Baybayin: Ancient Filipino Writing System

[kiretoce]

The system of writing of the early Bisayans

The Spanish colonizers alleged that , when they arrived in the Philippines, they found the Filipinos, including the Bisayans, not to have any knowledge in writing and in reading. This allegation implies that the natives did not possess an alphabet and did not have a system of writing; therefore, they were said to be uncivilized.

Nevertheless, it can be said that what the colonizers said is not true. In reality, the Bisayans and other groups of Filipinos had a widely-used system of writing that started long before the coming of the foreign invaders. In fact, there were early Spanish writers who contradicted the observations of their compatriots and who pointed out that, indeed, the local people were literate. They were Pedro Chirino, Antonio de Morga, Lope Povedano and Sinibaldo de Mas who wrote that "almost every native in the Visayas and the rest of the country, both men and women, know how to read and write".

In early times, the Bisayans used a system of writing called "Abakada" (or "Alibata" to some writers), almost similar to the one used in many parts of Luzon. The symbols used in writing consisted of seventeen letters, three of these were used as vowels and the rest were consonants.

The materials used by the Bisayans for writing were green bambooscut into lengths of two dangaw (finger-lengths), fresh banana leaves, tree barks, and the white inside part of the betel nut frond. What the natives used as writing instrument was the tip of a small knife or any pointed material. Their manner of writing may have been from top to bottom and moving from left to right but may have changed through time due to the influence of the Chinese and other people they came into contact with (Alcina 1668).

What were the functions of writing among the eartly Bisayans? They wrote not to record important events of their time but to send messages to their relatives and friends regarding significant occasions that required the attendance of the latter. They also expressed their feelings or sentiments through letters, like when a young man is courting a young lady and he needs to express his love for her. Love songs are oftentimes composed and readily written on bamboosand are used in serenading ladies. Moreover, they used to record loans or debts of their fellow beings to avoid misunderstanding later.

It is significant to note that the ancient system of writing in the Philippines is still practised by the Mangyans of Mindoro, the Tagbanuas of Palawan, and a few other groups of people in the mountainous sections of the archipelago. Even among the Sulod-Bukidnons in the central part of Panay, there are still those who can recall that, as late as the 1970s, there were still individuals in the area that wrote in the old script.

Today, samples of the early writings of the Bisayans are no longer extant. The reason for this is that the writing materials that were used were easily damaged or got readily decayed. In addition, such materials were intentionally burned or destroyed by the Spanish missionaries in order to re-orient the minds of the natives. The Spaniards said that the Bisayans and the other Filipino groups did those writings at a time that they were not Christians yet and, therefore, they had to be set aside because they were associated with their animistic beliefs and practices. Thus, they had to learn how to read and write in the Western alphabet to enable them to read materials related to Christianity that would make them obedient Catholics.

If it was true that the Bisayans and the rest of the Filipinos had their own alphabet and almost everybody knew how to read and write in it, how come that many of the Spanish missionaries and officials pointed out the opposite? The answer is simple. Considering that the Spanish aim was to colonize the Philippines, they had to justify it by arguing that the natives were not yet civilized inasmuch as they did not have a system of writing. It was imperative that they had to convince their countrymen back in Spain and the rest of the civilized world that the natives needed to be governed so that they can be led to a civilized existence. In addition, it can also be argued that, despite the natives' ability to read and write using their own script, but because they did not know the Spanish alphabet, they were, therefore,judged as illiterate.

[overtureph]

http://www.gmanews.tv/largevideo/rel...--Wika-ng-Lahi

[Louman]

Originally Posted by overtureph

http://www.gmanews.tv/largevideo/rel...--Wika-ng-Lahi

Nice find. The Dutch anthopologist in the video speaks far better Tagalog than most celebrities you would see on gossip shows. haha.

hecky: For starters, baybayin/alibata is not like the Roman alphabet used to write Filipino languages today. Each letter represents a syllable like KA, KI, and KU (which all btw, use the same letter with some modification.)

More info can be found here and here.

Fonts can be downloaded here and here.

Do not apply any baybayin fonts to writing originally written in the Roman alphabet. It will only look like gibberish to anyone who can read Baybayin. Words like kalayaan will look like kaalaayaana when a baybayin font is used incorrectly.

[Animo]

An archaeological team has dug up a pot shard with an inscription around its shoulder, at the San Ignacio archeological site in Intramuros, Philippines, which shows an ancient form of writing.

According to a report in the Malaya News, the shard was found lying 140 centimeters below the surface at the ruins of the San Ignacio church.

