Saving Baybayin through Technology, Typography, and Standardization.

I was in attendance at the International Workshop on Endangered Scripts of Island Southeast Asia last month (Feb. 27 - Mar. 1) in Tokyo, Japan. Hosted by Linguistic Dynamics Science Project (LingDy), a strategic project of the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS).

The workshop discussed the writing systems and traditions of Southeast Asia, focused on (but was not limited to) the endangered Indic scripts of the Philippines, Sumatra and Sulawesi. We presented our papers which covered topics regarding historical and structural relationships, literature, documentation, revival, modern functions, adaptations and social/cultural meaning.

In addition to the academic component of the workshop, the organizers encouraged participation by culture-bearers, activists, and artists - this is how we got included.

Philippine script representatives:
- Kristian Kabuay (Baybayin.com)
- Anya Postma (Mangyan Heritage Center)
- Kanakan Balintagos (Solito Arts Productions)
- Norman de los Santos (BHM Publishing House, Inc.)
- Emerennciana Lorenzo Catapang (Mangyan Heritage Center)
- Christopher Miller (Independent Researcher, Montreal, Canada)
- Bruno Tiotuico (Alexandre Dayrit Tiotuico） (Ágúman Súlat Kapampángan)
- Michael Raymon M. Pangilinan (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)

From left to right: Mr. Christian Cabuay (a.k.a. Kristian Kabuay, Baybayin Artist, Calligrapher, Entrepreneur), Mrs. Emily Lorenzo Catapang (Executive Director of the Mangyan Heritage Center), ME: Norman de los Santos (a.k.a. Nordenx, Baybayin Typographer, Graphic Designer), and the young Mr. Bruno Tiotuico (Sulat Kapampangan activist, Photographer).



From left to right: Ms. Anya Postma (Sulat Mangyan advocate and Daughter of anthropologist and linguist Antoon Vreeze Postma), Mr. Christopher Ray Miller (Linguist, scholar, and expert on Philippine and SouthEast Asian scripts), Mr. Auraeus Solito( a.k.a. Kanakan Balintagos, internationally acclaimed and award-winning filmmaker and indigenous peoples rights advocate) and Mr. Michael Raymon Pangilinan (a.k.a. Siuálâ ding Meángûbié, Kapampangan Culture activist, scholar, and author of "Kulitan")

The abstracts and proceedings of everyone who presented can be accessed here: http://lingdy.aacore.jp/en/activity/endangered-scripts-issea/docs.html

My well-received handout on Baybayin Typography and Standardization.

My paper and abstract are available at the LyngDy page linked above.

My handout is available here:

Note: You can download and print a copy of the handout image above for your own personal use. However, please don't publish or distribute this image commercially without prior consent or licensing from the author.

The workshop answered a lot of questions regarding the history & relationships of SEA scripts and Philippine scripts. It opened up a lot of ideas and it offered up a lot of insight and exchange between academic and non-academic culture bearers. Expect that my experience and what we've learned in Tokyo will work its way into my font development.


Essential Links:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/surat2014/

http://blog.baybayin.com/2014/01/30/event-japan-tokyo-university-of-foreign-studies/

http://lingdy.aacore.jp/en/activity/endangered-scripts-issea.html

http://www.mangyan.org/

http://siuala.com/


http://www.angkulet.com/2012/10/25/auraeus-solitos-baybayin-first-trailer/#sthash.i70lMHOr.dpbs



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Modern Baybáyin Chart

Conservative Modern Reform:
(For review; as submitted, archived, and published in international linguistic academia.)

The image/chart above is my current draft for a standardized modern baybayin script.

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The chart below lists the keystrokes for typing baybayin using fonts.



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Any other character sets you'll find on your online searches that claims to be traditional or modern baybayin are most likely made-up or misleading. If I haven't linked or talked about them here in my blog, or you can't verify them via respectable baybayin sites like Paul Morrow's or Kristian Kabuay's, then more likely those sets are not accepted by the community of baybayin practitioners & experts.

Any other sets of characters that include special individual characters for C, Q, Ch, Th, Z, J, and or Ñ instead of character combinations are suspect and most likely are made-up (conscript). And unfortunately, we have found out that the use of the word "Alibata" as a name or description of the scripts (without including the correction & acknowledging that the real name of the writing system is actually "baybayin") is more likely to be an indicator that the information or the character set is flawed.

