View source for Baybayin

{{Short description|Ancient Philippine writing system}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{confuse|Baybaşin family}}
{{Infobox writing system
| name      = Baybayin
| altname   = {{Script|Tglg|ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔}}
| type      = [[Abugida]]
| caption   = Tagalog script ("Sulat Tagalog"), based on traditional rules and handwritten [[University of Santo Tomas Baybayin Documents|UST Baybayin Documents]], with accurate syllable-to-character mapping
| languages = [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], [[Bisayan languages]],<ref name="pmorrowchart">{{Cite web |last=Morrow |first=Paul |date=7 April 2011 |title=Baybayin Styles & Their Sources |url=http://paulmorrow.ca/baychart.htm |access-date=25 April 2020 |website=paulmorrow.ca}}</ref> [[Sambal language|Sambali]], [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]], [[Kapampangan language|Kapampangan]], [[Bikol languages|Bikol]], [[Pangasinan language|Pangasinan]], [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]]
| fam1      = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian]]
| fam2      = [[Proto-Sinaitic]]
| fam3      = [[Phoenician script|Phoenician]]
| fam4      = [[Aramaic script|Aramaic]]
| fam5      = [[Brahmi script]]
| fam6      = [[Tamil-Brahmi|Tamil-Brahmi script]]
| fam7      = [[Pallava script]]
| fam8      = [[Kawi script]]
| sisters   = *[[Balinese script]]
*[[Batak script]]
*[[Javanese script]]
*[[Lontara script]]
*[[Makasar script]]
*[[Sundanese script]]
*[[Ulu scripts]]
**[[Rejang script]]
| children  = *[[Buhid script]]
*[[Hanunuo script]]
*[[Kulitan]]
*[[Tagbanwa script]]
| time      = 14th to 19th century<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://about/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=August 26, 2025 |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918005329/https://about/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Decline of the Baybayin Script During the Early Spanish Period and the Spanish Effort for its Preservation (1593-1703) |url=https://m.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=TimePerception&title=Special:Search&ns0=1&ns120=1 |access-date=22 June 2024 |website=www.medium.com}}</ref> limited modern usage<ref name=artedelalengatagalog/>
| print     = 
| unicode   = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1700.pdf U+1700–U+171F]
| sample    = Sulat Tagalog sample.svg
| imagesize = 250px
| iso15924  = Tglg
| footnotes = 
}}
{{Contains special characters|Baybayin}}
{{Brahmic}}
'''Baybayin''' ({{Script|Tglg|ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔}},{{Efn|Spelling with the cross-shaped [[virama]] ({{lang|tl|krus-kudlit}}). The spelling without any virama is {{Script|Tglg|ᜊᜊᜌᜒ}} and with the {{lang|tl|pamudpod}} is {{Script|Tglg|ᜊᜌ᜕ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜕}}.}} {{IPA|tl|bajˈbajɪn}}), 
also sometimes erroneously referred to as '''alibata''', is a [[Suyat|Philippine script]] widely used primarily in [[Luzon]] during the 16th and 17th centuries and prior to write [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] and to a lesser extent  [[Visayan languages]], [[Kapampangan language|Kampampangan]], [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]], and several other [[Philippine languages]].

Baybayin is an [[abugida]] belonging to the family of the [[Brahmic scripts]]. Its use was gradually replaced by the [[Latin alphabet]] during [[Spanish Colonization in the Philippines|Spanish rule]], though it has seen limited modern usage in the Philippines.
The script is encoded in [[Unicode]] as [[Tagalog (Unicode block)|Tagalog block]] since 1998 alongside [[Buhid script|Buhid]], [[Hanunoo script|Hanunoo]], and [[Tagbanwa script]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brennan |first=Fredrick R. |date=18 Jul 2018 |title=The baybayin "ra"—ᜍ its origins and a plea for its formal recognition |url=http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19258r-baybayin-ra.pdf}}</ref>
The [[Archives of the University of Santo Tomas]] in Manila holds the largest collection of extant writings using Baybayin.<ref name="ustwebsite">{{Cite web |title=UST Archives |url=http://www.ust.edu.ph/index.php/landmarks/835-ust-archives.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524083452/http://www.ust.edu.ph/index.php/landmarks/835-ust-archives.html |archive-date=24 May 2013 |access-date=17 June 2012 |website=University of Santo Tomas}}</ref><ref name="baybay">{{Cite news |last=Lao |first=Levine |date=2012-01-15 |title=UST Collection of Ancient Scripts in 'Baybayin' Syllabary Shown to Public |work=Lifestyle.Inq |url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/31257/ust-collection-of-ancient-scripts-in-%e2%80%98baybayin%e2%80%99-syllabary-shown-to-public/ |access-date=2022-03-06}}</ref><ref name="ustbaybayin">{{Cite web |last=Kabuay |first=Kristian |date=2012-01-16 |title=UST Baybayin Collection Shown to Public |url=https://blog.kabuay.com/2012/01/15/ust-baybayin-collection-shown-to-public/ |access-date=2022-03-06 |website=Kristian Kabuay}}</ref>

