BAYBAYIN

A NATIONAL SCRIPT

-FAITH ANNE C. MARIANO-

What is baybayin?
 WHAT IS BAYBAYIN?
• One of the many ‘suyat’ scripts in the country used for the
Tagalog and Visayan languages during the 13th to the 18th
century
• Literally means to ‘spell/write and syllabize’ (Baybay)
• The Visayans called it ‘Kulit-kabadlit’.
• As a part of the many individual writing systems in Southeast
Asia, all of which are ‘abugidas’. (Where any consonant is
pronounced with the vowel ‘a’ following it.) Eg. ABAKADA or the
Tagalog language
 WHAT IS BAYBAYIN?
• Not to be confused with ‘Alibata’
• ‘Alibata’ was coined by the term Paul Rodriguez Verzosa
after the arrangement of Arabic letters (Alif, ba, ta).
• Colonizers extensively documented this to study it and use
it to evangelize the indigenous locals and that is why
records of it still survive today.
Origins of Baybayin
 ORIGINS OF BAYBAYIN
• Has many influences from other Southeast Asian countries but its
mostly India
• Used in the regions of Luzon, Panay, Iloilo, Ilocos, Palawan,
Leyte, and Pangasinan
• It branched out into modern scripts like the “Tagbanwa” in
Palawan and the “Buhid” and “Hanunoo” in Mindoro
• Also reached in Pampanga, and the “Modern Kulitan” or
Baybayin Kampampangan was born.
 Laguna Copperplate Inscription

The earliest recorded written legal document in the Philippines [900 AD] in the earliest forms of Baybayin;
Kawi from Java

Found in 1989 near the mouth of the Lumban River in Lumban, Laguna
 Butuan Ivory Seal

Found in the 1970s in an archaeological site in Butuan City, Caraga region where actual ancient seals were made and is
now a National Cultural Treasure

One of the few evidences that ancient Filipinos also had a sealing culture like in Korea and Japan apart from the
unique writing culture.

The Spanish had burned all ancient Philippine documents with ‘suyat’ inscriptions and that is why ancient documents of
the country are only a few and almost non-existent.
THE MODERN AGE
THE MODERN AGE