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wikangFilipino

CONTENTS

SyllablesBaybayinLettersTheConsonantsTheKudlitTheVowelCharactersFinalConsonantsSpecialConsonantsPunctuationTheSpanishKudlitNumbersForeignWords

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BaybayinMainArticleHowdoIwritemyname?BaybayinStylesOldBaybayinDoc'sFreeBaybayinFontsBaybayinLinks

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HowtoWritetheAncientScriptofthePhilippinesbyPaulMorrow

Thebaybayinisnothardtowrite,butreadingitisanothermatter.AnearlySpanishwritersaidthatthebaybayin"isaseasytowriteasitisdifficulttoread".Thiswillbeexplainedlater.First,let'slearnhowtowrite.

Amistakepeopleoftenmakeistoassumethatthebaybayinisjustaneatlookingalphabetallyouhavetodoislearnhowdrawthelettersandthenspelloutthewordsinthelanguageofyourchoice,andsubstituteeachmodernletterwithabaybayinletter.However,thebaybayindoesn'tworklikethat.Thisisthedifferencebetweenanalphabetandasyllabicwritingsystem.

OneLetterEqualsOneSyllable

Inourmodernalphabet,eachletterisabasicsoundorphoneme,eitheravoweloraconsonant.Wecombinetheseletterstomakesyllables,andcombinethesyllablestomakewords.Inasyllabicwritingsystem,suchasthebaybayin,eachletterisalreadyasyllable.Itmaybeacombinationofsoundsorjustavowel,butusuallyitcannotbereducedtoasingleconsonant.So,agoodwaytocheckyourbaybayinspellingistomakesurethatthenumberoflettersinawordalwaysequalsthenumberofsyllables.

TheBaybayinCharacters

Theseareallthelettersofthebaybayin"alphabet".Therearemanywaystodraweachletter(SeeBaybayinStyles).Thisexampleismyownmoderncompositeofmanyoldformsandthelettersarearrangedintheoldabakadasequence.(Seetheoriginalsequenceinthemainarticle.)

TheConsonantsEachconsonantletterisonesyllablethatispronouncedwiththeavowel.Thismeans,forexample,thattheletter isnotjustab,itisactuallythesyllableba.Ifwewritethewordbasa(toread),weonlyneedtwoletters:

andnotfourletters:

Hereareafewmoreexamples:(really,important,andabletodo)

TheKudltSo,whatdowedoifwewanttowritesomethingthatdoesn'trhymewitha?Inothersyllabaries,liketheKatakanaorHiraganaofJapan,thiswouldrequirelearningawholeothersetoflettersforeachvowelsound.However,thebaybayinisacrossbetweenasyllabaryandanalphabet,orwhatisknownasanabugida.Weusethesameconsonantlettersshowninthelistaboveandsimplycombinethem

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withaspecialmark,calledakudlt,tochangethesoundofthevowela.

Thewordkudlitmeansasmallcutorincision,whichisexactlywhatitwasbackinthedayswhenFilipinoswroteonbamboo.Sincewenowwritewithpenandpaper,oracomputer,thekudlitmarkcanbeanyshape.Usuallyitisadotortick,orsometimesitisshapedlikeavoranarrowhead>.Thesoundofaletterisnotchangedinanywaybytheshapeofthekudlititischangedbythepositionofthekudlit.

ThekudlitisplacedabovealettertosignifythesoundofIorE.Asinthewords:(self,missasinunmarriedwoman,andtickle)

AndtochangethesoundofalettertoUorO,thekudlitisplacedbelow.Asinthewords:(island,trouble,andopinion)

TheVowelCharactersAlthoughthekudlitsdomostoftheworkrepresentingthevowels,thebaybayinalsohasthreespecialvowelletters:

Naturally,ifasyllabledoesn'thaveaconsonant,thereisnoplacetoputthekudlit.Thisiswhenthevowelcharactersmustbeused.Forexample:(mercy,tobringwith,head,andpossible)

ThereareonlythreevowelsinthebaybayinbecauseancientFilipinosofmanylinguisticgroupsdidnotdistinguishbetweenthepronunciationsofIandE,andUandObeforeSpanishwordsenteredtheirlanguages.Eventodaythesesoundsareinterchangeableinwordssuchaslalaki/lalake(man),babae(woman)andkababaihan(womeningeneral),ud/od(worm),pun(treetrunk)andpunungkahoy(tree),andoyaye/oyayi/uyayi(lullaby).ThesituationissimilarinEnglishthereareonlyfivevowellettersbuteachonerepresentsseveraldifferentvowelsounds.(Seethemainarticleformoreinformation.)

