a little scroll issuing from the mouth of the person who is talking. The concepts of motion and walking were indicated by a trail of footprints.[8]
A glyph could be used as a rebus to represent a different word with the same sound or similar pronunciation. This is especially evident in the glyphs of town names.[9] For example, the glyph for Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was represented by combining two pictograms: stone(te-tl) and cactus(noch-tli), and the relative direction of below(-ti-tlan).
Aztec glyphs do not have a set reading order, unlikeMaya hieroglyphs. As such, they may be read in any direction which forms the correct sound values in the context of the glyph. However, there is an internal reading order in that any sign will be followed in the direction being written by the sign for the following sound.
The Aztec numerical system wasvigesimal as was theMayan numerical system. They indicated quantities up to twenty by the requisite number of dots. A flag was used to indicate twenty, repeating it for quantities up to four hundred, while a sign like a fir tree, meaning numerous as hairs, signified four hundred. The next unit, eight thousand, was indicated by an incense bag, which referred to the almost innumerable contents of a sack of cacao beans.[10]
Aztecs embraced the widespread manner of presenting history cartographically. A cartographic map would hold an elaborately detailed history recording events. The maps were painted to be read in sequence, so that time is established by the movement of the narrative through the map and by the succession of individual maps.
Aztecs also used continuous year-count annals to record anything that would occur during that year. All the years are painted in a sequence and most of the years are generally in a single straight line that reads continually from left to right. Events, such as solar eclipses, floods, droughts, or famines, are painted around the years, often linked to the years by a line or just painted adjacent to them. Specific individuals were not mentioned often, but unnamed humans were often painted in order to represent actions or events.[11] When individuals are named, they form the majority of the corpus of logosyllabic examples.
Aztec script fell out of use due to colonial, ecclesiastical, and governmental authorities, with the help of the local inhabitants who were indoctrinated in Spanish culture. The evangelizers classified Aztec script as a creation of the devil and consideredsyllabicideographic symbols as intangible characters. The Old Library ofTexcoco, which according to various contemporary sources, contained a larger literary, technical and historical collection than the Old Library ofTenochtitlan, was destroyed by the colonial government under the orders of the religiousJuan de Zumárraga, who collected the Aztec documents to be incinerated.[12]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
