Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs

A Guide to Nahuatl Writing

Bibliographic Data

ID2838008
AuthorsKatarzyna Mikulska (0000-0001-8551-5596, University of Warsaw, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume102
Issue3
Pages523-525
Publication date2022-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00182168-9798382
OpenAlexW4285384809
LanguageEN
Citations received6

Authored by a world expert in Nahuatl language and writing who is at the same time a renowned specialist in Zapotec and Sumerian scripts, this volume is the first handbook ever on the Aztec writing system. The goal of Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs is to unlock “the mysteries of Aztec writing for a wide readership for the first time” by “dissecting and describing” this writing system “in lavish detail”—an aim that Gordon Whittaker achieves in a well-grounded, comprehensive, and alluring manner (pp. 6, 9).The book addresses a wide audience, including Mesoamericanist researchers, scholars working on the theory of writing systems, and the general public. Whittaker sets out in the introduction essentials on the Nahuatl language, key theoretical concepts, and the orthographic conventions applied in the book, before turning in chapter 1 to “the world of the Aztec scribe.” When analyzing the many Aztec glyphs included in the book, which become more complex as the chapters progress, he explains each aspect of the linguistic and epigraphic categories involved, however complicated they may be. The comprehensive explanations, written in a humorous rather than an intimidating style, are frequently accompanied by appealing examples from present-day popular culture and witty comments. Whittaker traces the origins of this writing system to the Classic-period metropolis of Teotihuacan. This challenging hypothesis is accompanied by another: that the language of Teotihuacan's inhabitants was Nahuatl. Both are convincingly argued with brilliant examples of Teotihuacan glyphs used phonographically. The author also carefully studies changes in Aztec script after the contact with Spanish.The volume is embedded in the contemporary debates regarding the nature of Aztec writing and its principles. It also significantly contributes to the general theory of writing and gives hope that future general books on writing systems will better describe the Aztec system. Volumes from the mid-twentieth century by David Diringer and I. J. Gelb reduced Nahuatl script to a couple of the simplest samples from the Codex Boturini and non-Nahuatl examples from Mixtec, so-called Testerian codices, and even false codices. It seems unbelievable that more recent authors, such as Harald Haarmann, also commit similarly reductive moves and errors if they mention Aztec writing at all. Usually, it is conspicuous by its absence, as only Maya writing tends to receive the honor of being described, as in John DeFrancis's 1989 book and Louis-Jean Calvet's 2001 study. This inclusion happened after scholars proved Maya script's glottographic character (meaning that it records units of language or speech), a criterion of the classic definition of writing that is also used by Whittaker. This approach can be disputed (see, for instance, Roy Harris's 1995 book), but for many readers this is a sine qua non of writing. Fortunately, Whittaker recognizes that apart from the glottographic function of the glyphs, many of them also codify meaning through iconicity. He emphasizes the recurrent interplay between writing, iconography, and notation, which he calls three subsystems of the “Aztec graphic communication system as a whole” (p. 9). Instead of subsystems, it might be more fruitful in the future to talk about different ways of codifying meaning, particularly as Whittaker himself proves that the Aztec glottographic glyphs operate in a multimodal and multifunctional way. This is the point of current theoretical debate in the field, to which Whittaker has greatly contributed with this book. One of Whittaker's masterful discoveries regarding Aztec writing, well described here, is the fascinating strategy of graphic syllepsis used for visual punning with glyphs. Such a strategy is one of the aspects that make the Aztec writing system the most complex of the logosyllabic scripts, including Maya, Linear B, and Sumerian.This interpretation differentiates Whittaker's theory on Nahuatl writing from previous ones, among them the advances made by Alfonso Lacadena. Whittaker proves that the construction of Nahuatl glyphs resembles the solutions known from Sumerian cuneiform more than those from Maya script. He thus criticizes Lacadena's approach to Aztec writing, which was mainly based on his knowledge of the Maya script. Whittaker reveals that Aztec script is composed not only of logograms and syllabograms but also of disyllabograms, semantic complements, and semantic and phonetic indicators. The omission of initial and middle syllables also occurs, and the glyphs frequently have multiple values. Whittaker transliterates them using epigraphic conventions employed in cuneiform studies, marking the subsequently deciphered values with numbers. The only thing that the book lacks is a chart placing together all those readings, which would introduce and reinforce standard conventions in transliterating Aztec glyphs. But even without that, the book gives nonexperts a chance to learn how to read them, to which the exercises after each chapter greatly contribute.Last but not least, the book is beautifully illustrated, so that the reader enjoys it not only on an intellectual level but also on an aesthetic one. Extremely rewarding, this first handbook ever on Aztec writing is already a classic

Art · Epigraphy · Linguistics · Literature · Nahuatl · Reading (process · Scripting language · Style (visual arts · Sumerian · Writing system · Classics · Computer Science · History · Latin American history and culture · Philosophy

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