I have almost finished reading Michael Coe's "Breaking the Maya Code"
and I think I'm beginning to understand, in a very general way, how
the decipherment was (and is) being accomplished. However, some of
the logic is not clear to me and Coe isn't big on writing about
method, so I was wondering if anyone could help me to understand some
of the specifics?
For example, how does one use polyvalence (both polyphony and
homophony) to determine the meaning for a logographic or a syllabic
sign? I can see how Knorosov's Principle of Synharmony is helpful,
but not this. In fact, it seems to me that the repetitiveness of many
signs standing for the same sound or the same sign having different
meanings would only confuse things.
Unless somehow the repetitiveness could help by associating different
inscriptions with each other? For example, if an unknown glyph is
found to have the same meaning as a glyph in a translated
inscription, then it could be the key to translating the as yet
undeciphered inscription in which it is in. But somehow you have to
find out that that logograph means the same as the other one first...
I suppose the main thing I have trouble understanding is how so many
logographs have been figured out at all. What is the method for this?