1. Baybayin,The AncientScriptof the Philippines
Baybayin- The AncientScriptof the Philippines
by Paul Morrow
Thislanguage of ours islike anyother,
it once had an alphabetanditsownletters
that vanishedasthougha tempesthadsetupon
a boat on a lake ina time nowlonggone.

2. The BaybayinMethodof Writing
The baybayinwasa syllabicwritingsystem, whichmeansthateachletterrepresentedasyllable instead
of justa basicsoundas in the modernalphabet.There were atotal of 17 characters: three vowelsand
14 consonants,butwhencombinedwiththe small vowel-modifyingmarks,calledkudlíts,the numberof
characters increasedto45. This wayof writingiscalledanabugida.Whena personspelledawordorally
or recitedthe baybayin,the individual letterswerecalledbabâ,kakâ,dadâ,etc.,butthe original
sequence of the letterswasdifferenttowhatitis today.This“alphabetical”orderwasrecordedinthe
TagalogDoctrina Christiana.
“The abc. inthe Tagalog language”
A U/O I/E HA PA KA SA LA TA NA BA MA GA DA/RA YA
NGA WA
Clickon image formore information.

4. The Consonants& Kudlíts
In theirsimplestform,eachconsonantrepresentedasyllable thatwaspronouncedwithan avowel (like
the u in “up”).Simplyaddingatick,dot or othermark to the letter,wouldchange the inherentavowel
sound.These markswere calledkudlíts,ordiacriticsinEnglish.A kudlitwasplacedabove aconsonant
lettertogive itan i or e vowel sound.Whenitwasplacedbelow the letteritchangedthe vowel sound
to u or o.
Visitthe BaybayinTutorial tolearnmore aboutwritingthe baybayinscript.
The Vowels
The three vowel characterswere onlyusedatthe beginningof wordsandsyllables,orsyllableswithout
any consonant.There were onlythree vowelsbecause the ancientTagalogs,andmanyotherlinguistic
groups,didnot distinguishbetweenthe pronunciationsof i ande,or u and o until Spanishwords
enteredtheirlanguages.Eventodaythese soundsare interchangeableinwordssuchas lalaki/lalake
(man),babae (woman) andkababaihan(womanhoodorwomankind),uód/oód(worm),punò(tree
trunk) and punung-kahoy(tree),andoyaye/oyayi/uyayi (lullaby).
The vowel charactersactuallyrepresentedvowelsthatwere precededbyaglottal stop.This
pronunciationwasmore commoninthe pre-Hispanicerabuthaschangedoverthe centuriesdue tothe
influencesof westernlanguages.Thisshiftcanbe seenwhenearlytexts,suchasthe DoctrinaChristiana,
are comparedto modernFilipino.Forexample,we syllabicatethe wordsngayón(today) andgagawín
(will do) asfollows:nga-yonandga-ga-wínrespectively.Butthe baybayintextof the Doctrinarevealsa
differentsyllabicdivision.Ngayónwaswritten,ngay-on,andgagawinwaswrittenga-gaw-in.

5. The R Sound
The Tagalogs usedonlyone characterfor da and ra, . The pronunciationof thisletterdependedonits
locationwithinaword.The grammatical rule hassurvivedinmodernFilipinothatwhen adis between
twovowels,itbecomesanr as inthe wordsdangál (honour) andmarangál (honourable),ordunong
(knowledge)andmarunong(knowledgeable).
However,thisrule couldnotbe relieduponinotherlanguages,sowhenotherlinguisticgroupsadopted
the baybayin,differentwaysof representingthe rsoundwere required.The Visayansapparentlyused
the d/ra character for theirownwordsbutusedthe la character for Spanishwords.(See Visayan
examples.) Fr.Lopez'schoice of d/raor la seemedto be randominthe IlokanoDoctrina,whichcaused
manycorruptionsof Ilokanowords.(See excerptsfromhisDoctrina.) However,achart drawnby
Sinibaldode Masin1843 showedladoublingforthe Ilokanorawhile hisPangasinanlistshowedno
substitute forraat all.The Bikolanosmodifiedthe d/racharacterto make a distinctletterforra.(See
the chart inBaybayinStyles.)
The Nga Character
A single characterrepresentedthe ngasyllable.The latestversionof the modernFilipinoalphabetstill
retainsthe ng as a single letterbutitiswrittenwithtwocharacters.The ng isthe alphabet'sonly
remaininglinktoitsbaybayinheritage.
Punctuation
Words writteninthe baybayinscriptwere notspacedapart;the letterswere writteninacontinuous
flowandthe onlyform of punctuationwasa single vertical line,ormore often,apairof vertical lines.||
Thisfulfilledthe functionof acomma and a period,andindeed,of practicallyanypunctuationmarkin
use today.Althoughthese barswere usedconsistentlytoendsentences,theywerealsousedto
separate words,butinan unpredictable manner.Occasionallyasingle wordwouldbe enclosedbetween
these marksbut usuallysentenceswere dividedintogroupsof three tofive words.