Baybayin has seen a rise in modern usage, primarily for cultural and artistic purposes, including in visual arts, literature, tattoos, and logos. It is also featured on the logos of government agencies, Philippine banknotes, and passports. Additionally, there are educational initiatives and workshops aimed at teaching Baybayin to a new generation. Social media has also been instrumental in the increased awareness and interest in Baybayin. Artists, educators, and enthusiasts use these platforms to share tutorials, artworks, and historical facts about the script, sparking interest among younger generations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Admin |first=HAPI |date=2022-08-17 |title=Baybayin: How This Ancient Pinoy Script's Legacy Lives On |url=https://hapihumanist.org/2022/08/18/baybayin-legacy/ |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=Humanist Alliance Philippines International |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=chloe |date=2024-08-26 |title=The Art of Filipino Baybayin Script: History, Revival, and Cultural Importance |url=https://www.momentslog.com/culture/the-art-of-filipino-baybayin-script-history-revival-and-cultural-importance |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=Moments Log |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Camba |first=Allan |date=2021 |title=Baybayin: The Role of a Written Language in the Cultural Identity and Socio-Psychological Well-Being of Filipinos |url=http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.12961.94563 |publisher=Harvard University Division of Continuing Education |language=en |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.12961.94563}}</ref> Bills to recognize the script and revive its use alongside the Latin alphabet have been repeatedly considered by the [[Congress of the Philippines|Congress]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=House of Representatives Press Releases |url=http://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=10642 |access-date=7 May 2020 |website=www.congress.gov.ph}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

==Terminology==
The term {{Lang|tl|baybáyin}} means "to write" or "to spell" in [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]]. The earliest known use of the word to refer to the script was from the ''[[Vocabulario de la lengua tagala]]'' (1613) by Pedro San Buenaventura as {{lang|tl|baibayin}}.<ref name="San Buenaventura">{{Cite web |last=San Buenaventura |first=Pedro |date=1613 |title=Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala |url=http://sb.tagalogstudies.org/ |access-date=3 May 2020 |website=Bahay Saliksikan ng Tagalog |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726154526/http://sb.tagalogstudies.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Additionally, it was referred to as ''sulat Tagalog'' by the [[Maginoo|heads of the communities]] in the attestation of ''Pacaen de Mayoboc'' (1681).<ref>{{Cite web |last=TopTen.ph |date=2017-08-28 |title=Top 10 Samples of old writings in the Philippines |url=https://topten.ph/2017/08/28/top-10-samples-old-writings-philippines/ |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Pinoy Top Tens |language=en-US}}</ref> Early Spanish accounts commonly referred to baybayin as “Tagalog letters” or “Tagalog writing.” While the script is most widely known today as ''baybáyin'', it has various regional names—such as “Badlit” or “Kudlit-kabadlit” among the [[Visayans]], “Kurditan” or “Kur-itan” among the [[Ilocano people|Ilocanos]], “Kulitan” among the [[Kapampangan people|Kapampangans]], and “Basahan” among the [[Bicolano people|Bicolanos]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|entry-url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/aqa2025.0001.001/61?q1=basahan&view=image&size=175|entry=basahan|page=60|last=Lisboa|first=Maŕcos de|authorlink=Marcos de Lisboa|title=Vocabulario de la Lengua Bicol|year=1865|lang=es, bik|access-date=2019-12-01|quote=BASAHAN.  pc. El ''a'', ''b'', ''c'', de ellos por donde aprenden á leer que tiene quince letras consonantes, y tres vocales, ''a'', ''e'', ''o''.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Morrow |first=Paul |title=Baybayin - The Ancient Script of the Philippines |url=https://paulmorrow.ca/bayeng1.htm}}</ref>

Historically, the term ''alibata'' was used synonymously with Baybayin.{{sfn|Halili|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gUt5v8ET4QYC&pg=PA47 47]}}{{sfn|Duka|2008||pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4wk8yqCEmJUC&pg=PA32 32–33]}} ''Alibata'' is a [[neologism]] first coined in 1914, possibly under the false assumption that the script was derived from the [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic script]], hence the name.<ref name=paulmorrow/> Most modern scholars reject the use of the word ''alibata'' as incorrect.<ref name="paulmorrow" /><ref name="Normandelossantos">{{Cite conference |last=de los Santos |first=Norman |date=2015 |title=Philippine Indigenous Writing Systems in the Modern World |url=http://ical13.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Full_papers_and_ppts/July_21/P4-1.pdf |conference=Presented at the "Thirteenth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics". 13-ICAL – 2015, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan 18 July{{En dash}}23, 2015 |access-date=22 May 2020 |archive-date=24 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124031214/http://ical13.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Full_papers_and_ppts/July_21/P4-1.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Origins==
The origins of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} are disputed and multiple theories exist as to its origin.

===Influence of Greater India===
{{See also|List_of_loanwords_in_Tagalog#Sanskrit | label 1 = Indian Sanskrit loanwords in Tagalog|Greater India|Indianization of Southeast Asia|Indian cultural influences in early Philippine polities}}

