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

Augmentative Couplets

Augmentative couplets often show deletion of the first part of the second line but then further explain or clarify the following term in the second half of the second line:

Example 1:
             A’si watar puerta saliente
                                 puerta saliente de Cristo
             They come to play at the eastern door
                                                      the eastern door of Christ

Example 2:
             A’si wato’b’ tamar e 17 cementario
                                                 e 17 cementario infernal
             They come to play in the 17 cemeteries
                                                      the 17 infernal cemeteries

In the first example, "the eastern door" is amplified with the additional description of it being "the eastern door of Christ." This is an important poetic technique of Ch’orti’ formal discourse that adds a sense of "elegance," one informant put it, to the prayer. It is at "door of Christ" (there is one door at each of the four corners of the universe) that the malevolent spirits are said to both "play" and pass through on their way to cause a particular sickness. In the second example, the poetic effect is realized by augmenting a more detailed description of the 17 cemeteries as the "17 infernal cemeteries." This refers to the important 17^th level of the underworld where some of the most dangerous spirits are thought to reside.

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