A previous post discussed how the app creates glyph in some detail. This post is meant to address likely questions and highlight the app’s limitations.
Does the app implement all glyph block types (called quadrats) defined in the proposed Unicode standard?
No. The proposed standard defines 189 quadrats. We implement the 13 most common. Currently 1.01, 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 3.01, 3.02, 3.07, 3.09, 3.17, 3.18, 4.10, 5.04 and 5.12. This is subject to change. Below is a picture of the quadrats the app uses.
Can I pick which glyphs and quadrats the app uses to create a glyph block?
No. Let us know if you would like that feature added.
How does the app select which quadrat and glyphs so use?
The proposed Unicode includes how many times each quadrat appeared in the Mayan codices. These counts allow the app to select the most commonly used option.
The glyphs and their definitions come from Professor Tokovinine’s Catalog. Many syllables can be represented by multiple affix glyphs and multiple main glyphs. The app has no information on when or why one glyph was selected over an equivalent one. For example, the catalog contains 3 affix glyphs for “ma”. When the app needs an affix glyphs for “ma” it always takes the one that appears first in the catalog. Let us know if you have thoughts on how we might do this better.
Does the app generate square glyph blocks?
No. Let us know if you want square glyph blocks! The proposed Unicode standard specifies glyph blocks are 7 units wide and 6 units high. So the app makes glyph blocks with an aspect ratio of 7×6. Let us know if you have any insights into different aspect ratios and where they were used.
Why are the edges of some affix glyphs clipped off?
This is an error we hope to fix. Below is an affix glyph as it appears in Professor Tokovinine’s Catalog. Note the dotted lines, they indicate this is how this affix glyph is drawn when below a main glyph. Most affix glyphs can be rotated to other sides of the main glyph, so in the catalog images of affix glyphs it is important to indicate the main glyph. When the app wants to draw the affix glyph as part of a glyph block it must clip away the section of the image with the dotted lines. For some affix glyphs the app gets it slightly wrong. Let us know if you see an affix that is poorly clipped.
Why are some affix glyphs rotated incorrectly?
There are several great books on how to read Mayan glyphs. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any on how to write them. The app could certainly be incorrectly rotating some affix glyphs under some circumstances. I’m sure it is getting other things wrong as well. When you see an error, please hit the Feedback button and let us know.
Tokovinine’s Catalog includes plausible but less certain definitions. Does the app use them?
Yes, but only when there is no other option.
Why do I sometimes get a “No phonetic glyph” message and a strange looking glyph?
That happens when we are unable to phonetically write the text you typed. The easiest way to get this message is to type a single consonant and press Convert. The Mayan writing system records both vowels and consonant-vowel pairs. It doesn’t have a way to record single consonants. So if you type “b” and press Covert you get:
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