Baybayin Alibata Philippine Literature

1. Archaic Writing
Sytem:
Baybayin/Alibata

2. • Baybayin or Alibata is the
alphabet system of the
Philippines during pre-hispanic
times.
 Baybayin or Alibata

4. Baybayin in tagalong means “to
spell”.
The term Alibata was derived from the
first two letters of the Maguindanaoan
alphabet “alif” and “bet”.
 Baybayin or Alibata

5. • It is composed
of 17 basic
symbols,
3 vowels and 14
consonants.
 Baybayin or Alibata

6. • The system originated from the
Javanese script of Old Kawi and it
is a member of the Brahmic family
which includes The Burmese
abugida, Tamil and Malayalam.
 History of Baybayin / Alibata

7. • It is also believed that it is originated
from India. Fletcher Gardner
suggests that the writing system was
directly transmitted to the Philippines
by Indian priests who were familiar
with Brahmi scripts.
 History of Baybayin / Alibata

8. • Isaac Taylor states that the writing
system was derived from scripts used
on the Eastern coast of India, such as
Vengi, Chalukya, or Assam, originally
transmitted in the 8th century AD.
 History of Baybayin / Alibata

9. • It is also believed that it is originated
from India. Fletcher Gardner
suggests that the writing system was
directly transmitted to the Philippines
by Indian priests who were familiar
with Brahmi scripts.
 Baybayin or Alibata

10. • It is believed to be in use as early
as the 14th century and continued
during the Spanish colonization of
the Philippines up until the late 19th
century.
 History of Baybayin / Alibata

11. • Two forms of this script that survives
up to the present day:
Mangyans from the island of
Mindoro and the Tagbanwa from
Palawan.
 History of Baybayin / Alibata

12. • In 1620, Fr. Francisco Lopez made the first
logical proposal to improve the script. He
proposed the use of a cross kudlit. He
invented a new kudlit in the shape of a cross.
When placed under a consonant, it would
cancel the “a” vowel after the consonant.
 Modification of Baybayin / Alibata

13. • The cross kudlit turns the basic symbols into
the phonemes k, g, ng, t, d, n, p, b, m, y, l,
w, and s
 Modification of Baybayin / Alibata