[[File:Indian cultural zone.svg|thumb|left|Indian cultural extent.]]
Historically [[Southeast Asia]] was under the influence of [[Greater India|Ancient India]], where numerous [[Indianized kingdom|Indianized principalities]] and empires flourished for several centuries in [[Khmer Empire|Khmer]]-[[Cambodia]], [[Indonesia]], [[Malaysia]], [[Singapore]], [[Philippines]], [[Thailand]] and [[Vietnam]]. The influence of Indian culture into these areas was given the term ''[[Indianization]]''.<ref name="acharya">{{Citation |last=Acharya |first=Amitav |title=The "Indianization of Southeast Asia" Revisited: Initiative, Adaptation and Transformation in Classical Civilizations |date=n.d. |url=http://www.amitavacharya.com/sites/default/files/Indianisation%20of%20Southeast%20Asia%20Revisited.pdf |mode=cs1 |via=amitavacharya.com |access-date=3 April 2018 |archive-date=7 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107152930/http://www.amitavacharya.com/sites/default/files/Indianisation%20of%20Southeast%20Asia%20Revisited.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> French archaeologist [[George Coedes]] defined it as the expansion of an organized culture that was framed upon Indian originations of royalty, [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]] and the [[sanskritization|Sanskrit language]].<ref name="coedes">{{Cite book |last=Coedes |first=George |title=The Indianized States of Southeast Asia |date=1967 |publisher=Australian National University Press}}</ref> This can be seen in the [[Indianization of Southeast Asia]], [[Hinduism in Southeast Asia]] and the spread of [[Buddhism in Southeast Asia]]. [[Indian honorifics]] also influenced the [[Malay styles and titles|Malay]], [[Khmer language|Khmer]], [[Thai royal ranks and titles|Thai]], [[Filipino styles and honorifics|Filipino]] and [[Indonesian names#Honorifics|Indonesian]] honorifics.{{sfn|Sagar|2002|p=52}} Examples of these include [[raja]], rani, [[maharlika]], and [[datu]], which were transmitted from Indian culture to Philippines via [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]] and the [[Srivijaya empire]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} Indian Hindu colonists played a key role as professionals, traders, priests and warriors.{{sfn|Diringer|1948|p=402}}<ref name="lukas">{{Citation |last=Lukas |first=Helmut |title=Theories of Indianization Exemplified by Selected Case Studies from Indonesia (Insular Southeast Asia) |journal=Working Papers |date=n.d. |url=https://www.academia.edu/4803585 |page=1 |mode=cs1 |via=Academia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Krom |first=N.J. |title=Barabudur, Archeological Description |date=1927 |publisher=The Hague}}</ref><ref name="smith">{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Monica L. |author-link=Monica L. Smith |date=1999 |title="Indianization" from the Indian Point of View: Trade and Cultural Contacts with Southeast Asia in the Early First Millennium C.E |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=42 |issue=11–17 |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1163/1568520991445588 |jstor=3632296}}</ref> Inscriptions have proved that the earliest Indian colonists who settled in [[Champa]] and the [[Malay Archipelago]], came from the [[Pallava dynasty]], as they brought with them their [[Pallava script]]. The earliest inscriptions in [[Java]] exactly match the Pallava script.{{sfn|Diringer|1948|p=402}} In the first stage of adoption of [[Indian script]]s, inscriptions were made locally in [[Languages of India|Indian languages]]. In the second stage, the scripts were used to write the local Southeast Asian languages. In the third stage, local varieties of the scripts were developed. By the 8th century, the scripts had diverged and separated into regional scripts.<ref name="Spread">{{Cite book |last=Court |first=Christopher  |title=The World's Writing Systems |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Daniels |editor-first=Peter T |location=Oxford |pages=445–449 |chapter=The Spread of Brahmi Script into Southeast Asia. |editor-last2=Bright |editor-first2=William}}</ref>

[[Isaac Taylor (canon)|Isaac Taylor]] sought to show that {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} was introduced into the Philippines from the [[Bengal|Coast of Bengal]] sometime before the 8th century. In attempting to show such a relationship, Taylor presented graphic representations of [[Kistna]] and [[Assam]] letters like g, k, ng, t, m, h, and u, which resemble the same letters in {{Lang|tl|baybayin}}. Fletcher Gardner argued that the Philippine scripts had "very great similarity" with the [[Brahmi script]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/AQQ3480.0001.001?view=toc |title=Philippine Indic studies: Fletcher Gardner |year=2005}}</ref> which was supported by [[Trinidad Pardo de Tavera|T. H. Pardo de Tavera]]. According to Christopher Miller, evidence seems strong for {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} to be ultimately of [[Gujarati script|Gujarati]] origin; however, Philippine and Gujarati languages have final consonants, so it is unlikely that their indication would have been dropped had {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} been based directly on a Gujarati model.<ref name="millergujarati">{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Christopher |chapter-url=http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/BLS/article/view/3917 |title=Proceedings of the Thirty Sixth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, February 6-7, 2010 |date=2010 |publisher=Berkeley Linguistics Society |editor-last=Rolle |editor-first=Nicholas |location=Berkeley, California |pages=276–291 |chapter=A Gujarati Origin for Scripts of Sumatra, Sulawesi and the Philippines |journal=<!-- Citation bot adds wrong information--> |volume=<!-- Citation bot adds wrong information--> |issue=1 |doi=10.3765/bls.v36i1.3917 |editor-last2=Steman |editor-first2=Jeremy |editor-last3=Sylak-Glassman |editor-first3=John |doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== Kawi ====
[[File:Laguna Copperplate Inscription.gif|thumb|right|The Laguna Copperplate Inscription.]]
The [[Kawi script]] originated in [[Java (island)|Java]], descending from the Pallava script,{{sfn|Diringer|1948|p=423}} and was used across much of [[Maritime Southeast Asia]]. The [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]] is the earliest known written document found in the Philippines. It is a legal document with the inscribed date of Saka era 822, corresponding to 21 April 900 AD. It was written in the Kawi script in a variety of [[Old Malay]] containing numerous loanwords from Sanskrit and a few non-Malay vocabulary elements whose origin is ambiguous between [[Old Javanese]] and [[Old Tagalog]]. A second example of Kawi script can be seen on the [[Butuan Ivory Seal]], found in the 1970s and dated between the 9th and 12th centuries. It is an ancient seal made of ivory that was found in an archaeological site in [[Butuan]]. The seal has been declared a national cultural treasure. The seal is inscribed with the word ''Butwan'' in stylized Kawi. The ivory seal is now housed at the [[National Museum of the Philippines]].<ref name="NMPHseal">{{Cite web |title=Butuan Ivory Seal |url=http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/Collections/Archaeo/Seal.html |url-status=dead |website=National Museum Collections |access-date=28 April 2018 |archive-date=24 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324035749/http://nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/Collections/Archaeo/Seal.html }}</ref> One hypothesis therefore reasons that, since Kawi is the earliest attestation of writing in the Philippines, then {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} may have descended from Kawi.