6. Final Consonants
The most confusingfeature of the baybayinfornon-nativereaderswasthatthere wasno wayto write a
consonantwithouthavingavowel followit.If asyllable ora wordendedwithaconsonant,that
consonantwassimplydropped.Forexample,the lettersn andk ina wordlike bundók(mountain) were
omitted,sothatit was spelledbu-do.
The Spanishpriestsfoundthisproblemtobe animpedimenttothe accurate translationof theirreligious
texts.So,whentheyprintedalessoninbaybayinitwasusuallyaccompaniedbyaSpanishtranslation
and the same Tagalog textusingthe Spanishalphabet,asinthe Doctrina Christiana.Otherpriestssimply
stoppedusingthe baybayininfavourof the alphabet.The firstattemptto“reform”the baybayincame
in1620 whenFr. FranciscoLopezpreparedtopublishthe IlokanoDoctrina.He inventedanew kudlítin
the shape of a cross.This wasplacedbelow abaybayinconsonantinorderto cancel the inherenta
sound.Lopezwrote:
The reasonfor puttingthe textof the Doctrina inTagalog type...hasbeentobeginthe correctionof the
saidTagalog script,which,asit is,isso defective andconfused(because of nothavinganymethoduntil
nowfor expressingfinal consonants - Imean,those withoutvowels) thatthe mostlearnedreaderhasto
stopand ponderovermanywordsto decide onthe pronunciationwhichthe writerintended.B13
AlthoughLopez'snewwayof writingprovidedamore accurate depictionof the spokenlanguage,native
Filipinowritersfounditcumbersome andtheyneveracceptedit.In1776, PedroAndrésde Castro wrote
abouttheirreactionto the invention:
They,aftermuch praisingof itand givingthanksforit,decideditcouldnotbe incorporatedintotheir
writingbecause itwascontraryto the intrinsiccharacterandnature whichGod had givenitandthat it
woulddestroythe syntax,prosodyandspellingof the Tagaloglanguage all at one blow...B14
Directionof BaybayinWriting

7. The baybayinwasread fromlefttoright inrows thatprogressedfromtopto bottom, justas we read in
Englishtoday.However,thishasbeenapointof controversyamongscholarsforcenturiesdue to
conflictingaccountsfromearlywriterswhowere confusedbythe ease withwhichancientFilipinos
couldread theirwritingfromalmostanyangle.Asthe historianWilliamH.Scottcommented,
The willingnessof Filipinostoreadtheirwritingwiththe page heldinanydirectioncaused
understandableconfusionamongEuropeanobserverswholackedthisability - andcausessome
irritationtoTagalogteachersinMangyan schoolstoday.B15 [Note:The peoplescollectivelyknownas
Mangyans still use theirownformof the baybayininMindoro.]
Some observerswere mistakentobelieve thatthe baybayinshouldbe readverticallyfrombottomto
top incolumnsprogressingfromlefttorightbecause thatwashow the ancientFilipinoscarvedtheir
lettersintonarrowbamboostrips.However,itwassimplyamatterof safetythatwhentheyuseda
sharp instrumenttocarve,theyheldthe bamboopointingoutwardandtheycarvedawayfromtheir
bodies,justasmodernMangyansdo today.(See photoabove.) Thisgave the appearance thattheywere
writingfromthe bottomupward.However,thisdidnotnecessarilymeanthatthe textwassupposedto
be read that waytoo.
Althoughthe ancientFilipinosdidnotseemtomindwhichwaytheyreadtheirwriting,the clue tothe
properorientationof the textwasthe kudlíts,ordiacriticmarksthat alterthe vowel soundof the
letters.InsyllabicscriptssuchasKavi,Bugisandotherscloselyrelatedtothe baybayin,the textwasread
fromleftto rightand the diacriticswere placedabove andbelow the characters(i/e wasabove andu/o
was below).Whenthe ancientFilipinoscarvedthe baybayinintothe bamboostrips,theyplacedthe
kudlítsto the leftof the letterforthe i/e vowel andto the rightfor the u/ovowels.Thus,whenthe
finishedinscriptionwasturnedclockwise tothe horizontal position,the textflowedfromlefttoright
and the kudlítswere in theirproperplaces,i/e above andu/obelow.
The Lopez"Ilokano"type fontcomparedtoearlierTagalogfonts.FromW.H.Scott (1994, p. 214.)
The Lopez "Ilokano"type fontcomparedtoearlierTagalogfonts.FromW.H.Scott (1994, p. 214.)
Variantsof the Baybayin

