ChamelAjvalel

joined 1 year ago
[–] ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Ok, I wanted to get this uploaded before my brain stops thinking about it. I wanted to show...erm...the path that I take to create/re-write the Mayan characters in a simplified script. You'll see three titles: Stone (What was most often carved into stone), Codex (What was more predominately used in their books), and Mine (Which are the variants that I'm creating).

I'll label these by their rows. So 1 will be the top row (and will include the codex form on what should be row 2), then row 2, 3, and 4.

  1. You'll note that the Codex form doesn't look like Mine, as the Codex form would be too similar to other characters of Mine. The last two characters with Mine and with the Stone forms show how I came up with the design.
  2. There's probably no mystery how I designed Mine, as the Codex form is pretty much a copy of it.
  3. Again, there's probably no mystery how I designed Mine here, as well.
  4. If you look at the affix (3rd character from the left), I took the circular part of the bottom, and only went up one side, then I used only two of the lines that span the entire width of the character rather than 1/3 to 1/4th the width as in the Stone variant.

And that's my brain power for today.

[–] ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Ok! What I have at the moment (for casual text).

And a line from "The Jaguar and the Jaguarundi" as written in "Of Cabbages and Kings, Tales from Zinacantan".

Ivay la ta be ta yak'ol bik'it nich (He slept by the road above Little Flower).

(I'll add more details about my ideas and opinions sometime later...But I will say, doing this makes me wonder how Hangul, Davangari, Dravidian, etc alphabets are written in a school setting. So I may need to make a few inquiries).

[–] ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

By accident really. I found a book called "Of Cabbages and Kings, Tales from Zinacantan", and was able to decode a lot from both what little was explained in the book, and deducing from what I had learned from Cherokee. Then there was a web site called Sk'op Sotz'leb which went into more detail and had some pronunciations. After a few years I had gotten my hands on "The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantan" (And to this day it is my all time favorite translating dictionary. So much so that Robert M. Luaghlin is one of a very few people I revere).

It was kind of odd, as when I first started learning the language, I wasn't that keen into it. Heck, I really didn't like Cherokee all that well either. I found many Algonquian and Siouan languages to be far more prettier, but I actually found really good references for Tzotzil here...In this backward hillbilly hole in the ground, 😶 , and Cherokee through a mail order company. Anyway, the more I learned about the Tzotzil language, the more interesting it became, and the more I wanted to learn it.

Granted, I was never going to be fluent (just don't live in that kind of area), but I did surprise the only person I ever talked with who knew the language. So I didn't do all that bad. (The area I had the most difficulty with were the numbers, and that guy helped me to understand them. Actually, he helped me a lot. Tzotzil seems to count backwards after 20, but when you translate the words, it makes more sense. Jun scha'vinik = 21, but cha'vinik = 40. Which my mind always thought jun scha'vinik as 41, but once I learned to "translate" the numbers, jun scha'vinik : jun (one) s (3rd person possessive) cha' (two) vinik (man). "One [digit] of the second man" thus 21, as 20 is all the digits of the first man, and now we're counting the next digits of the next man).

Anyway, I can't get too descriptive. 24 years of a bad marriage, chronic pains, and dealing with some really harsh health issues, my mind is pretty darn wrecked, but I am hoping I can at least pull off some feats before it gets worse, HAH!

[–] ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Kosher! I found the Mayan Hieroglyphics Database and just a little digging around I can see that my thinking on this is not that far fetched as I had felt.

So how I was planning on standardizing the embedding of sounds is Mayan, and that is what I will stick with. Preceding sound is embedded within the succeding sound. (IE initial sound is embedded within the final sound). (That is lu+ku will be pronounced as kul, and chi+k'in will be k'ich and not chik'in or chik').

However, I don't have any plans on writing similar to how k'inich is written, with the middle sound being under the embedding sounds like in the picture.

[–] ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Might add this image at least til I can elaborate more on it. These are some characters I modified for the glottalized consonants k', t', p', ch', and tz'. Since a lot of these are not known from classical Mayan texts, I've embedded the characters k'in, ch'a, t'u, pa, and a small part of tz'a into the vowels a, e, i, o, u. Now, I may remove some of these (as Tzotzil doesn't have that many words with t', and there are other ways/rules of writing them, but for the moment it's what I have).

In the above image, you'll see there are two characters for the sound ch'u, that's because the first set (main sign & affix) are following my rules, u embedded with ch'a. The second set are the more likely candidates to be used as those characters...erm...Don't know the appropriate term to use, but they are a huge part of the religious speech of both Mayan classical and Catholic present. K'ul (yucatec, Lacanton, etc), something like holy, sacred, spirit, etc, which is ch'ul as well in other dialects (Ch'ol, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, etc).