==== South Sulawesi scripts ====
[[David Diringer]], accepting the view that the scripts of the [[Malay Archipelago]] originate in India, writes that the [[South Sulawesi]] scripts derive from the [[Kawi script]], probably through the medium of the [[Batak script]] of [[Sumatra]]. The Philippine scripts, according to Diringer, were possibly brought to the Philippines through the [[Buginese script|Buginese characters]] in [[Sulawesi]].{{sfn|Diringer|1948|pp=421–443}} According to Scott, {{Lang|tl|baybayin}}'s immediate ancestor was very likely a South Sulawesi script, probably [[Makasar script|Old Makassar]] or a close ancestor.<ref>{{Harvnb|Scott|1984}}</ref> This is because of the lack of final consonants or [[Virama|vowel canceler marker]]s in {{Lang|tl|baybayin}}. South Sulawesi languages have a restricted inventory of syllable-final consonants and do not represent them in the [[Bugi (script)|Bugis]] and [[Makasar script|Makassar]] scripts. The most likely explanation for the absence of final consonant markers in {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} is therefore that its direct ancestor was a South Sulawesi script. Sulawesi lies directly to the south of the Philippines and there is evidence of trade routes between the two. {{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} must therefore have been developed in the Philippines in the fifteenth century CE as the Bugis-Makassar script was developed in South Sulawesi no earlier than 1400 CE.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Caldwell |first=Ian |title=South Sulawesi AD 1300–1600: Ten Bugis Texts |date=1988 |degree=PhD |publisher=Australian National University |page=17}}</ref>

==== Cham script ====
[[File:Chamscript.png|thumb|right|The Eastern Cham script]]
{{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} could have been introduced to the Philippines by maritime connections with the [[Champa|Champa Kingdom]]. Geoff Wade has argued that the {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} characters "ga", "nga", "pa", "ma", "ya", and "sa" display characteristics that can be best explained by linking them to the [[Cham script]], rather than other Indic abugidas. According to Wade, {{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} seems to be more related to other Southeast Asian scripts than to the Kawi script. Wade argues that the Laguna Copperplate Inscription is not definitive proof for a Kawi origin of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}}, as the inscription displays final consonants, which {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} does not.<ref name=geoffwadecham/>

==History==
From the available material, it is clear that {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} was used in Luzon, Palawan, Mindoro, Pangasinan, Ilocos, Panay, Leyte and Iloilo, but there is no proof supporting that {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} reached Mindanao. It appears that the Luzon and Palawan varieties started to develop in different ways in the 1500s, before the Spaniards conquered what we know today as the Philippines. This puts Luzon and Palawan as the oldest regions where {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} was and is used. It is also notable that the script used in Pampanga had already developed special shapes for the four letters by the early 1600s, different from the ones used elsewhere. There were three somewhat distinct varieties of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} in the late 1500s and 1600s, though they could not be described as three different scripts any more than the different styles of Latin script across medieval or modern Europe, with their slightly different sets of letters and spelling systems.<ref name="pmorrowchart" />

{{gallery|width=120px|title=Some handwritten samples of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} 
|File:Sulat_tagalog.jpg
 |a record of baybayin characters
|File:scriptsambal.jpg
 |Baybayin found in [[Zambales]]
|File:kurdita.jpg
 |characters based on the typography used in the Ilocano book, “Libro a Naisuratan amin ti bagas ti Doctrina Cristiana”. published in 1620.
|File:Ancient Characters of Tagalog and Camarines People.jpg
 |Ancient Characters of Tagalog and Camarines People, also called ''Basahan'' in [[Bicol region]]
|File:pangasinensescript.jpg
 |Baybayin samples found in [[Pangasinan]]
|File:ayasib2.jpg
 |Baybayin samples found in [[Visayas]]
|File:old_kulitan.jpg 
 |In 1699, Alvaro de Benavente recorded the Indigenous script of [[Pampanga]]
 }}

