Saturday, September 02, 2006
THE BAYBAYIN
The early Spanish colonizers discovered that the Filipinos had their own writing system. Instead of paper, they used cylinders of bamboo, tree bark, or large leaves such as those from the banana tree. For inscription, they used styli from metal or wooden materials. They used sap from trees as ink. The widespread system contained 17 symbols, which the natives termed 'baybayin' which referred to a syllabary and spelling system. The Jesuit missionary Fr. P. Chirino admired the Filipinos' literacy and he wrote how the islanders were "much given to reading and writing ; and there is hardly a man, much less a woman, who does not read and write. "We do not have in existence any artifacts of these early Filipino writings.
However, we have scattered records of the scripts contained in Spanish chronicles of what they found, observed, and studied in the Archipelago. Fr. Chirino copied and recorded versions of the syllabary. Other works on this were published by Antonio Morga who was surprised that "...all the natives , both men and women, write in this language (and that) there are very few who do not write it excellently and correctly."
The scholar Don Sinibaldo de Mas also recorded five alphabets that he studied.
It also appears that despite some differences, the various orthographies throughout the islands were basically the same. Fletcher Gardner (1943) stated that ".. the difference which there is among alphabets is not fundamental " and that "... it can be said they are one and the same, and that the differences consist in the manner of tracing them." Thus Visayan, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan , and Tagalog versions have a shared unity in their scripts. Gagelonia (1962) has opined that specific letters of the syllabary have different sources, e.g. , Asoka and Java-Sumatran alphabets for the baybayin 'MA' and 'YA' also from Javan and Sumatran.
I have noted how our Filipino American students have been very interested in learning about the Philippine ancient scripts. For many, it has also been a source of pride in our ethnic heritage.
Send comments and questions to lpaz@ccsf.edu .
( From the newspaper column " Let's Talk Filipino" by Leo Paz
Philippines News , June 28- July 4, 2006 issue)
However, we have scattered records of the scripts contained in Spanish chronicles of what they found, observed, and studied in the Archipelago. Fr. Chirino copied and recorded versions of the syllabary. Other works on this were published by Antonio Morga who was surprised that "...all the natives , both men and women, write in this language (and that) there are very few who do not write it excellently and correctly."
The scholar Don Sinibaldo de Mas also recorded five alphabets that he studied.
It also appears that despite some differences, the various orthographies throughout the islands were basically the same. Fletcher Gardner (1943) stated that ".. the difference which there is among alphabets is not fundamental " and that "... it can be said they are one and the same, and that the differences consist in the manner of tracing them." Thus Visayan, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan , and Tagalog versions have a shared unity in their scripts. Gagelonia (1962) has opined that specific letters of the syllabary have different sources, e.g. , Asoka and Java-Sumatran alphabets for the baybayin 'MA' and 'YA' also from Javan and Sumatran.
I have noted how our Filipino American students have been very interested in learning about the Philippine ancient scripts. For many, it has also been a source of pride in our ethnic heritage.
Send comments and questions to lpaz@ccsf.edu .
( From the newspaper column " Let's Talk Filipino" by Leo Paz
Philippines News , June 28- July 4, 2006 issue)
# posted by LittleManila : 11:51 PM
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