My work on the indigenous Philippine writing system is well researched (for more than two decades). It is academically backed & published, traditionally mindful, typographically sound, and community & expert approved.

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Sometimes, forgotten traditions are re-discovered.



We make sure that these forgotten traditions are documented and revived as well as corrected. For example: the double top-down kudlit is being mistakenly used as a vowel cancellation method; there is a precedent that this is used differently by our ancestors. Instead of a vowel-killer, the double top-down kudlits are actually bi-vowel consonantal syllable repeaters: ᜊᜒᜓ = "bobi" ≠ "b"

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Baybayin Acronyms & Initials

An "Acronym" is the term widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters and in some cases initial syllables. Most dictionaries define acronym to mean "a word" in its original sense, while other dictionaries attributes other senses that make an acronym to have the same meaning as that of initialism.

According to the first definition found in most dictionaries, examples of acronyms are NATO (/ˈneɪtoʊ/), scuba (/ˈskuːbə/), and radar (/ˈreɪdɑr/), while examples of initialisms are FBI (/ˌɛfˌbiːˈaɪ/) and HTML (/ˌeɪtʃˌtiːˌɛmˈɛl/). - source wiki

Initialisms are pronounced letter by letter using the alphabet character's names. Acronyms are read and treated as words.

Since Baybayin is an Abugida and each of its characters are phonetic syllables, Filipino acronyms and initialisms should be written in Baybayin script as they are pronounced by native Filipinos in their native tongue.

Since "acronyms are read and treated as words" and a lot of acronyms are "names" of organizations and technical terminology, we then go back to the "rules of thumb" which are:

• If the word is an important scientific or technical term and you do not have a direct and official translation to any Philippine language or Spanish - don't Pilipinize the spelling and don't write it in Baybayin Script, use the Latin Alphabet instead.
• If the word is a name of person (or organization) - don't Pilipinize the spelling and don't write it in Baybayin Script, use the Latin Alphabet instead - unless if that person (or group) made known to you or the public how they write his/her name in Baybayin (or they personally requested you to do so); how one prefers their name spelled & pronounced is a personal issue.

ISSUES...
One may argue that the acronym for "Unibersidad ng Pilipinas", UP (/ʊpɪ/) should have been written as ᜂᜉᜒ (characters U and PA with an i-kudlit) which is read as "upi" and not as ᜂᜉ (just U and PA) which is read as "upa", a word that means "rent", as shown in their graduation sash.

However, UP already officially established for several years now that they like to write their acronym/initialism not as ᜂᜉᜒ "upi" nor ᜌᜓᜉᜒ "yupi" but as ᜂᜉ "upa" - we owe it to them to stand by their "choice" and we should respect their decision.

Source: http://www.ovcrd.upd.edu.ph/blog/2010/03/09/up-sablay/

"The indigenous letters ᜂ (U) and ᜉ (PA), originating from the indigenous alphabet called baybayin or katitikan, are equivalent to the Roman letters “U” and “P”, respectively."

Note: They used the term - indigenous "alphabet" to describe Baybayin letters, and wanted to use them as "equivalent to Roman letters". A clue?

Baybayin is NOT an Alphabet.
It is not possible that they were unaware that Baybayin was already described in detail in numerous publications from earlier on as a "syllabary" and later an "abugida" or "alpha-syllabary". Each Baybayin letter or character represents a phonetic syllable, NOT an alphabetic phoneme. Baybayin covers the phonetic syllable range of the native language but not every phoneme of the Latin Alphabet; unless you count my proposed modifications,  letters J, Ñ, R, C, Q, E, O, F, Z, and X have no "equivalent" letters in traditional baybayin.  But as a center and authority for higher learning, this possible failure to recognize the well established details about Baybayin does not sit well with many researchers and practitioners in the Baybayin support community.

A fix?
There is nothing we can do with the UPa issue at the moment, only they can resolve that.

Meanwhile, a couple of Baybayin enthusiasts have suggested to either use a virama or make up a new mark that has the function of changing a baybayin character to its equivalent alphabet letter name.

As far as using a virama; we must bear in mind that if you cancel the inherent /a/ vowel of a Baybayin (Abugida) character, you end up with a consonant 'sound' particle not a consonant letter name. A ᜋ᜔ ('MA' with a virama) or ᜋ᜴ ('MA' with a pamudpud) is not an 'M' pronounced as /ɛm/, it is a /m/ sound. Such is the assigned function of a virama mark.