===Early history===
The Calatagan Pot, an earthenware pot found in western [[Calatagan, Batangas|Batangas]], is inscribed with characters strikingly similar to {{Lang|tl|baybayin}}, and is claimed to have been inscribed ca. 1300 AD. However, its authenticity is disputed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Guillermo |first1=Ramon G. |last2=Paluga |first2=Myfel Joseph D. |year=2011 |title=Barang king banga: A Visayan language reading of the Calatagan pot inscription (CPI) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-southeast-asian-studies/article/barang-king-banga-a-visayan-language-reading-of-the-calatagan-pot-inscription-cpi/66C1271BB06ED3321FEC3CB4D255D4E7 |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |volume=42 |pages=121–159 |doi=10.1017/S0022463410000561 |s2cid=162984793|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Although one of [[Ferdinand Magellan]]'s shipmates, [[Antonio Pigafetta]], wrote that the people of [[Visayas|the Visayas]] were not literate in 1521, the {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} had already arrived there by 1567 when [[Miguel López de Legazpi]] reported from [[Cebu]] that, "They [the Visayans] have their letters and characters like those of the [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]], from whom they learned them; they write them on bamboo bark and palm leaves with a pointed tool, but never is any ancient writing found among them nor word of their origin and arrival in these islands, their customs and rites being preserved by traditions handed down from father to son without any other record."<ref>{{Cite book |last=de San Agustin |first=Caspar |title=Conquista de las Islas Filipinas 1565-1615 |date=1646 |quote='Tienen sus letras y caracteres como los malayos, de quien los aprendieron; con ellos escriben con unos punzones en cortezas de caña y hojas de palmas, pero nunca se les halló escritura antinua alguna ni luz de su orgen y venida a estas islas, conservando sus costumbres y ritos por tradición de padres a hijos sin otra noticia alguna.'}}</ref> A century later, in 1668, [[Francisco Ignacio Alcina|Francisco Alcina]] wrote: "The characters of these natives [Visayans], or, better said, those that have been in use for a few years in these parts, an art which was communicated to them from the Tagalogs, and the latter learned it from the Borneans who came from the great island of Borneo to [[Manila]], with whom they have considerable traffic... From these Borneans the Tagalogs learned their characters, and from them the Visayans, so they call them Moro characters or letters because the Moros taught them... [the Visayans] learned [the Moros'] letters, which many use today, and the women much more than the men, which they write and read more readily than the latter."<ref name=paulmorrow/> Francisco de Santa Inés explained in 1676 why writing {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} was more common among women, as "they do not have any other way to while away the time, for it is not customary for little girls to go to school as boys do, they make better use of their characters than men, and they use them in things of devotion, and in other things that are not of devotion."<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Santa Inés |first=Francisco |title=Crónica de la provincia de San Gregorio Magno de religiosos descalzos de N. S. P. San Francisco en las Islas Filipinas, China, Japón, etc. |date=1676 |pages=41–42}}</ref>

[[File:DoctrinaChristianaEspanolaYTagala8-9.jpg|thumb|Pages of the ''Doctrina Christiana'', an early Christian book in Spanish and Tagalog, both in the Latin script and in {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} (1593)]]

The earliest printed book in a Philippine language, featuring both Tagalog in {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} and transliterated into the Latin script, is the 1593 [[Doctrina Christiana|''Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Española y Tagala'']]. The Tagalog text was based mainly on a manuscript written by [[Juan de Plasencia|Fr. Juan de Placencia]]. Friars Domingo de Nieva and Juan de San Pedro Martyr supervised the preparation and printing of the book, which was carried out by an unnamed Chinese artisan. This is the earliest example of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} that exists today, and it is the only example from the 1500s. There is also a series of legal documents containing {{Lang|tl|baybayin}}, preserved in Spanish and Philippine archives that span more than a century: the three oldest, all in the [[Archivo General de Indias]] in Seville, are from 1591 and 1599.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Christopher |date=2014 |title=A survey of indigenous scripts of Indonesia and the Philippines |url=https://www.academia.edu/15915312 |access-date=April 28, 2020 |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306014531/https://www.academia.edu/15915312 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=pmorrowchart/>

{{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} was noted by the Spanish priest [[Pedro Chirino]] in 1604 and [[Antonio de Morga]] in 1609 to be known by most Filipinos, and was generally used for personal writings and poetry, among others. However, according to [[William Henry Scott (historian)|William Henry Scott]], there were some [[datu]]s from the 1590s who could not sign affidavits or oaths, and witnesses who could not sign land deeds in the 1620s.{{sfn|Scott|1984|p=210}}

[[File:Ilokano baybayin prayer.gif|thumb|	
'''Amami''', a fragment of the Ilocano Lord's Prayer, written in Ilocano {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} (Kur-itan, Kurdita), the first to use krus-kudlít.<ref name="Baybayin Styles & Their Sources">{{Cite web |last=Morrow |first=Paul |date=11 November 2002 |title=Baybayin Styles & Their Sources |url=http://paulmorrow.ca/baychart.htm |access-date=7 March 2022 |website=paulmorrow.ca}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Morrow |first=Paul |date=n.d. |title=Amami - A Fragment of the Ilokano Lord's Prayer, 1620 |url=http://paulmorrow.ca/amami.htm |access-date=7 March 2022 |website=paulmorrow.ca}}</ref>]]

In 1620, ''Libro a naisurátan amin ti bagás ti Doctrina Cristiana'' was written by Fr. Francisco Lopez, an ''Ilocano Doctrina'' the first [[Ilocano language|Ilocano baybayin]], based on the catechism written by [[Robert Bellarmine|Cardinal Bellarmine]].<ref name="Baybayin Styles & Their Sources" /> This is an important moment in the history of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}}, because the krus-kudlít was introduced for the first time, which allowed writing final consonants. He commented the following on his decision:<ref name=paulmorrow/> "The reason for putting the text of the Doctrina in Tagalog type... has been to begin the correction of the said Tagalog script, which, as it is, is so defective and confused (because of not having any method until now for expressing final consonants - I mean, those without vowels) that the most learned reader has to stop and ponder over many words to decide on the pronunciation which the writer intended." This krus-kudlít, or virama kudlít, did not catch on among {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} users, however. Native {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} experts were consulted about the new invention and were asked to adopt it and use it in all their writings. After praising the invention and showing gratitude for it, they decided that it could not be accepted into their writing because "It went against the intrinsic properties and nature that God had given their writing and that to use it was tantamount to destroy with one blow all the Syntax, Prosody and Orthography of their Tagalog language."<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Espallargas |first=Joseph G. |title=A Study of the Ancient Philippine Syllabary with Particular Attention to Its Tagalog Version |date=1974 |degree=MA |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University |page=98}}</ref>