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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world to c/languages@lemmy.world
 

Note: This is a work in progress and just a place holder for jotting my thoughts down.

Disclaimer: This should not be viewed as being a legitimate source of information, and just as something fun (and I do find it fun, 😊 ). As well as I am getting older, and my hardware is fairly outdated, and the programmers are a joke. So expect a lot of this to be the mere musings of a madman.

I will be updating this, eh, as much as I can. Anyway, let's do this thing.

I have had this idea of writing Tzotzil (as it's the only Mayan dialect I know well enough) with the Mayan characters, and the following are the rules that I am attempting to adhere to.

Basics

  1. Abide as much as possible with known Mayan rules and knowledge of their writing.
  2. Standardize and simplify the characters as much as possible as if they have continual use into a college setting, internet chatroom setting, written novels, mathematical texts, technical documentation, or children passing notes in grade school.
  3. If the need arises to create a character, use only what is known.

(And I've lost my train of thought for the moment. Ok, at least I got this part started).


What I'm working on at the moment is writing down the lyrics to Vayijel's "Kux Kux".

Top: Is a fancier writing and closer to the original Mayan.

Middle: Is a more simplistic shorthand which I am attempting to further simplify the codices written forms.

Bottom: Is a transliteration of the characters used.

Non Modified Characters

a, li, ku, to, la, e, me, na.

Modified Sounds of Known Mayan Characters (That follow Mayan rules).

  • vu <= huun (Huun is the Yucatec word for paper, which is vun in Tzotzil).
  • s <= u (u is the third person pronoun in Yucatec, and since there are several characters for the sound u, I repurposed one of those characters for s, which is the third person pronoun in Tzotzil).

Modified Characters of Known Mayan Characters (That do not follow Mayan rules).

  • xu <= nuuk (I have found a 'xu' character in my "The New Catalog of Maya Nieroglyphs Vol. 2", but haven't implemented it as of yet).
    • Since ku is spelled twice, I added an extra tail onto the character xu to reduplicate it across both ku characters.
  • k'o <= o embedded with the letter k'i.

The final word "svulanot", is spelled "s vulan[a] to" with "s" and "to" as affixes separated by a space to the verb vulan[a], but this may change once I start making it possible to write these characters much smaller (as should be for written novels, text books, etc).

(Ok, I've spent what little brain power I've had...Man, I hope I can remember this...I really really enjoy this kind of thinking, heh).

(Also, if ya'll have any questions, just ask. Maybe it will help this aging mind to concentrate a bit better...Anything is possible, 🤣 ).

[–] ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago

In a really twisted way, Youtube is a fairly big reason why a good number of people go outside, take up hobbies, etc.

[–] ChamelAjvalel@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There are very very few entertainers that have ever choked me up, but damn Richard Simmons and Newhart are definitely on that list. Rest well.

 

I've been using one of the Pandora services, but I've been getting a little annoyed with the stations (which I presume I would get the same annoyance from other services, too). So I'd like to be able to create a station and add songs that I own and that wouldn't normally be in that station. (And I know you can add artists to the stations, but some artists only have a few songs I like, and I surely don't want the station inundated with similar artists of the music I don't like. Shudder the thought, 😬 ).

 

Ok! I give up trying to find this stuff on my own, heh.

Anyway, I built my wife a large outdoor miniature diarama for Christmas and I'm wanting to do a winter theme for her opening (the door), and I'm rather stumped on these.

So far, the best solution I found was snow powder/flakes and spray on adhesive, but I'm definitely open to something else (that's not overly costly, 🤷‍♂️. I spent a looooot on this so far).

It will have a dirt base, so the snow needs to adhere to that as best as possible.

 

Update: 7-30-23

Added images to an album at imgur with proof showing the bill has the correct website written three times on the bill. Also, showing the address to both locations (As each other claim the other does not exist), and google maps showing Centura locations.

Update: 7-31-23

Like the energizer bunny, the stupid at this company keeps going and going and going and going.

Difficult getting a real human, so try to setup an automated payment via the automated system. Well, not my first time with this company, so don't trust them at all. Call back to verify, go through hoops and hurdles to get a real person. Nope, I only made a payment, ok, let me setup a payment plan. Ok, do you want to remove the payment you setup as that will not be added to your payment plan? What? Instead of paying x, you'll be paying x+y...Yeah, let's cancel that. Ok, set up the payment plan. Can I make the payment still? That wouldn't work because of how the payment plan is set up.

Seriously? Is that really that difficult for the programmers to write for your systems?