FinalConsonantsLonevowelshavespecialcharactersbutwhatabouttheconsonantsthathavenovowelsound?Thesearethesyllablefinalconsonantsandtheyarethereasonwhyitismuchmoredifficulttoreadthebaybayinthanitistowriteit.Thereisnowaytowritesyllablefinalconsonants.Forexample,inawordlikebundok(mountain)wecannotwritethelettersnandkbecausetheyarenotfollowedbyavowelandthebaybayinconsonantsalwayscontainavowelsound.Ifwedidwritethenandthek,thewordwouldbepronouncedbunadoka.So,wesimplydon'twritethoseletters.Themeaningofthewordanditspronunciationmustbeguessedbyreadingitincontext.Bundokiswritten:

not:

Hereareafewmoreexamples:(peak,riddle,ask)

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SpecialConsonantsThelettersdandngwerenotspecialtotheancientFilipinosbuttheydeservespecialattentionheretoavoidconfusion.

TheLetterforDaandRa

Thereisonlyonecharacterforbothdandrinthebaybayin,the .ThepronunciationofthisletterinTagalogchangesdependingonitslocationwithinaword.ItfollowsthesameFilipinogrammaticalrulethatwehavetodaywhenadisbetweentwovowels,itbecomesanr.Therearemanyexceptionstothisruletoday,butitwasmoreconsistentinpreHispanictimes.Forexample,theworddangal(honour)becomesmarangal(honourable)andtheworddunong(knowledge)becomesmarunong(knowledgeable),butthebaybayinletter, doesnotchange.

OtherPhilippinelanguageshaddifferentwaystowritethersound.Someusedthed/racharacterwhileothersusedthelacharacterorboth.Seethemainarticleformoreinformation.

TheLetterforNga

ThengisconsideredasingleletterinthemodernFilipinoalphabetbutitrequirestwocharacterstowriteit,nandg.Inthebaybayinthengreallyisasinglecharacter, ,anditmustbewrittenthatway.Forexample,ifthewordhanga(admiration)werespelledwithnandg,itwouldbepronouncedhanaga.Itshouldbewrittenlikethis:

not:

Punctuation

Theonlypunctuationforthebaybayinisapairofverticalbars,||orasingleverticalbar,|dependingonthewriter'staste.Theverticalbarisusedlikeacommaandafullstop(period).Infact,itcanbeusedlikeanypunctuationmarkwehavetoday.TheancientFilipinosusuallywrotetheirwordswithnospacesbetweenthembutsometimestheywouldseparateasinglewordbetweenasetofbars.However,mostofthetimethebarswereusedinarandommanner,dividingthesentencesintowordgroupsofvarioussizes.

TheSpanishKudlit+Tosolvetheproblemofwritingfinalconsonants,aSpanishFriarnamedFranciscoLopezinventedanewkindofkudlitin1620.Itwasshapedlikeacross(whichshouldbenosurprise)anditwasmeanttobeplacedbelowabaybayinconsonantletterinordertocancelitsvowelsound.Forexample:(mountain,peak,riddle,ask)

Filipinosneveracceptedthiswayofwritingbecauseitwastoocumbersomeandtheywereperfectlycomfortablereadingtheoldway.However,itispopulartodayamongpeoplewhohaverediscoveredthebaybayinbutarenotawareoftheoriginoftheSpanishkudlit.(SeethemainarticleformoreabouttheSpanishkudlit.)

Here'saversefromamodernsong.Ontheleft,theSpanishkudlitisusedandthewordshavebeenseparatedtomakeiteasiertoread.ThepreHispanicFilipinomethodofwritingisontheright.

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Numbers

FilipinosinthepreHispaniceramainlyusedthebaybayinforwritingpoetryandshortmessagestoeachother.Itwasneveradaptedforcommerceorscientificdata,sonumeralswereneverdeveloped.Numberswerespelledoutthesameaswords.ThereisadocumentwithnumbersonthepageentitledBaybayinHandwritingofthe1600s.

WritingForeignWordsWritingnonFilipinowordsinthebaybayinscriptcanbedifficult.Manysoundsdonothavelettersinthebaybayinandclustersofconsonants,especiallyinEnglish,cannotbewrittenwithoutmodifingeitherthebaybayinscriptortheEnglishwords.StrategiesforwritingnonFilipinowordsarediscussedonthepageentitled,HowdoIwritemynameinbaybayin?

YoucantestyourbaybayinskillswithVictorQuimson'sonlinebaybayintranslatoratAtingBaybayin.JusttypeanywordyouwishanditwillshowyouhowitiswritteninthebaybayinscriptandprovidetipsforadaptingittononFilipinowords.

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PaulMorrow06November2002Lastupdated:26January,2005