Most of the writing systems in the Southeast Asian region are derived from an ancient script used in India.

In contrast to other countries, the Philippines has very few artifacts that provide evidence of the earliest form of writing.

These include the Laguna copper plate (900 AD), Butuan ivory seal (9th to 12th centuries), Butuan silver strip (14th to 15th centuries) and the Calatagan pot (15th century).

When Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi came in 1567, he observed that inhabitants read and wrote in their own system of writing using an alphabet.

The Tagalogs had their own alphabet, the baybayin, which was similar to those used by people in the South. The baybayin was in wide use in the 16th century, but its users began to wane in the following century.

Among ethno-linguistics groups in the Philippines, only three have retained the use of their syllabic scripts: the Hanunoo and Bahid Mangyan of Mindoro, and the Tagbanwa of Palawan.

The archaeological excavation at San Ignacio is another project being implemented jointly by the Cultural Properties and Archaeology Divisions of the National Museum and the Intramuros Administration.

This project is undertaken in connection with the plan of the IA to develop the area where the church ruins stand into an ecclesiastical museum.

Digging was started in June by the National Museum team made up of curator Angel P. Bautista, researchers Alfredo Orogo and Carmencita Mariano, artist Ernesto Toribio Jr., and Jimmy Fingcale.

Excavation in five squares yielded 500 pieces of archaeological material, of which the pot shard with inscription is considered the most significant find. (ANI)

[flymordecai]

Originally Posted by Louman

Nice find. The Dutch anthopologist in the video speaks far better Tagalog than most celebrities you would see on gossip shows. haha.

Sad, but true.

[kiretoce]

Workshop helps keep Baybayin alive

"It's more of a forgotten language," Balza said, countering notions that the spidery Filipino script is dead.

Balza, a ceramic and watercolor artist, hosts a monthly Baybayin workshop every third Saturday at the Bayanihan Center of Seafood City. In addition to leading hands-on practice, Balza explains the history of the alphabet during the workshop.

Archaeological evidence suggests Filipinos used Baybayin as early as 900 B.C. for a variety of purposes, including marking debts, Balza said.

Each of the 17 symbols of the alphabet represents a whole syllable, such as "ba" or "ta." To change the vowel sound associated with the syllable, a tiny mark or "swoosh" known as a "kudlit" is made on the top of the symbol to turn "ba" to "be/bi" or at the bottom to make it "bo/bu."

It can be written left to right, like English, or from top to bottom and was open for all to learn.

"It was actually mandated that children learned it," Balza said.

When the Spanish came to the Philippines in the 16th century, they tried to adopt the language to Catholic Spanish tastes and wrote the "Doctrina Cristiana," which was published and reprinted for more than 275 years, Balza said.

The changes to the written language included an addition of a third kudlit, shaped like a cross, which nullified the vowel sound -- the "ba" would simply be read as the Western "b" sound.

The altered version of Baybayin is sometimes referred to as Alibata.

Eventually, the Western alphabet slowly replaced the language until the original disappeared into obscurity.

Even those in the Philippines don't really know much about it, said Christian Cabuay, a Walnut Creek resident who runs the Web site www.baybayin.com. He attended high school in the United States and college in the Philippines.

But thanks to the Internet, both Cabuay and Balza, who runs the Web site www.suku-art.com, said they are seeing an explosion of interest in Baybayin.

The interest is particularly sharp among Filipino-Americans like Balza and Cabuay, they said.

"We're out here trying to find identity," Cabuay said as immigrants and children of immigrants try to reconcile their old heritage with an American one.

The popularity is especially felt among the tattooing community, said Cabuay, who sports a few Baybayin tattoos and offers tattoo designs at www.PinoyTattoos.com.

Cabuay also believes that Baybayin is not dead and, like any writing system, is evolving. He argues against purists who decry the Spanish alterations to the language. "Just like any writing system, it has to mutate," he said.

[gee]

Originally Posted by Louman

Nice find. The Dutch anthopologist in the video speaks far better Tagalog than most celebrities you would see on gossip shows. haha.

the dutch anthropologist is antoon postma, a former missionary priest, who is married to a mangyan.

[manila_eye]

i had a chance to study the alibata writing when i was a kid. i refused thinking it was just a waste of time. i wish i studied it.

[le Reine]

it is easy to learn baybayin.

[xxxriainxxx]

For some reason I can't upload the Tagalog fonts to my font list... Help? Pretty please?