8. Some writershave claimedthatthere were several differentancientalphabetsinthe Philippines,which
belongedtodifferentlanguagesanddialectsinLuzonandthe Visayas.The numberof scriptsmentioned
usuallyrangesfrom10 to 12. However,none of the earlySpanishauthorseversuggestedthatthere was
more than one baybayinscript.Infact,evenwhentheywrote aboutotherPhilippine languages,they
usuallyreferredto the baybayinas“Tagalog”writingoras quotedearlier,PedroChirinocalledit“the
letterspropertothe islandof Manila.”
The baybayinwasa single script,andjustlike the alphabettoday,itsappearance variedwidelyaccording
to each person'sunique handwriting.(See:The BaybayinasWrittenbyFilipinos)Whenthe printing
presswasintroducedtothe Philippines,thisvarietywasreflectedinthe typefaces.The misconception
that eachprovince hadits ownalphabetarose inthe 19th century,longafterthe baybayinhadfallen
out of use.Authorswhowrote aboutPhilippine culture,suchasEugène Jacquet(1831) and Sinibaldode
Mas (1843), collectedoldsamplesof baybayinwritingandclassifiedthemaccordingtowhere theywere
foundor the language of the text.(See:BaybayinStyles.)Theywere aware thatthese sampleswere
variationsof one scriptbut,laterwriterssuchas Pardo de Tavera and PedroPaternoaroundthe turnof
the century,assembledtheirowncomparisonchartsfromthese samplesand othersourcesandlabelled
themas distinct“alphabets”fromvariousregions.(See:Paterno'sCuadroPaleografico) These charts
were laterreproducedinschoolbooksof the 20th centurywithverylittle inthe wayof explanationfor
theircontent.Thus,throughgenerationsof copyingandrecopying,these individual samples,manyof
whichwere merelyone person'sparticularhandwritingstyle,came tobe knownas distinctalphabets
that belongedtoentire regionsorlinguisticgroups.
The clearestexample of thiskindof misinterpretationisthe baybayintypeface thatFranciscoLopez
chose in1620 for hisIlokanoDoctrinaand forhisArte de la lenguaylocaof 1627. It firstappearedintwo
Tagalogbooks,Arte y reglasde la lenguaTagala(1610) by FranciscoBlancasde SanJose and Vocabulario
de lenguaTagala(1613) by Pedrode San Buenaventura.(Seethe charton the right.) However,Eugène
Jacquetcalledthisstyle the IlokanoalphabetinhisNotice surl'alphabetYlocouIlog(1831) because it
was usedmostnotablyintwoIlokanobooks.B16 But, as quotedearlier,evenLopezsaidthathe put
“the textof the [Ilokano] DoctrinainTagalogtype.”Still,the Lopeztypeface isoftenmistakenlycalled
the pre-HispanicIlokanoalphabet.
See BaybayinStylesformore aboutthe differentformsof the Baybayin.
BaybayinLost

