Baliktárin Palindrome and Baligtádin Ambigram.

A new exercise in tradition. Try your hand and mind at it; see what you can create.

Baligtádin ( ᜊᜎᜒᜄ᜴ᜆᜇᜒᜈ᜴ ; lit. reversible ) is a Baybáyin equivalent of an ambigram. 

Basically, an ambigram is a typographic, calligraphic, or symbolic art form representation of a word or phrase, whose elements retain meaning when viewed or interpreted from a different direction, perspective, or orientation.

The meaning of the ambigram may either change, or remain the same, when viewed or interpreted from different perspectives.

Baligtadin ( ᜊᜎᜒᜄ᜴ᜆᜇᜒᜈ᜴ ; lit. reversible ). is a Baybayin equivalent of an ambigram.

Faux-Latin Alphabet "Love", ᜃᜊᜌᜈ᜔ "Kabayan" (townsfolk/countrymen) a Multi-Lingual ambigram.

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Baliktárin ( ᜊᜎᜒᜃ᜴ᜆᜍᜒᜈ᜴ ; lit. returnable back and forth ) is a Baybáyin equivalent of a palindrome, or in other words: a palindromic Tagalog sentence written in Baybayin Script; it reads the same from the beginning to the end or from the end to the beginning.

The unit of Baliktarin is mora (per syllable measure) since the Baybayin Script is an Abugida (alphasyllabary or phonetic-syllabary). This syllabic constrained writing differs from a Palindromya (Tagalog Palindrome), which is written using the Latin Alphabet and uses phoneme (per letter measure) as unit.

Baliktarin is very much like the Kaibun (回文; lit. circle sentence), the Japanese equivalent of palindromes which uses their syllabaries, Hiragana and Katakana.

Preferably, traditional Baybayin orthography is used in Baliktarin; where a virama (vowel cancellation mark) is not advised and trailing/leading vowel-less consonants are not written.

Examples:

• ᜃᜒ ᜎ ᜎ ᜃᜓ ᜎ ᜎ ᜃᜒ
  | ki-la-la-ko(ng)-la-la-ki |
  Kilala kong lalaki.
  "A man I know."
• ᜁ ᜊ ᜊ ᜋᜓ ᜊ ᜊ ᜁ
  | i-ba-ba-mo-ba-ba-i |
  Ibaba mo, babae.
  "Put it down, woman."
• ᜊ ᜅ ᜃᜓ ᜅ ᜊ
  | ba-nga-ko-nga-ba |
  Banga ko nga ba?
  "Is it really my jar?"
• ᜆ ᜋ ᜐ ᜋ ᜆ
  | ta-ma-sa-ma-ta |
  Tama sa mata.
  "Hit right in the eye."
• ᜁ ᜃᜓ ᜎᜓ ᜋᜓ ᜎᜓ ᜃᜓ ᜁ
  | i-ku-lo(ng)-mo-lo-ko-i |
  Ikulong mo. Loko e!
  "Put him in jail. He's really crazy!"
• ᜁ ᜎ ᜋ ᜎᜒ ᜊᜒ ᜎ ᜎ ᜊᜒ ᜎᜒ ᜋ ᜎ ᜁ
  | i-la(ng)-ma-li(ng)-bi-la(ng)-la-bi(ng)-li-ma-la(ng)-i |
  Ilang maling bilang? Labinglima lang e!
  "How many did we miscount? We only have fifteen!"

Baliktarin ( ᜊᜎᜒᜄ᜴ᜆᜍᜒᜈ᜴ ; lit. returnable back and forth ) is a Baybáyin equivalent of a palindrome.

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NOTE: An easy way to remember Tagalog term for which is which (ambigram or palindrome):

• Baliktárin (baybayin palindrome) - key word "BALIK" meaning "RETURN".
• Baligtádin (baybayin ambigram) - key word "BALIGTAD" meaning "REVERSED" and "UPSIDE DOWN".

Baliktarin palindrome, once you read it forwards, RETURN and read it on the way back.

Baligtadin ambigram), you can turn it around over and over and still read it while REVERSED and UPSIDE DOWN.

From a facebook friend (J. Abelo):

“So, BALIKTARIN: Left to Right "pa balik-balik" (vice versa),
and BALIGTADIN: Readable in All Directions (pa bali-baligtad). ”

Have fun!

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Baybayin Puzzles

I found that these two popular word puzzle formats are good teaching tools and learning exercises and would work well with Baybayin. Thus, I will  include a bunch of them in my book.

Baybayin Crossed-Scripts Puzzle is a revolutionary new approach to crosswords puzzle solving and language learning. Baybayin Crosswords uses the established crossword puzzle format loved by millions worldwide; however, the clues are given in English whereas the answers must be completed using Filipino words (Tagalog, Ilocano, Bisaya, etc.) written in  Baybayin script's syllabic characters. This puzzle challenges the person's language translation, word knowledge, script handwriting, Filipino phonetics and syllabary skills.

Click on the image to view its actual size.

You may print it using your printer and distribute the copies and share the link back to this blog freely. However, you may not use these images for commercial purposes or publications without prior consent.

Baybayin Script Word-Finder is another radically unique modification to the classic word-finder puzzle that dramatically improves Baybayin character recognition and reading comprehension.  Baybayin Word-Finder has a similar format from the original version of the simple word-finder game that almost every grade-school child in the world is familiar with; however, instead of forming words by finding their corresponding alphabet letters, you have to formulate words using alphasyllabary. This puzzle challenges the person's Baybayin reading, Filipino phonetics, and syllabary skills.

Click on the image to view its actual size.

You may print it using your printer and distribute the copies and share the link back to this blog freely. However, you may not use these images for commercial purposes or publications without prior consent.




UPDATE: As recent research in typography & design came to light, the glyphs for E & I have been switched in all my fonts. The E & I in these puzzles remain as the old glyph assignment above. They will not be the same in future puzzles.

UPDATE: Solutions to the puzzles above are now available.