[linnlinn]

tagalog




image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

[linnlinn]

kapampangan/kulitan/-http://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/11ical/data/1...apampangan.pdf

^click on the link It's pretty Informational

[linnlinn]

kapampangan/kulitan/
image hosted on flickr

[epik ll ian]

Sulat Kapampangan is pretty sweet!

[holywarrior]

Originally Posted by linnlinn

kapampangan/kulitan/-http://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/11ical/data/1...apampangan.pdf

^click on the link It's pretty Informational

The pictures were nice but I dont see any similarity at all with hangul or mongol. Which were pictographic from its development whereas the ancient pre-Filipino script were quite the opposite. Indian influence would be the better explanation than trying to put connection of these pre-Filipino scripts to East Asians.

[flesh_is_weak]

한글 (Hangul) is a syllabary that utilizes 글자 (geulja) which are combined into syllabic blocks to depict sounds, it wasn't invented by Buddhist monks, but by scholars commissioned by Sejong the Great of Joseon, so claims of relation between that and our own scripts are far-fetched

but the similarities are still uncanny, although the author mistranslated ㅇ as 'ma', when in fact it is more close to 'ng'

oh, did you know that Koreans cannot pronounce words that start with 'ng'? for them, the Tagalog word 'ngayon' will be written out as '응아욘' (eung-a-yon)

[Mercato]

Originally Posted by holywarrior

The pictures were nice but I dont see any similarity at all with hangul or mongol. Which were pictographic from its development whereas the ancient pre-Filipino script were quite the opposite. Indian influence would be the better explanation than trying to put connection of these pre-Filipino scripts to East Asians.

Yes sir, I tend to agree that the Filipino Alibata is definitely much closer to Sanskrit more than the rest

[holywarrior]

Originally Posted by overtureph

Arts and Culture
The Chinese Treasure Fleet in 15th century Philippines
By Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil
Monday, May 19, 2008

It was the people of our archipelago who discovered Magellan and the Europeans in 1521, not the other way around, as most Filipinos were taught by our grade-school textbooks. Our islands and their inhabitants were well-known to a larger, richer world that of Chinese emperors and scholars and Arab traders, as early as the 9th, even 6th centuries. And certainly by 1000 A.D., our shores were regular ports of call in the trade with China, then the most powerful nation on earth.

Chinese chronicles, European archaeologists and the diggings in our pre-colonial burial grounds prove that those ancient Filipinos used fine porcelain, weights and measures imported from China, and recorded written contracts. Chao-Ju-Kua reported that Chinese traders visited Ma-I (Luzon) regularly, leaving silks, porcelain and metal utensils on the beaches of designated islands, and returning weeks later to collect payment in the form of beeswax, gold dust, carabao horn, ginger, cinnamon or garlic. It was an import-export system run on a reliable honor system with unquestioned good faith. (Tell that to our Bureau of Customs.) “Filipinos had long been literate when Magellan came.” writes Harvard historian Laurence Bergreen, one of the sources of this article.

In their Middle Ages, it was the Europeans, the recently Christianized descendants of the Goths, Visigoths, Gauls and Anglo-Saxons, who were rude barbarians leading brutish lives as serfs, knights or marauding barons. They often ate tasteless, half-rotten meat (salt was a rarity) and succumbed in their un-lettered thousands, to plagues and feudal wars.

When Magellan’s Spanish Armada hove into view in March 1521, the natives of Homonhon in the Visayas must have taken pity on the small black ships with tattered sails and scruffy, starving, disoriented sailors, for they sent a small rowboat packed with rice, coconuts and bananas to their rescue. On the next island, the white, bearded strangers were feted in a bamboo palace with a banquet of roast fish, pork, turtle eggs and palm wine, by a native king whose queen wore a black-and-white gown, red lips and nails, while a quartet of young, topless damsels played music on various gongs and drums.

Those early Filipinos had been more accustomed to the tall, prosperous, Chinese ships with a trio of feathery sails stiffened with battens, for the China trade had been in place for at least 500 years. During the Ming Dynasty, Filipinos enjoyed the visits of the Treasure Fleet (1405-1500) of Admiral Cheng Ho (Zhen He) a huge, 7-ft tall, powerful eunuch, who had built 1,500 massive, 500-ft ships in a giant shipyard in Nanking with the help of 30,000 workers. The luxurious ships, each manned by 1,000 sailors ruled the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. They had staterooms with gold fittings, bronze cannon, bulkheads and watertight compartments. Some ships carried only food, including potted orange trees (which saved the Chinese from the European scurvy); others only water, or horses, troops and weapons. They had a communication system of flags, lanterns, bells, gongs and carrier pigeons; nautical charts, astronomy maps, measuring instruments and clocks using incense sticks.