In 1703, {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} was reported to still be in use in the ''Comintan'' ([[Batangas]] and [[Laguna (province)|Laguna]]) and other areas of the Philippines.<ref>{{Cite book |last=de San Agustín |first=Gaspar |title=Compendio de la arte de la lengua tagala |date=1703 |page=142 |quote=Por último pondré el modo, que tenían de escribir antiguamente, y al presente lo usan en el Comintan (Provincias de la laguna y Batangas) y otras partes.}}</ref>

Among the earliest literature on the orthography of [[Visayan languages]] were those of Jesuit priest Ezguerra with his {{lang|es|Arte de la lengua bisaya}} in 1747<ref>{{Cite book |first1=P. Domingo |last1=Ezguerra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&q=Ezguerra+with+his+Arte+de+la+lengua+Bisaya&pg=PA915 |title=Arte de la lengua bisaya de la provincia de Leyte |publisher=Imp. de la Compañía de Jesús |others=apendice por el P. Constantino Bayle |year=1747 |isbn=9780080877754 |orig-year=c. 1663}}</ref> and of Mentrida with his {{lang|es|Arte de la lengua bisaya: [[Hiligaynon language|Iliguaina]] de la isla de Panay}} in 1818 which primarily discussed [[Grammar|grammatical structure]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pardo de Tavera |first=T. H. |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aps8604.0001.001 |title=Contribución para el estudio de los antiguos alfabetos filipinos |date=1884 |publisher=Imprenta de Jaunin Hermanos |location=Losana |language=es}}</ref> Based on the differing sources spanning centuries, the documented [[syllabary|syllabaries]] also differed in form. {{clarify|date=May 2020}}

[[File:Monreal stone.jpg|thumb|right|The Monreal stone, which is the centerpiece at the {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} section of the [[National Museum of Anthropology (Manila)|National Museum of Anthropology]]]]

The Ticao stone inscription, also known as the [[Monreal Stones|Monreal stone]] or Rizal stone, is a limestone tablet that contains {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} characters. Found by pupils of [[Rizal Elementary School]] on [[Ticao Island]] in Monreal town, [[Masbate]], which had scraped the mud off their shoes and [[Flip-flops|slippers]] on two irregular shaped [[limestone]] tablets before entering their classroom, they are now housed at a section of the [[National Museum of the Philippines]], which weighs 30 kilos, is 11 centimeters thick, 54&nbsp;cm long and 44&nbsp;cm wide while the other is 6&nbsp;cm thick, 20&nbsp;cm long and 18&nbsp;cm wide.<ref name="INQPHmuddied">{{Cite news |last=Escandor |first=Juan Jr |date=2014-07-03 |title=Muddied Stones Reveal Ancient Scripts |language=en |work=Inquirer.net |url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/616407/muddied-stones-reveal-ancient-scripts |access-date=2022-03-06}}</ref><ref name="ELIZAGAticao">{{Cite conference |last=Borrinaga |first=Rolando O. |date=n.d. |title=Romancing the Ticao Stones: Preliminary Transcription, Decipherment, Translation, and Some Notes |url=http://heritage.elizaga.net/explorations/borrinaga/ticao-stones.pdf |conference=Paper for presentation at The 1st Philippine Conference on the "Baybayin" Stones of Ticao, Masbate, 5–6 August 2011, Monreal, Masbate Province |via=heritage.elizaga.net}}</ref>

===Usage===
[[File:Doctrina-Christiana-National-Museum.jpg|thumb|The [[Doctrina Christiana]] at the National Museum Of Anthropology]] 
Historically, baybayin was used in [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]]- and to a lesser extent [[Kapampangan language|Kapampangan]]-speaking areas. It spread to the [[Ilocano people|Ilocano]]s when the Spanish distributed bibles written in baybayin. [[Pedro Chirino]], a Spanish priest and [[Antonio de Morga]] noted in 1604 and 1609 that most Filipino men and women could read baybayin.<ref name="geoffwadecham">{{Cite journal |last=Wade |first=Geoff |date=1993 |title=On the Possible Cham Origin of the Philippine Scripts |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=44–87 |doi=10.1017/S0022463400001508 |jstor=20071506|s2cid=162902640 }}</ref> It was also noted that they did not write books or keep records, but did use baybayin for signing documents, for personal notes and messages, and for poetry.{{sfn|Scott|1984|p=210}} During the colonial period, Filipinos began keeping paper records of their property and financial transactions, and would write down lessons they were taught in church.<ref name=paulmorrow/> Documents written in the native language and began to play a significant role in the judicial and legal life of the colony.<ref name="Donoso 2019 pp. 89–103 quote" />

