Editing Classic Maya language (section)

== Writing system ==
{{main|Maya script}}
Classic Maya is the principal language documented in the [[writing system]] used by the pre-Columbian Maya, and is particularly represented in inscriptions from the lowland regions in Mexico and the period c. 200—900. The writing system (generally known as the [[Maya script]]) has some similarities in function (but is not related) to other [[list of writing systems|logosyllabic writing systems]] such as the [[cuneiform]] originating in [[Sumer]], in which a combination of [[logogram|logographic]] and [[syllabary|syllabic]] signs ([[grapheme]]s) are used. The script's corpus of graphemes features a core of syllabic signs which reflect the [[phonology]] of the Classic Maya language spoken in the region and at that time, which were also combined or complemented by a larger number of logograms. Thus the expressions of Classic Maya could be written in a variety of ways, represented either as logograms, logograms with [[phonetic complement]]s, logograms plus syllables, or in a purely syllabic combination. For example, in one common pattern many verb and noun roots are given by logographs, while their grammatical [[affix]]es were written syllabically, much like the [[Japanese writing system]].