So with that in mind, why not make up a new mark and instead of calling it a virama, call it something like maybe a "tari" mark, right? The new mark they introduced looks like a mix of an x-virama & a pamudpod. This new mark is assigned the function of changing a Baybayin character to its equivalent Alphabet letter name. It seems like a good idea, but it is a long way from being linguistically or officially recognized or standardized & approved.

Alternatively, I am inclined to reintroduce an old suggestion to frame proper names, acronyms, and initials in bracket marks like the 「 」 Japanese Quotation Marks. Ex. 「ᜂ᜵ᜉ」 (U.P.)

However, none of these "fixes" can render initials with the Latin Alphabets (C, Q, E, O, F, Z, and X) as they don't have direct Baybayin equivalents.

For now, it's best we just follow the "rules of thumb" (mentioned above).


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Using Baybayin Fonts

Read & Write Baybayin First:

Baybáyin is NOT an Alphabet.
Baybáyin is NOT Alibata.
Baybáyin is an Abugida.

To avoid embarrassing typographical errors, it is really important to learn how to actually read & write Baybayin Script and know the rules of both Abugida & Filipino orthography (spelling and pronunciation) first.

Visit these pages:

How to write using Baybayin Script: English Instructions <-click & visit

How to write using Baybayin Script: Filipino Instructions <-click & visit
These are thorough tutorials by Paul Morrow on how to write using Baybayin script in the original Filipino and modified Spanish methods. These tutorials are the most reliable and concise instructions online.

How do I write my name in baybayin? <-click & visit
This is the most frequently asked question regarding the script. This page offers strategies for writing difficult non-Filipino words and names in the baybayin script.

"A mistake people often make is to assume that the baybayin is just a neat looking alphabet; all you have to do is learn how draw the letters and then spell out the words in the language of your choice, and substitute each modern letter with a baybayin letter. However, baybayin doesn't work like that. This is the difference between an alphabet and a syllabic writing system." ~ Paul Morrow 

SOURCE: Sarisari etc. - http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/

Typing with Baybayin Fonts:

"Easy Keyboard Access" this is one of the main benefit of Baybayin FONTS; for convenient usage and typing in word processing & graphic editing softwares.

Most Common Mistake - Vowel Characters & Kudlit marks treated as an Alphabet:

Multiple instances of vowel characters and little to no kudlit marks are the usual tell-tale giveaway.

Source: http://felipeaira.i.ph/blogs/felipeaira/2008/10/11/matanglawin/


"Easy Keyboard Access" does NOT mean "go ahead and type anything and it will be correct".

When using either Paul Morrow Fonts or Nordenx Fonts, the capital letter keys (shift+) A, E, I, O, and U will type Vowel Characters (ᜀ, ᜁ, ᜂ). Each of these characters represent a stand-alone vowel SYLLABLE not just an alphabet or letter with a vowel sound.

Each Baybayin Consonant Characters are also singular SYLLABLES that already has a default /a/ vowel sound. A kudlit mark is added to the character to change the /a/ vowel sound to the other vowel sounds /e/, /i/, /o/, or /u/. This is done by typing the lower-case vowel letter keys (e, i, o, or u) after the consonant character. The kudlit mark (dot, slash, caret, or chevron, etc.) should appear above or below the character after you typed the lower-case vowel.

A virama mark (x-kudlit or pamudpud) is added to the character to cancel the inherent or default /a/ vowel sound to create a vowel-less consonant character (dead-consonant). The x-kudlit (a modern replacement for the krus-kudlit introduced in the Doctrina Christiana) is recommended for leading or stand-alone dead-consonants, the pamudpud (a virama used by the Mangyan tribes of Mindoro) for trailing dead-consonants.

The Keys to Baybayin Fonts:

When you know the rules and know how to read & write in Baybayin script, install one or a few Baybayin fonts in your computer then familiarize yourself where and in which keyboard key is each character or glyph assigned to (you can use this tool - click here). Typing Baybayin in wordprocessing or graphic editing softwares should be straightforward by then.

The Key to Baybayin Online:

Using Baybayin characters online like typing your status on facebook or in a chat client is a different story. Online, Baybayin fonts requires using the Unicode range which is normally not easily accessed by your regular keyboard. The Unicode range can only be accessed using a specialized program like an online tool/application of by changing your keyboard's settings.

