ILOCANO, BAYBAYIN ( Ancient Filipino Script, Iloko, Ilokano )

Spoken by 8,000,000 people in northwestern Luzon, Mindoro, Mindanao, Philippines.
Baybayin is the name of the former Filipino writing system. It comes from the word baybáy which means spelling. According to David Diringer, the renowned expert on ancient scripts, the baybayin possibly came directly from the ancient Kavi script of Java, Indonesia. Or, it may have its roots in Kavi but was introduced to the Philippines by way of the ancient script used by the Buginese people of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Another name for the Baybayin is Alibata. This term was just invented in 1914 by Dean Paul Versoza of the University of Manila. it comes form alif, ba and t a, the first letters in the Arabic dialect of Maguindanao. Versoza did not explain why he chose that particular language; it has absolutely no relationship to the baybayin.
(Courtesy of Paul Morrow)
Linguistic Lineage for Ilocano
The Philippines

A Fragment of the Ilocano Lord's Prayer, 1620, including an Introduction of the 1621 Dotrina Cristiana.
Courtesy of Paul Morrow - E-mail pmorrow@escape.ca - http://www.escape.ca/~pmorrow
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Another version

Source: "Dotrina Christiana", Manila, 1621.
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Another version

Source: La Antigua Escritura Filipina por Dr. Ignacio Villamor (1922) y El Belarmino del Padre Lopez
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Another version -Transliteration

Source: La Antigua Escritura Filipina por Dr. Ignacio Villamor (1922) y El Belarmino del Padre Lopez
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Ave Maria

Source: The 1895 edition of the 1621 "Dotrina Cristiana".
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Ave Maria

Source: La Antigua Escritura Filipina por Dr. Ignacio Villamor (1922) y El Belarmino del Padre Lopez
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Ave Maria - Transliteration

Source: La Antigua Escritura Filipina por Dr. Ignacio Villamor (1922) y El Belarmino del Padre Lopez
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Apostles' Creed

Source: La Antigua Escritura Filipina por Dr. Ignacio Villamor (1922) y El Belarmino del Padre Lopez
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

"DOTRINA CHRISTIANA"

Cover page of the 1621 Ilocano "Dotrina Cristiana" published by Fr. Francisco Lopez using the Tagalog form of the baybayin. Here, Lopez introduced his radical modification to baybayin orthography, the + kudlit which allowed for unvoiced consonants.The Ilocano book was reprinted many times in the span of 275 years until its final edition in 1895.

Bibliography on Babayin:

1. Hector Santos: "The Tagalog Script" (a manual provided along with six different babayin fonts on disk)
2. Hector Santos: "The Living Scripts" (a manual provided along with six different baybayin fonts of Buhid, Hanunoo and Tagbanwa languages on disk).
3. Bayani Mendoza de Leon: "BAYBAYIN - The Ancient Script of the Philippines - A Concise Manual

Useful Links concerning "Baybayin" or "Alibata":

1. Hector Santos: "The Tagalog Script"
www.bibingka.com/dahon/tagalog/tagalog.htm

2. Hector Santos: "Our Living Scripts"
www.bibingka.com/dahon/living/living.htm

3. Hector Santos: "Literacy in Pre-Hispanic Philippines"
www.bibingka.com/dahon/literacy/literacy.htm

4. Hector Santos: "Extinction of a Philippine Script"
www.bibingka.com/dahon/extinct/extinct.htm

5. Paul Morrow: "The Baybayin" (English)
www.escape.ca/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm www.escape.ca/~pmorrow/bayeng2.htm

6. Paul Morrow: "Ang Baybayin" (Tagalog)
www.escape.ca/~pmorrow/baybay1.htm www.escape.ca/~pmorrow/baybay2.htm

7. Unforgotten - The Baybayin Online Website
www.earthlink.net/~waltski

8. Ang Baybayin - Our Filipino Script
www.eaglescorner.com/baybayin

9. Alibata at Pandesal
alibataatpandesal.com/outbox.html

10. Ang Alibata
ccat.sas.upenn.edu/tagalog/alibata.html

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