A Quick Guide to Baybayin
The inscriptions accompanying each illustration use the beautiful strokes of the Baybayin, one of the ancient pre-colonial scripts of the Philippines. Curious to know more?Here's a quick guide you can use to decode the script.
- With the exception of the vowels, all Baybayin sylables end with an “a” sound. Here’s a full list:
a
i-e
u-o
ba
ka
da
ga
ha
la
ma
na
nga
pa
ra
sa
ta
wa
ya
kurlit
virama
- Note: the syllables for “da” and “ra” are the same. That was the linguistic custom before colonization.
- Add the kurlit symbol on top of the syllable to make an “i-e” vowel or;
- Add the kurlit symbol on the bottom of a syllable to make an “u-o” vowel.
- Use the virama symbol on the bottom of a syllabe to turn it into a hard consonant.
ha
becomes
hi-he
or
hu-ho
or
