ALIBATA: The Lost Alphabet of the Philippines
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Philippines would also have their own letters and alphabet? A writing system distinctly unique and recognizable the world over? – That would be great!
While the Thais, the Khmers, the Burmese and the Laotians kept theirs…the Vietnamese “Chữ thuần nôm”, the Malay “Jawi”, the Javanese “Kawi” and the Filipino “Alibata” was lost in the colonial era.
This struck my curiosity when I and my friends visited a museum in Manila last weekend. There was this sheet of paper written in strange symbols that look like…well -- hearts and worms and sticks. LOL. This reminds me of a Filipino friend commenting that Thai letters looks like “wiggly worms” to him. Ha! There. You got worms too, dude!
Kidding aside, I was just wondering why the Philippines did not “revive” this writing system. A country of ultra-proud people aspiring cultural identity in the likes of the great Romulo, Magsaysay and Rizal – there won’t be any greater statement than to refuse the Western alphabet in those days.
The Alibata or sometimes called Baybayin is written like our Thai alphabet in the form of Abugida system – the combination of consonants and vowels with marks (placed up or down) for variations. But, of course the Thai alphabet system is totally different. The Alibata was used as early as the 1300s until the Spanish booted it out. I was also told it was derived from the Javanese “Kawi” alphabet of Indonesia.
The Roman letters we see today on the Philippine alphabet is actually the entire English alphabet plus the Spanish “Ñ” and the Tagalog “Ng” -- So there are 28.
While the Thais, the Khmers, the Burmese and the Laotians kept theirs…the Vietnamese “Chữ thuần nôm”, the Malay “Jawi”, the Javanese “Kawi” and the Filipino “Alibata” was lost in the colonial era.
This struck my curiosity when I and my friends visited a museum in Manila last weekend. There was this sheet of paper written in strange symbols that look like…well -- hearts and worms and sticks. LOL. This reminds me of a Filipino friend commenting that Thai letters looks like “wiggly worms” to him. Ha! There. You got worms too, dude!
Kidding aside, I was just wondering why the Philippines did not “revive” this writing system. A country of ultra-proud people aspiring cultural identity in the likes of the great Romulo, Magsaysay and Rizal – there won’t be any greater statement than to refuse the Western alphabet in those days.The Alibata or sometimes called Baybayin is written like our Thai alphabet in the form of Abugida system – the combination of consonants and vowels with marks (placed up or down) for variations. But, of course the Thai alphabet system is totally different. The Alibata was used as early as the 1300s until the Spanish booted it out. I was also told it was derived from the Javanese “Kawi” alphabet of Indonesia.
The Roman letters we see today on the Philippine alphabet is actually the entire English alphabet plus the Spanish “Ñ” and the Tagalog “Ng” -- So there are 28.
- but is it too late to revive it?
****
-- Pisanu in Manila
11 Feb 2008
11 Feb 2008
