Re: Chinese & Maya writing systems

From: Yuri Kuchinsky (yuku_at_trends.ca)
Date: 08/23/04 

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 17:36:28 -0400

"Peter T. Daniels" wrote:
>
> Yuri Kuchinsky wrote:
>
> > Since these two writing systems seem to have quite a few
> > things in common, they might be related in some way. But
> > this is a matter of debate...
>
> Nothing in Dylan's list is peculiar to these two writing systems.

Wrong.

> > You also note that the people of both cultures use jade. But
> > this is just one of dozens of such things that connects
> > them. Have you ever read Needham and Gwei-Djen?
>
> This is not one such thing that connects them.

Having problems expressing yourself in English?

> > Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-Djen, TRANS-PACIFIC ECHOES AND
> > RESONANCES: LISTENING ONCE AGAIN. Singapore; Philadelphia:
> > World Scientific, 1985.
> >
> > That's a pretty comprehensive listing of the cultural
> > parallels between China and the Americas, with an additional
> > bibliography.
> >
> > On p. 16, Needham and Gwei-Djen write that these parallels
> > between Chinese and Maya writing have been first commented
> > upon already nearly two centuries ago, in 1813, by Alexander
> > von Humboldt.
>
> Nearly two centuries before Maya could be read, and nearly a century
> before the oracle bones were discovered.

So then you should express some admiration at Alexander von
Humboldt's powers of observation, which were obviously so
superior to yours...

> > They also comment upon the similarities in the reading order
> > between Chinese and Maya writing (something you failed to
> > note).
> >
> > The Mayan hieroglyphics were generally written in paired
> > vertical columns; they read from left to right, and then top
> > to bottom, in a sort of a zigzag pattern.
> >
> > As I understand it, the reading order in the ancient Chinese
> > was similar if not the same.
>
> Where would you have developed such an understanding? Not in a source
> about "ancient Chinese."

I'd rather await the opinion of someone who knows something
about the ancient Chinese.

> > Needham and Gwei-Djen also note similar types of
> > indentations in the Chinese and Maya inscriptions.
>
> What do you mean by "indentation"?

I'm just quoting from the book.

> How many different ways are there of
> doing "indentation"?
>
> > And further, they write,
> >
> > "On the pictographic side, some of the writings from the
> > Shih-chai Shan culture (4th to 1st centuries BCE) are
> > notably similar to those of the Aztec codices (Fig. 1) [the
> > illustration in the back of the book shows some archaic
> > Chinese ideograms remarkably similar to the ones that are
> > typical in Meso-America]." (p. 16)
>
> What do Aztec codices have to do with Maya writing,

Well, if you don't know this, then it's back to school with
you...

> and why is it
> surprising that pictogram of common objects in different cultures
> resemble each other?

Well, you haven't seen the illustrations, so why should
anyone care what you think on the subject?

> (Who knows what they mean by ideogram.)
>
> > Also, Needham and Gwei-Djen provide the following further
> > refs:
>
> nothing to do with Maya writing

Yes, something to do with Maya writing.

> > Paul Arnold, EL LIBRO MAYA DE LOS MUERTOS, Mexico; Editorial
> > Diana, 1986 (219 pages).
> >
> > This book icludes some helpful illustrations that compare
> > Mayan and the Chinese ideograms.
>
> I ask you for the eighth time, what are the similarities?
> --
> Peter T. Daniels grammatim@att.net

LOL!

I guess this is the eighth time that you express your
ignorance and bias.

Why don't you go and read some books instead? :)

Yuri.

Yuri Kuchinsky -=O=- http://www.trends.ca/~yuku

A great many people think they are thinking when they are
merely rearranging their prejudices -=O=- William James

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Chinese & Maya writing systems
    ... >> things in common, they might be related in some way. ... > Nothing in Dylan's list is peculiar to these two writing systems. ... >> between Chinese and Maya writing have been first commented ... the reading order in the ancient Chinese ...
    (sci.anthropology)
  • Re: Chinese & Maya writing systems
    ... >> things in common, they might be related in some way. ... > Nothing in Dylan's list is peculiar to these two writing systems. ... >> between Chinese and Maya writing have been first commented ... the reading order in the ancient Chinese ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: A China-Sumer connection?
    ... The Chinese and Sumerian civilizations ... Sumerian writing to its very beginning. ... the Indians by sea and with other neighbouring cultures by land. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: A China-Sumer connection?
    ... The Chinese and Sumerian civilizations ... Sumerian writing to its very beginning. ... the Indians by sea and with other neighbouring cultures by land. ...
    (sci.anthropology)
  • Re: A China-Sumer connection?
    ... The Chinese and Sumerian civilizations ... Sumerian writing to its very beginning. ... the Indians by sea and with other neighbouring cultures by land. ...
    (sci.lang)