Baybayin

Infobox Writing system
name=Baybayin
type=Abugida
languages=Ilokano
Kapampangan
Pangasinan
Tagalog
Bikol languages
Visayan languages
other languages of the Philippines
fam1=Proto-Canaanite alphabet
fam2=Phoenician alphabet
fam3=Aramaic alphabet
fam4=Brāhmī
fam5=Pallava
fam6=Old Kawi
sisters=Balinese
Batak
Buhid
Hanunó'o
Javanese
Lontara
Old Sundanese
Rejang
Tagbanwa

time=c. 1300–20th century
unicode= [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1700.pdf U+1700–U+171F]
iso15924=Tglg
sample=Baybayin_sample_02.jpg
image_size=150px

Baybayin or Alibata (known in Unicode as the "Tagalog script") is a pre-Spanish Philippine writing system that originated from the Javanese script Old Kawi. The writing system is a member of the Brahmic family (and an offshoot of the Vatteluttu alphabet) and is believed to have been in use as early as the 14th century. [http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm Baybayin, the Ancient Philippine script] . Accessed September 04, 2008.] It continued in use during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines up until the late 19th Century. The term "baybayin" literally means "syllables". Closely related scripts are Hanunóo, Buhid, and Tagbanwa.

The Philippine Baybayin is one of a dozen or so individual alphabets from such Southeast asian islands as Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi which are derived from ancient India and share the Sanskrit characteristic that any consonant is pronounced with the vowel "a" following it— diacritical marks being used to express other vowels (this vowel occurs with greatest frequency in Sanskrit, and also probably in all Philippine languages). None of these other scripts, however, enjoys the wealth of documentary testimony spread across four centuries which exists for Philippine Baybayin. [Harvnb|Scott|1984|pp=57-58]

Usage

{| border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse: collapse;text-align:center;"
-
ha

Unicode

The Unicode range for Babayin is U+1700–U+171F, where it is called Tagalog. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points.

ee also

*Laguna Copperplate Inscription
*Tagalog alphabet
*

Notes

References

*citation
last=Scott
first=William Henry
authorlink=William Henry Scott (historian)
title=Prehispanic Source Materials for the study of Philippine History
publisher=New Day Publishers
year=1984
isbn=971-10-0226-4
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bR2XAQAACAAJ.

External links

* [http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm "Ang Baybayin" by Paul Morrow]
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U32-1700.pdf Unicode Tagalog Range 1700-171F (in PDF)]
* [http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/paterno.htm Yet another Baybayin chart]
* [http://www.eaglescorner.com/baybayin/baybayin.html Baybayin online translator]
* [http://www.baybayin.com/how-to-write-baybayin-alibata Baybayin video tutorial]
* [http://www.pinoytattoos.com/free-custom-baybayin-script-translation-for-tattoo Free custom Baybayin translations]
* [http://iloko.tripod.com/Tagalogscript.gifTagalog script]

Font downloads

* [http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/fonts.htm Paul Morrow's Baybayin Fonts]
* [http://nordenx.blogspot.com/ Nordenx's Baybayin Modern Fonts]