A Phonetic and Morphological Interpretation of Zimmermann´s Affix 61 in the Maya Hieroglyphic Codices

Abstract

In this paper I propose a decipherment of Zimmermann’s affix 61 as -al when subfixed or postfixed to a main sign in the codices. The 102 glyph groups listed in the figures below include all the codical occurrences of 61 and one example from Linda’s Relación. Affix 61 is the so-called ‘bundle’ affix, which Gates called the ‘table of honor glyph’. The divergence of these ideographic readings from each other and from the phonetic approach used here calls for some remarks on the problem of decipherment. Productive ideographic or pictographic readings of Maya hieroglyphs have been proposed, and are now generally accepted by Mayanists.