I tell you, dealing with this company does make me feel a little better. For, even how addled I have gotten, I feel like if they can run a major business, so can I, 🤣

End Update

I don't know a good spot to put this, but maybe this would be a good spot to just vent...It adds to the mental strain that's just absolutely bonkers...Plus, might be something for people to think about if they happen to go to the same hospital business a city over. Just 45 minutes away. Shown as an affiliate of the same business on their own website. 😶

Anyway, I saw a doctor a year ago, got x-rays and had an EKG. Fine. Will get a bill...Fine.

Got a bill in January, 6 months after from Centura...In Ohio...Not Colorado...What?

The statement says to send a payment or log in to their website. I log into their website, enter the account number...Nada...I do it again...Nada...Again, and again, and again...Nothing. So I call the number on the website (as I trust that over some odd bill from an address that I've never seen from this company before). The representative had no knowledge of it. The account didn't exist.

I even checked mycentura account, and I owe nothing...What? What? What?

Well, just yesterday I got a call from this questionable Centura company...finally...And guess what? They don't understand what I'm talking about...It's never been that way...I would never pay to Centura in Denver. Their billing offices are in Cincinnati. How the heck can there be two completely separate entities of the same bloody business?

Holy fuck!

Sorry for the cursing, but unfortunately, this warrants it. It's just so idiotic.

End rant.

[2nd attempt to post this. Removed some curse words and the h word as maybe the filters are a bit wonky or purposefully overly sensitive].

 

I'm in a pretty stressful marriage (23 years), and I'm also in a lot of pain, and to top that off. I was allowed to keep some of the money we got because of covid to see a doctor for my pains, that the pills she prescribed me screwed up my digestive system to which I'm battling dizziness, some new pains, and sometimes difficulty breathing. So my mind is pretty ripped in soooo many ways.

Anyway...anyway...a heck of a lot more stress was added after a family member moved in...so more stress. Ppppppp!

Anyway, anyway, I have been toying with the idea of running a lemmy or kbin server for people in my situation. I think it would be exceptionally helpful. For venting without restrictions, possible to be completely anonymous, job searching for chronic/mental illnesses. Just an extension, you might say, of all the other helpful sites out there. (which if I can feel up to it, I know of quite a few and can post links for them...which maybe could be added to the side bar...like wearecapable, which is a site to help chronic illness people to find jobs.

Hell, just now thinking about it, in this kind of fediverse type groupings, I bet there'd be a wider range of career help for people in bad situations.

Meh, it's a nice dream, heh. But anyway, I'm just venting right now. My mind is shredded.

 

Since I have studied mesoamerican languages, which includes base 20 numbering systems, I was curious to see what may happen by following the same rules for 7 in decimal.

The following will be written as follows.
7*x : 5

Which implies any number that is divisible by 7 can be found by the following programmable formula (ignoring integer division) (y - y % 10) / 10 + (y % 10) * 5 where y = 7 * x (Erm, just watch this video).

Maya Number : Multiplier
7*x : 6
13*x : 2
17*x : 6

Just what I've seen so far...Am needing sleep, and am older and a lot more decrepit, so have no clue if I'll ever work this out fully and completely in the future, heh. Meh, it was fun while it lasted...Time for sleep...

If anyone else wants to play around with it, I do have a few pari/gp functions written that can be used to work with it.

\\ Maya(x) convert a decimal number x into a Mayan number as a list.
Maya(x) = { V=List();while(x>0,listinsert(V,x%20,1);x=x\20);return(V) }

\\ Maya2Dec(X) convert a Maya number list X to a decimal number.
Maya2Dec(X) = { t=0;for(x=1,length(X),t=t*20+X[x]);return(t) }

g(x,t) = x\20+(x%20)*t;

Edit:

Since this was rather confusing, I'll try a different method to explain this.

A base 20 system, such as the Maya or Nahuatl/Aztecs counted in, the single digits would be 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19, as they counted with both fingers and toes.

Another way to aid in this, in the Tzotzil Maya language, they count based on a person or persons.

20 = jtob
21 = jun scha'vinik (2nd person's one [digit])
22 = chibal scha'vinik (2nd person's two [digits])
39 = balunlajunebal scha'vinik (2nd person's 19 [digits])
40 = cha'vinik ([the whole] 2nd person. Each person has 20 digits, so including the second person is 40 digits all together).

Now, with that, lets look over the 13\x : 2 that I wrote above.

Is the number 6875 divisible by 13? In a base 20, 6875 would be written as 17:3:15, using the colon to differentiate the digits from a base 10 system. Thus, 17 * 20^2 + 3 * 20 + 15 = 6875.

