15) Transliterations | Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs

This database has a field for transliterations provided by Gordon Whittaker for a number of Aztec hieroglyphs in our collection. Therefore, we explain here the conventions he uses, drawing from his book, Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphs: A Guide to Nahuatl Writing (London: Thames & Hudson, 2021), 15. However, the subscripting of numbers is not working currently in the version of Drupal we have. When we upgrade, the subscripting should work. For now, please imagine the numbers that appear should be lower than the two letters that precede them.

ocēlōtl = the standard spelling of a linguistic form (in a given language)

/kw/ = a distinctive sound (in a given language)

tlan = a phonetic value of a single sign (in a writing system)

patol = a disyllabogram (phonetic sign with a two-syllable value)

A(TL) = a logographic value of a single sign (with contextual expansion or reduction)

.oc. = an abbreviated spelling (at the points represented by the full stops)

CIHUA-COATL = two signs in a glyphic compound or sequence

CUAUH•TEMAL = two signs with a degree of merging

CONQUEST = a semantic complement or classifier

^COZCACOZCACUAUH(TLI) = a semantic indicator (written superscript) reinforcing the semantic value of a logogram

HUITZ—tlan = a glyphic sequence joined by a connector in the form of a tethering line

^aacol = a sign with a phonetic indicator (written superscript)

te2 = a sign with a subscript numerical index differentiating its value from that of another sign

TOL-te2+ca2 = a plus sign joins two values of a single sign that are used simultaneously (graphic syllepsis)

teca{-te2+ca2} = curly brackets enclose an equation indicating the internal structure of a derived value

MO{TECUH-^ZO2}ZOMA = curly brackets enclose a value or values acting on the base value of a reflexive verbal logogram (containing the reflexive pronoun mo-)