A Comparative Analysis of Ch’orti’ Verbal Art and the Poetic Discourse Structures of Maya Hieroglyphic Writing

Deletion

Deletion as a poetic device also occurs with the erasure of certain elements in the second half of the couplet. In the following example, the preposition in the second line is deleted:

takar uk’uxujrterir uwaporyantir u’tob’
                                  uwaporyantir uk’ab’
with their stomach pains, the evil heat of their faces
                                                 the evil heat of their hands

The term uwaporyantir refers to another brand of bad heat that the evil spirits use to "grab" people (i.e. make them sick). Uwaporyantir comes from the Spanish word "vapor" and is conceived of as a kind of sweat-like heat that permeates from the bodies of the evil spirits and infects the person when they come in contact with these spirits.

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