  • 17:3 + 2 * 15 = 18:13 (Base 10 ; 343 + 30 = 373)
    • 18 + 2 * 13 = 2:4 (Base 10 ; 18 + 26 = 44)
    • 2 + 2 * 4 = 10 (No! This is not divisible by 13).

Is the number 7527 divisible by 13?

  • 18:16 + 2 * 7 = 19:10 (Base 10 ; 376 + 14 = 390)
    • 19 + 2 * 10 = 1:19 (Base 10 ; 19 + 20 = 39. Check, this is divisible by 13).

Hopefully that is better.

Edit 2:

And here is the work in Maya. (Using circles around the + and = signs to make it easier to read. Plus, using very well defined parentheses to differentiate between the line used for the digit spacer and as showing multiplication).

 

For me personally, the Mayan script is by far the most beautiful scripts on the face of the Earth. How it is writ is just so fascinating. However, unfortunately, I started finding more about it late in life after my mind began slowing down. So, unfortunately, I have not been able to retain a lot of the information. Oh well.

http://www.famsi.org/ This is one site that I frequented a lot in the middle phase. Even tried my hand at learning Yucatec (which is quite different from Tzotzil, which I know the most).

In the early days, http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/med/, this site was the only one I knew of, and had spent a lot of time here.

Later (relatively recently) I began using the books "The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphics Vols I & II".

Now, again, I got old (too fast), and the mind wasn't too keen on learning new tricks. So I decided, just for fun, I'd learn to write Tzotzil with the letters. Which, as any who have studied the Maya scripts would know, that wouldn't exactly be a simple task.

The majority of known written words were in Ch'ol and Yucatec. Ch'ol is fairly similar to Tzotzil in many ways, but one thing I have had an issue with, is discerning which characters were used for which prefixes/suffixes in Ch'ol verses Yucatec. Then there are word parts that are not exactly the same as in Yucatec.

Tzotzil ch- is 'ta + x'. Not hard to do in certain circumstances, ta+xi, ta+xa. Simple, easy, can do. However, dealing with ta+x, on the other hand, not so easy. I have not been too fortunate to figure out that one. So what I did, then, is I use the letter for "yax" for the "x" sound.

Another one, is Tzotzil has 's' for the 3rd person, whereas Yucatec uses 'u'. Again, not that difficult, just equate 'u' as 's'. So, I could, in theory (again, just for fun, not to be correct), I could spell a word such as chk'opoj as "ta+yax+[u]+k'o+po+[ho/hi]" (brackets don't necessarily need to be spelled. One of the very fascinating things of the Maya scripts, for me anyway).

And I lost my train of thought.

Just a final summary.

There is a lot that I just don't know, and there is a lot that I will never be able to retain the information for, but I still play around with this idea. I do know I'd have to change some letters' sounds (which is not necessarily un-Mayan). As well as I would have to create new rules (hopefully, fingers crossed, I could find and remember the information for those rules that might be useful and correct enough) in order to make this possible.

Don't know if I'll ever succeed, but no harm in trying, I think, 😅 .

https://imgur.com/a/tq4OaMM Second experiment (Before I realized ta+x = ch).

https://imgur.com/a/npy2Qaw Third experiment.

https://i.imgur.com/Wpvxkqy.jpg "I'm not afraid of not ghosts", "Mu-xixi' ta-ch'ule[lal]" (Characters in the brackets aren't spelled). These, I believe, are pretty decently spelled.

Unfortunately, my mind is not too great, but hopefully someone finds this interesting. 😇

 

Trying to force my mind to think on something (health issues making brain a wee wonky).

Anyhoo, here's some links to things I've done a long time ago when my mind was more capable.

Some basic grammar.

https://forum.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?t=28886

A Cherokee Phoenix article with literal translations below the translation of each paragraph.

https://forum.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?f=122&t=32262

(And oooooof! Lemmy does that blasted double space for a newline. God I hate that).

Hilvsgi dikahnesdi gvhdi tsalagi. Here's a few words using Cherokee.

gayo, gayotli : A small amount. A little bit. Formed from the word[s], ahyotli, diniyotli (Child, children).

gayo tsalagi tsiwonisgi. I speak a little Cherokee.

Tsalagihas gohlga? Does he understand Cherokee? Gayotligwu. Just a bit.

usdi; tsunsdi : Little, small, baby (human); Little living things, babies.

usdi asgay tsigohti. I see a little man.

usdi tsigohti. I see a little one. I see a baby.

ada, anida : Young animal

anida gitli gatsigohti. I see puppies.

ada ada ada. Wood just said a baby animal. (Trust me when I say I'd have a hell of a time trying to pronounce this, regardless how much I know, but it does crack me up every time I think about it, heh).

Welp, that's a very very small set of words...But meh, I did something, 😄

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