Baybayin

The Baybayin Project

Baybayin is one of the precolonial writing systems used by early Filipinos. The term “baybayin” comes from the Tagalog root word baybay, which means “to spell.”

BAYBAYIN

ALIBATA

For many years the script was incorrectly referred to as “alibata,” based on the arrangement of another alphabet system - Arabic, in which the first letters are called alif, ba, and ta.

Technically, the Baybayin is what is called an alphasyllabary. Each character is based on a consonant letter, with a vowel notation indicating the corresponding vowel sound. It has 14 syllabic consonant characters (15 if the “da” and “ra” consonants are separated, as shown) and three vowel characters (a, e-i, o-u).

Each consonant character combines the consonant sound and the vowel sound “a”. To change this to the “e-i” sound, a "kudlit" or mark is placed on top of the character; for the “o-u” sound, the mark is placed at the bottom. A "x" symbol is placed on the bottom to cancel the "a" sound.

From the previous section, it is said that to cancel the "a" sound, we use a x symbol. It is called the "Virama" or "vowel killer" which is a Sanskrit phonological concept to suppress the inherent vowel that occurs for every consonant letter (for baybayin that vowel is "a")

But the cross isn't the only virama for baybayin. We can use a cross (sabat or krus-kudlit), an x-symbol (x-virama, the one we used), or the pamudpod.

The font used for the rest of the site is a modern style of Baybayin, the glyphs below are a more traditional type of look for baybayin. It is the look that you expect when it is handwritten

SA AKING MGA KABATA (first stanza)

Kapagka ang baya'y sadyang umiibig

Sa kanyang salitang kaloob nang langit

Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit

Sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit

Katulad nang ibong nasa himpapawid

Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid

LUPANG HINIRANG

Bayang magiliw, Perlas nang silanganan,

Bayang magiliw, Perlas ng silanganan,

Alab nang puso Sa dibdib mo'y buhay.

Alab ng puso Sa dibdib mo'y buhay.

Lupang hinirang, Duyan ka nang magiting,

Lupang hinirang, Duyan ka ng magiting,

Sa manlulupig Di ka pasisiil.

Sa dagat at bundok, Sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw,

May dilag ang tula At awit sa paglayang minamahal.

Ang kislap nang watawat mo'y Tagumpay na nagniningning

Ang kislap ng watawat mo'y Tagumpay na nagniningning

Ang bituin at araw niya, Kailan pa ma'y di magdidilim.

Lupa nang araw, nang luwalhati't pagsinta, Buhay ay langit sa piling mo

Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati't pagsinta, Buhay ay langit sa piling mo

Aming ligaya na 'pag may mang-aapi, Ang mamatay nang dahil sa 'yo.

Want to learn more about baybayin? Here are some more resources:

Baybayin - Wikipedia Article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baybayin

Learning Baybayin: A Writing System From the Philippines

https://owlcation.com/humanities/Learn-how-to-type-write-and-read-baybayin

How to Write Baybayin? || AnakniRizal - Tales of Demi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLwj1ZYw3vA

Modern Baybayin Fonts - Aaron Amar

https://www.behance.net/aaronamar