The Language of the Canek Manuscript

Ancient Mesoamerica, 3 (1992), 269-279 Copyright © 1992 Cambridge University Press. Printed in the U . S . A . THE LANGUAGE OF THE CANEK MANUSCRIPT William F. Hanks Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA Abstract The Canek manuscript is written in a distinctive linguistic style, probably a local variant of Spanish influenced by Yucatec Maya and archaic forms of Spanish. It also reflects a curiously ambivalent perspective on the Itza king Canek, at once aligning him with the pagan Indians and suggesting an affinity with Saint Francis. Like many other colonial texts, the four extant folia of this manuscript show a blending of verbal genres. This paper presents a discourse analysis of the manuscript, demonstrating that it is organized according to a systematic rhetorical structure based on syntactic foregrounding, poetic parallelism and thematic development. Placed in the context of other colonial documents, this one displays the cultural and linguistic ambivalence of its author. Recent advances i n Mesoamerican research have basically al- tered the study of language and society i n the M a y a region. Pre- c o l u m b i a n representational forms once thought to be strictly ritual i n reference are now understood to recount the historical exploits o f named i n d i v i d u a l rulers, acting w i t h i n regional po- litical systems. G l y p h i c discourse projects a social world that we can learn about by reading the inscriptions. M u c h o f the iconog- raphy serves the same referential function o f projecting a world, such as the gathering and interaction o f nobles portrayed on the walls o f B o n a m p a k . A l o n g s i d e the realization that the glyphs record h i s t o r i c a l facts, epigraphers have demonstrated that they have a syntactic structure closely linked to that o f spoken M a y a languages, especially C h o l a n and Yucatecan. In partic- u l a r , the once dubious n o t i o n that the glyphs correspond to speech sounds has been shown to be true beyond reasonable d o u b t , and phoneticism is now a staple o f M a y a epigraphy (Bricker 1989; Justeson 1989; Justeson and C a m p b e l l 1984; M a t h e w s 1984). Phonetic correspondences are only the begin- ning o f what is proving to be a powerful set o f linguistic paral- lels between the f o r m a l structure o f glyphs and the syntax and discourse organization o f spoken M a y a n languages (Bricker 1986; H o p k i n s 1987; Josserand 1987; cf. H a n k s 1989b). These t w i n breakthroughs, referential function and language-based f o r m , have helped lead to quantum changes i n the way schol- ars think about precolumbian M a y a society. F o r the study o f c o l o n i a l discourse, this research serves as a reminder that the M a y a sector was no less complex and dynamic than the Span- ish. In this paper, I present a preliminary analysis o f the Canek M a n u s c r i p t , a significant new addition to the colonial sources. A l t h o u g h produced in the late seventeenth century, and written in Spanish, this document is linked to M a y a representational traditions through its description o f the Itza ruler Canek and, ern epigraphers, considered them to be arbitrary signs whose meanings corresponded at least partially to spoken language. Significant changes are taking place in the study o f postcon- quest Mesoamerica too, and the Canek Manuscript takes o n its full significance in this context. Particularly in the areas o f lit- erary studies (Edmonson and Bricker 1985; Gossen 1974, 1985; H a n k s 1988, 1989a; Tedlock 1983) and colonial history and na- tive resistance (Bricker 1981; C a r m a c k 1981; C a r m a c k and M o n d l o c h 1989; Farriss 1984, 1987; Gosner 1989a, 1989b; H a w k i n s 1984; Jones 1989; M i l l e r and Farriss 1979; Quezada 1985; Sullivan 1989), an increasingly complex view o f M a y a peoples is emerging. Since the fall o f M a y a p a n confederate rule in northern Yucatan in the mid 1400s, and probably long before, Y u c a t a n was subdivided into some 16 political geographic re- gions. C a l l e d cacicazgos i n the E u r o p e a n scholarly literature, these regional units differed significantly in their internal struc- ture and external relations (Farriss 1984; Roys 1957). There were well-known enmities among regions, such as that between M a n i and Sotuta provinces, and differences o f production, as i n the salt beds o f C h i k i n c h e l , C h a k a n , and coastal C e h Pech prov- inces, and the honey and cacao production o f C h e t u m a l (Roys 1943, 1957:54). Some o f these preexisting divisions lasted into the c o l o n i a l period, and underlay the regional diversity, politi- cal division and stratification that were facts o f life i n colonial Yucatan. Reporting on a Franciscan mission to the heartland o f Itza resistance in the seventeenth century, the Canek Manuscript 'The name Canek is composed of at least two morphemes in Maya, can, serpent, sky and ek, star, black. I have adopted the con- vention of citing it as a single word for convenience, because it appears to function as a single name. It could equally well be cited as Can Ek. In saying that the glyphs are arbitrary, I invoke the linguistic concept of arbitrariness: the systematic character of human languages whose meaning is fixed by social convention, not by any natural connection between signifier and signified. most dramatically, through its reproduction in Folio 6 of the glyphic emblem that appeared on Canek's cape. The author also translated the glyphs into Spanish, showing that he, like m o d - 26V