Learn: "How to type Baybayin using Unicode." <- click here & visit

ᜀ Type uppercase 'A' = syllable character "A" (traditional) 

- Type lowercase 'a' = none * 

ᜁ Type uppercase 'I' = syllable character "I" (traditional) 

'  Type lowercase 'i' = kudlit mark "i" (traditional) 

ᜂ Type uppercase 'U' = syllable character "U" (traditional) 

,  Type lowercase 'u' = kudlit mark "u" (traditional) 

+ Type '=' or '+' for a krus or x kidlit virama (reformed)

ᜅ Type uppercase 'N' = syllable character "NGA" (traditional)

ᜈ Type lowercase 'n' = syllable character "NA" (traditional) 

ᜊ Type 'b' or 'B' = syllable character "BA" or "VA" (traditional)

ᜃ Type 'c', 'k', 'K' = syllable character "KA" or "CA" (traditional)

ᜇ Type 'd' or 'D' = syllable character "DA" or "RA" (traditional)

ᜄ Type 'g' or 'G' = syllable character "GA" (traditional)

ᜑ Type 'h' or 'H' = syllable character "HA" (traditional)

ᜎ Type 'l' or 'L' = syllable character "LA" or "RA" (traditional)

ᜋ Type 'm' or 'M' = syllable character "MA" (traditional)

ᜉ Type 'f' or 'F' = syllable character "PA" or "FA" (traditional)

ᜐ Type 's' or 'S' = syllable character "SA" (traditional)

ᜆ Type 't' or 'T' = syllable character "TA" (traditional)

ᜏ Type 'w' or 'W' = syllable character "WA" (traditional)

ᜌ Type 'y' or 'Y' = syllable character "YA" (traditional)

ᜍ Type 'r' or 'R' = syllable character "RA" (modern alternative)

ᜉ Type 'p' or 'P' = syllable character "PA" or "YA" (archaic)

ᜊ Type 'v' or 'V' = syllable character "VA" (alternative)

ᜐ Type 'z' or 'Z' = syllable character "ZA" (alternative)

ᜁ Type uppercase 'E' = syllable character "E" (alternative)

'  Type lowercase 'e' = kudlit mark "e" (modern alternative)

ᜂ Type uppercase 'O' = syllable character "O" (alternative)

, Type lowercase 'o' = kudlit mark "o" (modern alternative)

ᜐ Type 'C' = character combo "TSA" for 'cha' (reformed)*

ᜃ Type 'q' = character combo "KUWA" for 'qua' (traditional)

ᜃ Type 'Q' = character combo "KWA" for 'qua' (reformed)

ᜇ Type 'j' = character combo "DIYA" for 'ja' (traditional)

ᜇ Type 'J' = character combo "DYA" for 'ja' (reformed)

ᜃ Type 'x' or 'X' = character combo "KSA" for 'xa' (reformed)

ᜈ Type '~' = character combo "NYA" for 'ña' (reformed)

 * may differ or not be available (yet) in some fonts.

Mind What You Type:

Common Mistake - mixing methods: 
There are several modes of writing Baybayin, don't mix them together in one composition. Don't confuse your readers.

Common Mistake - not translating to a Filipino language or forcing foreign pronunciation & spelling:
Ideally, Babayin should be used primarily for Philippine languages. However, Baybayin has been known to be used by natives to write some Spanish and English (in "Pilipinized" spelling) words.  

Rules of thumb:

• Use borrowed words sparingly and only if there are no available equivalent words for them in any Philippine language or even Spanish. If you have to use the word as it is, you should follow the official rules on how to Pilipinize the spelling & pronunciation of foreign or borrowed words and how to break-it-down into syllables as laid out by the  Philippine National Language Commission in the Balarila (Rules of Orthography).
• If the word is an important scientific or technical term and you do not have a direct and official translation to any Philippine language or Spanish - don't Pilipinize the spelling and don't write it in Baybayin Script, use the Latin Alphabet instead.
• If the word is a name of person (or organization) - don't Pilipinize the spelling and don't write it in Baybayin Script, use the Latin Alphabet instead - unless that person (or group) made known to you or the public how they write his/her name in Baybayin (or they personally requested you to do so); how one prefers their name spelled & pronounced is a personal issue.

Common Mistake - tackling acronyms & initials:

-> CLICK HERE <- for more info about using Baybayin Script in Acronyms & Initialism.

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