Traditionally, baybayin was written upon [[palm leaves]] with a sharp stylus or on [[bamboo]] with a small knife.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFQOAQAAMAAJ&q=baybayin+palm+leaves |magazine=Filipinas |language=en |issue=36–44 |page=60| title=Filipinas Magazine }}</ref> The curved shape of the letter forms of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} is influenced by this practice; straight lines would tear the leaves.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pinn |first=Fred |date=2001-04-01 |title=Cochin Palm Leaf Fiscals |url=http://princelystates.com/ArchivedFeatures/fa-03-05.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113205231/http://princelystates.com/ArchivedFeatures/fa-03-05.shtml |archive-date=2017-01-13 |access-date=2017-01-25 |website=Princely States Report |language=en}}</ref> Once the letters were carved into the bamboo, they were wiped with ash to make the characters stand out.<ref name=paulmorrow/>

During the era of Spanish colonization, baybayin came to be written with ink on paper using a sharpened quill.{{sfn|Chirino|1890|p=59}} [[Woodblock printing|Woodblock printed]] books were produced to facilitate the spread of Christianity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Woods |first=Damon L. |date=1992 |title=Tomás Pinpin and the Literate Indio: Tagalog Writing in the Early Spanish Philippines |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kz776js |journal=UCLA Historical Journal |volume=12 |pages=177–220}}</ref> In some parts of the country, such as [[Mindoro]] the traditional writing technique has been retained.{{sfn|Scott|1984}}

===Decline===
Baybayin fell out of use in much of the Philippines under [[History of the Philippines (1565–1898)|Spanish rule]]. Learning the Latin alphabet also helped Filipinos to make socioeconomic progress, as they could rise to relatively prestigious positions such as clerks, scribes and secretaries.<ref name=paulmorrow/> In 1745, Sebastián de Totanés wrote in his ''Arte de la lengua tagala'' that "The Indian [Filipino] who knows how to read baybayin is now rare, and rarer still is one who knows how to write [it]. They now all read and write in our Castilian [i.e. Latin] letters."<ref name="artedelalengatagalog">{{Cite book |last=de Totanés |first=Sebastián |url=https://archive.org/details/apu1031.0001.001.umich.edu/page/n15/mode/2up |title=Arte de la lenga tagalog |date=1745 |pages=3 |quote=No se trata de los caracteres tagalos, porque es ya raro el indio [sic] que los sabe leer, y rarísimo el que los sabe escribir. En los nuestros castellanos leen ya, y escriben todos.}}</ref> Between 1751 and 1754, Juan José Delgado wrote that "the [native] men devoted themselves to the use of our [Latin] writing".{{sfn|Delgado|1892|pp=331–333}} The ambiguity of vowels i/e and o/u, the lack of syllable-final consonants, and of letters for some [[Spanish phonology|Spanish sounds]] may also have contributed to the decline of baybayin.

The rarity of pre-Hispanic baybayin texts has led to a common misconception that fanatical Spanish priests must have destroyed the majority of native documents. Anthropologist and historian [[H. Otley Beyer]]  wrote in ''The Philippines before Magellan'' (1921) that, "one Spanish priest in Southern Luzon boasted of having destroyed more than three hundred scrolls written in the native character". In fact, historians have been unable to verify Beyer's claim,<ref name=paulmorrow/> and there is no [[direct evidence]] of substantial destruction of documents by Spanish missionaries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Hector |date=26 October 1996 |title=Extinction of a Philippine Script |url=http://www.bibingka.baybayin.com/dahon/extinct/extinct.htm |access-date=15 September 2019 |website=A Philippine Leaf |quote=However, when I started looking for documents that could confirm it, I couldn't find any. I pored over historians' accounts of burnings (especially Beyer), looking for footnotes that may provide leads as to where their information came from. Sadly, their sources, if they had any, were not documented. |archive-date=15 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915163425/http://www.bibingka.baybayin.com/dahon/extinct/extinct.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hector Santos has suggested that, although Spanish friars may have occasionally burned short documents such as incantations, curses, and spells (for the Church deemed them evil), there was no systematic destruction of pre-Hispanic manuscripts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Hector |date=26 October 1996 |title=Extinction of a Philippine Script |url=http://www.bibingka.baybayin.com/dahon/extinct/extinct.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915163425/http://www.bibingka.baybayin.com/dahon/extinct/extinct.htm |archive-date=15 September 2019 |access-date=15 September 2019 |website=A Philippine Leaf |quote=But if any burnings happened as a result of this order to Fr. Chirino, they would have resulted in destruction of Christian manuscripts that were not acceptable to the Church and not of ancient manuscripts that did not exist in the first place. Short documents burned? Yes. Ancient manuscripts? No.}}</ref> Morrow also notes that there are no recorded instances of pre-Hispanic Filipinos writing on scrolls, and that the most likely reason why no pre-Hispanic documents survived is because they wrote on perishable materials such as leaves and bamboo. There are also no reports of Tagalog written scriptures, as the Filipinos kept their theological knowledge in oral form while using the Baybayin for secular purposes and talismans.{{sfn|Potet|2017|loc=pp. 58–59: "the Tagalogs kept their theological knowledge unwritten, and only used their syllabic alphabet (''Baybayin'') for secular pursuits and, perhaps, talismans."}}