9. Althoughthe baybayinhadspreadsoswiftlythroughoutthe Philippinesinthe 1500s, it beganto decline
inthe 1600s despite the Spanishclergy'sattemptstouse itforevangelization.Filipinoscontinuedtosign
theirnameswithbaybayinlettersthroughoutthe 17th,andevenintothe 18th century,thoughmostof
the documentswere writteninSpanish.Gasparde San Agustínstill foundthe baybayinuseful in1703. In
hisCompendiode lalenguaTagalahe wrote,“Ithelpsto know the Tagalogcharacters indistinguishing
accents.”B17 And he mentionedthatthe baybayinwasstill beingusedtowrite poetryinBatangasat
that time.Butin 1745 SebastiánTotanesclaimedinhisArte de lalenguaTagala that,
Rare isthe indiowhostill knowshowtoread[the baybayinletters],muchlesswrite them.All of them
readand write our Castilianlettersnow.B18
The Consonants& Kudlíts
In theirsimplestform,eachconsonantrepresentedasyllable thatwaspronouncedwithanavowel (like
the u in “up”).Simplyaddingatick,dot or othermark to the letter,wouldchange the inherentavowel
sound.These markswere calledkudlíts,ordiacriticsinEnglish.A kudlitwasplacedabove aconsonant
lettertogive itan i or e vowel sound.Whenitwasplacedbelow the letteritchangedthe vowel sound
to u or o.
Visitthe BaybayinTutorial tolearnmore aboutwritingthe baybayinscript.
The Vowels
The three vowel characterswere onlyusedatthe beginningof wordsandsyllables,orsyllableswithout
any consonant.There were onlythree vowelsbecause the ancientTagalogs,andmanyotherlinguistic
groups,didnot distinguishbetweenthe pronunciationsof i ande,or u and o until Spanishwords

10. enteredtheirlanguages.Eventodaythese soundsare interchangeableinwordssuchas lalaki/lalake
(man),babae (woman) andkababaihan(womanhoodorwomankind),uód/oód(worm),punò(tree
trunk) and punung-kahoy(tree),andoyaye/oyayi/uyayi (lullaby).
The vowel charactersactuallyrepresentedvowelsthatwere precededbyaglottal stop.This
pronunciationwasmore commoninthe pre-Hispanicerabuthaschangedoverthe centuriesdue tothe
influencesof westernlanguages.Thisshiftcanbe seenwhenearlytexts,suchasthe DoctrinaChristiana,
are comparedto modernFilipino.Forexample,we syllabicatethe wordsngayón(today) andgagawín
(will do) asfollows:nga-yonandga-ga-wínrespectively.Butthe baybayintextof the Doctrinarevealsa
differentsyllabicdivision.Ngayónwaswritten,ngay-on,andgagawinwaswrittenga-gaw-in.
The R Sound
The Tagalogs usedonlyone characterfor da and ra, . The pronunciationof thisletterdependedonits
locationwithinaword.The grammatical rule hassurvivedinmodernFilipinothatwhenadis between
twovowels,itbecomesanr as inthe wordsdangál (honour) andmarangál (honourable),ordunong
(knowledge)andmarunong(knowledgeable).
However,thisrule couldnotbe relieduponinotherlanguages,sowhenotherlinguisticgroupsadopted
the baybayin,differentwaysof representingthe rsoundwere required.The Visayansapparentlyused
the d/ra character for theirownwordsbutusedthe la character for Spanishwords.(See Visayan
examples.) Fr.Lopez'schoice of d/raor la seemedtobe randominthe IlokanoDoctrina,whichcaused
manycorruptionsof Ilokanowords.(See excerptsfromhisDoctrina.) However,achart drawnby
Sinibaldode Masin1843 showedla doublingforthe Ilokanorawhile hisPangasinanlistshowedno
substitute forraat all.The Bikolanosmodifiedthe d/racharacterto make a distinctletterforra.(See
the chart inBaybayinStyles.)
The Nga Character