The Treasure Fleet reached Africa, India and Australia, stopping en-route in the islands of our archipelago. It was discontinued for a time, when another emperor took over, but resumed and lasted till 1500. But the Chinese were not interested in conquest or territorial aggrandizement. Their purposes were trade and diplomacy. That was what our ancestors expected when they first saw the Spanish Armada.

Filipinos had never seen white men before Magellan and never thought the strangers would be as rapacious and predatory as they would prove to be. They assumed the new foreigners to be poor and needy because they had only glass beads, a string of little bells and a red cap (Magellan’s gifts) to reciprocate the native prodigality. The white men were, in fact, so dazzled by the earrings, chains, armlets and anklets, of pure gold, worn by both the native men and women that Magellan had to warn them against showing their covetousness.

At that time, our land consisted of thousands of islands with pristine, enchanting ecosystems. Our people lived along sand beaches, the banks of crystalline rivers and magical lakes where they fished; farmed the rice fields and orchards between the peaks of the Cordilleras, majestic waterfalls and volcanoes; they hunted, dug for gold, wove cloth from plants and grasses, sang and danced, swam and feasted.

They were loosely organized into small fiefdoms, ruled by occasionally-warring chieftains, attended by household serfs and slave workers and warriors. They believed in the spirits of earth, wind, fire, trees and water and in a supreme being, Bathala, who would take care of everything. Their women were priestesses and rulers, with a degree of sexual freedom that would have made the X and Y-Generations blush.

Except for the small indigenous tribe of frizzy-haired, negroid nomads, who lived in the forests and were almost extinct, our ancestors had come from the original, intrepid, sea-faring Malays who had crossed the China Sea from the Asian mainland, through Malaysia and Indonesia, and traveled northwards towards the superbly fertile islands of our archipelago. Positioned at the economic and political crossroads of the world, they welcomed all comers, and vigorously intermarried with Spaniards, Americans, Japanese, Eurasians but most of all, with Chinese. Thus did we become today’s multiracial Filipinos. And we still have the Chinese Treasure Fleet with us, in the swarm, extravagant shopping malls, built and run by taipans, Messrs, Sy, Go, Tan and others, the spiritual descendants of the fabled Cheng Ho.

* * *

Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil, a veteran journalist and author, recently published the first two volumes of her autobiography, Myself, Elsewhere and Legends and Adventures. She is also chair of the Manila Historical and Heritage Comission.



http://philstar.com/index.php?Arts%2...&type=2&sec=40

I have never understood why Filipino opinion writers need to belittle europeans and european culture to prop up their own nation. Such comparison are often based on reductionist assumptions. It is obvious that this writer have failed to keep up on new discoveries in archaeology and anthropology about these european "barbarians" in a period of shifting climate change. She is also loose with the world historical timelines in making those comparisons. This article is to elicit emotion from a people rather than an objective analysis of their culture on its own terms. When there is a need to glamorize a culture at the expense of another it becomes demagoguery.

[bukid]

Originally Posted by flesh_is_weak

한글 (Hangul) is a syllabary that utilizes 글자 (geulja) which are combined into syllabic blocks to depict sounds, it wasn't invented by Buddhist monks, but by scholars commissioned by Sejong the Great of Joseon, so claims of relation between that and our own scripts are far-fetched

but the similarities are still uncanny, although the author mistranslated ㅇ as 'ma', when in fact it is more close to 'ng'

oh, did you know that Koreans cannot pronounce words that start with 'ng'? for them, the Tagalog word 'ngayon' will be written out as '응아욘' (eung-a-yon)

if it was invented by buddhist monks, there's a possibility that they had inspiration in sanskrit because most buddhist monks would have a background in sanskrit.

[epik ll ian]

Originally Posted by holywarrior

I have never understood why Filipino opinion writers need to belittle europeans and european culture to prop up their own nation. Such comparison are often based on reductionist assumptions. It is obvious that this writer have failed to keep up on new discoveries in archaeology and anthropology about these european "barbarians" in a period of shifting climate change. She is also loose with the world historical timelines in making those comparisons. This article is to elicit emotion from a people rather than an objective analysis of their culture on its own terms. When there is a need to glamorize a culture at the expense of another it becomes demagoguery.

We've been belittling our own un-westernized culture for way too long as well. Take a look at the other side, reality hurts sometimes. Sure the Europeans did give us some good things, but it's not necessary to put them on the pedestal like how people on the other side of the spectrum put them on. To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing an Alibata or Kulitan revival.