The Mayans were the first Native American civilization to have a complete writing system, one that could fully represent a spoken language. Some of the Mayan script or symbols represent letters, words, or phrases, but many of the other symbols represent sounds that are spoken. It is similar to the English alphabet, but instead of having 26 letters, the Mayans had hundred of phonetic symbols that were used to represent a word or a part of a word.

The Maya Civilization’s writing system is considered to be the most sophisticated system of writing that was developed in Mesoamerica. The Mayans using signs or glyphs (Glyphs represent words or phrases) to form any word or phrase that expresses a topic of any Mayan event. Archaeologists have trouble interpreting the Mayan script because of the way it is organized. The symbols are paired in columns that both go left to right and top to bottom.

Inside of the Mayan Language, there are many types of symbols from different types of scripts that are used to communicate different types of topics. This made the Mayans unable to communicate with each other well because they did not understand whatever the other person was saying. This was also dependent on what class that person was in status because the people who worked at a low status were usually not given the right to learn the language, while the higher class were given private lessons to excel in the language.

Not only was the Mayan script used for communication and telling stories, but it was also used for mathematics and astronomy. The Mayans were one of the first known civilizations to use a zero. They also a complex calendrical system to show the date, time, and also predict eclipses. Other than this, scribes that were apart of the civilization created stone monuments with the writing engraved in the stone to represent stories about the gods and other beliefs that circled the Mayan Civilization.