11. A single characterrepresentedthe ngasyllable.The latestversionof the modernFilipinoalphabetstill
retainsthe ng as a single letterbutitiswrittenwithtwocharacters.The ng isthe alphabet'sonly
remaininglinktoitsbaybayinheritage.
Punctuation
Words writteninthe baybayinscriptwere notspacedapart;the letterswere writteninacontinuous
flowandthe onlyform of punctuationwasa single vertical line,ormore often,apairof vertical lines.||
Thisfulfilledthe functionof acomma and a period,andindeed,of practicallyanypunctuationmarkin
use today.Althoughthese barswere usedconsistentlytoendsentences,theywerealsousedto
separate words,butinan unpredictable manner.Occasionallyasingle wordwouldbe enclosedbetween
these marksbut usuallysentenceswere dividedintogroupsof three tofive words.
Final Consonants
The most confusingfeature of the baybayinfornon-nativereaderswasthatthere wasno wayto write a
consonantwithouthavingavowel followit.If asyllable ora wordendedwithaconsonant,that
consonantwassimplydropped.Forexample,the lettersnandk ina wordlike bundók(mountain) were
omitted,sothatit was spelledbu-do.
The Spanishpriestsfoundthisproblemtobe animpedimenttothe accurate translationof theirreligious
texts.So,whentheyprintedalessoninbaybayinitwasusuallyaccompaniedbyaSpanishtranslation
and the same Tagalog textusingthe Spanishalphabet,asinthe Doctrina Christiana.Otherpriestssimply
stoppedusingthe baybayininfavourof the alphabet.The firstattemptto“reform”the baybayincame
in1620 whenFr. FranciscoLopezpreparedtopublishthe IlokanoDoctrina.He inventedanew kudlítin
the shape of a cross.This wasplacedbelow abaybayinconsonantinorderto cancel the inherenta
sound.Lopezwrote:
The reasonfor puttingthe textof the Doctrina inTagalog type...hasbeentobeginthe correctionof the
saidTagalog script,which,asit is,isso defective andconfused(because of nothavinganymethoduntil

12. nowfor expressingfinal consonants - Imean,those withoutvowels) thatthe mostlearnedreaderhasto
stopand ponderovermanywordsto decide onthe pronunciationwhichthe writerintended.B13
AlthoughLopez'snewwayof writingprovidedamore accurate depictionof the spokenlanguage,native
Filipinowritersfounditcumbersome andtheyneveracceptedit.In1776, PedroAndrésde Castro wrote
abouttheirreactionto the invention:
They,aftermuch praisingof itand givingthanksforit,decideditcouldnotbe incorporatedintotheir
writingbecause itwascontraryto the intrinsiccharacterandnature whichGod had givenitandthat it
woulddestroythe syntax,prosodyandspellingof the Tagaloglanguage all at one blow...B14
Directionof Baybayin Writing
The baybayinwasread fromlefttoright inrows thatprogressedfromtopto bottom, justas we read in
Englishtoday.However,thishasbeenapointof controversyamongscholarsforcenturiesdue to
conflictingaccountsfromearlywriterswhowere confusedbythe ease withwhichancientFilipinos
couldread theirwritingfromalmostanyangle.Asthe historianWilliamH.Scottcommented,
The willingnessof Filipinostoreadtheirwritingwiththe page heldinanydirectioncaused
understandableconfusionamongEuropeanobserverswholackedthisability - andcausessome
irritationtoTagalogteachersinMangyan schoolstoday.B15 [Note:The peoplescollectivelyknownas
Mangyans still use theirownformof the baybayininMindoro.]
Some observerswere mistakentobelieve thatthe baybayinshouldbe readverticallyfrombottomto
top incolumnsprogressingfromlefttorightbecause thatwashow the ancientFilipinoscarvedtheir
lettersintonarrowbamboostrips.However,itwassimplyamatterof safetythatwhentheyuseda
sharp instrumenttocarve,theyheldthe bamboopointingoutwardandtheycarvedawayfromtheir
bodies,justasmodernMangyansdo today.(See photoabove.) Thisgave the appearance thattheywere
writingfromthe bottomupward.However,thisdidnotnecessarilymeanthatthe textwassupposedto
be read that waytoo.
Althoughthe ancientFilipinosdidnotseemtomindwhichwaytheyreadtheirwriting,the clue tothe
properorientationof the textwasthe kudlíts,ordiacriticmarksthat alterthe vowel soundof the

13. letters.InsyllabicscriptssuchasKavi,Bugisandotherscloselyrelatedtothe baybayin,the textwasread
fromleftto rightand the diacriticswere placedabove andbelow the characters(i/e wasabove and u/o
was below).Whenthe ancientFilipinoscarvedthe baybayinintothe bamboostrips,theyplacedthe
kudlítsto the leftof the letterforthe i/e vowel andto the rightfor the u/ovowels.Thus,whenthe
finishedinscriptionwasturnedclockwise tothe horizontal position,the textflowedfromlefttoright
and the kudlítswere intheirproperplaces,i/e above andu/obelow.
The Lopez"Ilokano"type fontcomparedtoearlierTagalogfonts.FromW.H.Scott (1994, p. 214.)
The Lopez "Ilokano"type fontcomparedtoearlierTagalogfonts.FromW.H.Scott (1994, p. 214.)
Variantsof the Baybayin
Some writershave claimedthatthere were several differentancientalphabetsinthe Philippines,which
belongedtodifferentlanguagesanddialectsinLuzonandthe Visayas.The numberof scriptsmentioned
usuallyrangesfrom10 to 12. However,none of the earlySpanishauthorseversuggestedthatthere was
more than one baybayinscript.Infact,evenwhentheywrote aboutotherPhilippine languages,they
usuallyreferredtothe baybayinas“Tagalog”writingoras quotedearlier,PedroChirinocalledit“the
letterspropertothe islandof Manila.”
The baybayinwasa single script,andjustlike the alphabettoday,itsappearance variedwidelyaccording
to each person'sunique handwriting.(See:The BaybayinasWrittenbyFilipinos)Whenthe printing
presswasintroducedtothe Philippines,thisvarietywasreflectedinthe typefaces.The misconception
that eachprovince hadits ownalphabetarose inthe 19th century,longafterthe baybayinhadfallen
out of use.Authorswhowrote aboutPhilippine culture,suchasEugène Jacquet(1831) and Sinibaldode
Mas (1843), collectedoldsamplesof baybayinwritingandclassifiedthemaccordingtowhere theywere
foundor the language of the text.(See:BaybayinStyles.)Theywere aware thatthese sampleswere
variationsof one scriptbut,laterwriterssuchas Pardo de Tavera and PedroPaternoaroundthe turnof
the century,assembledtheirowncomparisonchartsfromthese samplesandothersourcesandlabelled
themas distinct“alphabets”fromvariousregions.(See:Paterno'sCuadroPaleografico) These charts
were laterreproducedinschoolbooksof the 20th centurywithverylittle inthe wayof explanationfor
theircontent. Thus,throughgenerationsof copyingandrecopying,these individual samples,manyof
whichwere merelyone person'sparticularhandwritingstyle,came tobe knownas distinctalphabets
that belongedtoentire regionsorlinguisticgroups.

14. The clearestexample of thiskindof misinterpretationisthe baybayintypeface thatFranciscoLopez
chose in1620 for hisIlokanoDoctrinaand forhisArte de la lenguaylocaof 1627. It firstappearedintwo
Tagalogbooks,Arte y reglasde la lenguaTagala(1610) by FranciscoBlancasde SanJose and Vocabulario
de lenguaTagala(1613) by Pedrode San Buenaventura.(Seethe charton the right.) However,Eugène
Jacquetcalledthisstyle the IlokanoalphabetinhisNotice surl'alphabetYlocouIlog(1831) because it
was usedmostnotablyintwoIlokanobooks.B16 But, as quotedearlier,evenLopezsaidthathe put
“the textof the [Ilokano] DoctrinainTagalogtype.”Still,the Lopeztypeface isoftenmistakenlycalled
the pre-HispanicIlokanoalphabet.
See BaybayinStylesformore aboutthe differentformsof the Baybayin.
BaybayinLost
Althoughthe baybayin hadspreadsoswiftlythroughoutthe Philippinesinthe 1500s, it beganto decline
inthe 1600s despite the Spanishclergy'sattemptstouse itforevangelization.Filipinoscontinuedtosign
theirnameswithbaybayinlettersthroughoutthe 17th,andeven intothe 18th century,thoughmostof
the documentswere writteninSpanish.Gasparde San Agustínstill foundthe baybayinuseful in1703. In
hisCompendiode lalenguaTagalahe wrote,“Ithelpsto know the Tagalogcharacters indistinguishing
accents.”B17 And he mentionedthatthe baybayinwasstill beingusedtowrite poetryinBatangasat
that time.Butin 1745 SebastiánTotanesclaimedinhisArte de lalenguaTagalathat,
Rare isthe indiowhostill knowshowtoread[the baybayinletters],muchlesswrite them.All of them
readand write our Castilianlettersnow.B18