The scholar Isaac Donoso claims that the documents written in the native language and in native scripts played a significant role in the judicial and legal life of the colony and noted that many colonial-era documents written in baybayin still exist in some repositories, including the library of the University of Santo Tomas.<ref name="Donoso 2019 pp. 89–103 quote">{{harvnb|Donoso|2019|pp=89–103}}: "What is important to us is the relevant activity during these centuries to study, write and even print in Baybayin. And this task is not strange in other regions of the Spanish Empire. In fact, indigenous documents played a significant role in the judicial and legal life of the colonies. Documents in languages other than Spanish were legally considered, and Pedro de Castro says that "I have seen in the archives of Lipa and Batangas many documents with these characters". Nowadays, we can find Baybayin documents in some repositories, including the oldest library in the country, the University of Santo Tomás."</ref> He also noted that the early Spanish missionaries did not suppress the usage of the baybayin script but instead may have even promoted it as a measure to stop [[Islamization]], since the Tagalog language was moving from baybayin to [[Jawi script|Jawi]], the Arabized script of Islamized Southeast Asian societies.{{sfn|Donoso|2019|loc=p. 92: "Secondly, if Baybayin was not deleted but promoted, and we know that Manila was becoming an important Islamic entrepôt, it is feasible to think that Baybayin was in a mutable phase in the Manila area at the Spanish advent. This is to say, like in other areas of the Malay world, Jawi script and Islam were replacing Baybayin and Hindu-Buddhist culture. Namely Spaniards might have promoted Baybayin as a way to stop Islamization since the Tagalog language was moving from Baybayin to Jawi script."}} Paul Morrow also suggests that Spanish friars helped to preserve baybayin by continuing its use even after it had been abandoned by most Filipinos.<ref name="paulmorrow">{{Cite web |last=Morrow |first=Paul |date=2002 |title=Baybayin: The Ancient Script of the Philippines |url=http://paulmorrow.ca/bayeng1.htm |website=paulmorrow.ca}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
[[File:Filipino sword filipino dha baybayin script.JPG|thumb|right|A Filipino [[Dha (sword)|dha]] sword inscribed with {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} characters]]
{{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} is an [[abugida]] (alphasyllabary), which means that it makes use of consonant-vowel combinations. Each character or ''titik'',{{sfn|Potet|2018|p=95}} written in its basic form, is a consonant ending with the vowel /a/. To produce consonants ending with other vowel sounds, a mark called a ''kudlít''{{sfn|Potet|2018|p=95}} is placed either above the character to change the /a/ to an /e/ or /i/, or below for an /o/ or /u/. To write words beginning with a vowel, one of the three independent vowels (a, i/e, o/u). A third kudlít, {{angbr|{{Script|Tglg|◌᜔}}}}, called a ''sabat'' or ''krus'', a ''[[virama]]'' removes a consonant's inherent ''a'' vowel, making it an independent consonant. The krus-kudlít virama was added to the original script by the Spanish priest Francisco Lopez in 1620. Later, the pamudpod virama {{angbr|{{Script|Tglg|◌᜕}}}}, which has the same function, was added. Besides these phonetic considerations, the script is monocameral and does not use letter case to distinguish proper names or the start of sentences.

{|class="wikitable"
|+ Vowels and viramas
|-
|{{letter|iso=a|l=tl|s=Tglg|ch=ᜀ|color=violet}}
|{{ letter|iso=i or e|l=tl|s=Tglg|ch=ᜁ|color=violet}}
|{{ letter|iso=o or u|l=tl|s=Tglg|ch=ᜂ|color=violet}}
| colspan=2 |
|- 
|
|{{ letter|iso=i or e|l=tl|s=Tglg|ch=◌̇|color=violet}}
|{{ letter|iso=o or u|l=tl|s=Tglg|ch=◌̣|color=violet}}
|{{letter|l=tl|s=Tglg|ch=◌᜔ |note=krus-kudlít|color=violet}}
|{{letter|l=tl|s=Tglg|ch=◌᜕ |note=pamudpod|color=violet}}
|}

{|class="wikitable"
|+ The base characters with all consonant-vowel and virama combinations
|-
|{{letter|iso=ka|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜃ}}
|{{letter|iso=ga|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜄ}}
|{{letter|iso=nga|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜅ}}
|{{letter|iso=ta|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜆ}}
|{{letter|iso=da|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜇ|note={{noteTag|name=allo|group=consonants|Originally, there was only one symbol, or character, for ''da'' and ''ra'', as they were allophones in many languages of the Philippines; ''ra'' occurred in intervocalic positions and ''da'' elsewhere.<ref name=paulmorrow/> Regional {{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} variants such as Sambal, Basahan, and Ibalnan {{strong|do}} have separate symbols for ''da'' and ''ra'', as does Modern {{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} (the Sambal or Zambales ''ra'' is {{Script|Tglg|ᜟ}}, while the modern ''ra'' is {{Script|Tglg|ᜍ}}, with the modern one being derived from {{Script|Tglg|ᜇ}}). At least in traditional and most modern variants of {{Lang|tl|Baybayin}}, shared symbols are also used to represent both ''pa'' and ''fa'', ''ba'' and ''va'', and ''sa'' and ''za'', which were also allophonic. Note that some "post-modern" variants have invented characters for ''fa'', ''va'', and ''za'', among others.}}}}
|{{letter|iso=na|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜈ}}
|{{letter|iso=pa, fa|note={{noteTag|name=allo}}|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜉ}}
|{{letter|iso=ba, va||note={{noteTag|name=allo}}|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜊ}}
|{{letter|iso=ma|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜋ}}
|{{letter|iso=ya|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜌ}}
|{{letter|iso=ra|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜍ}}
|{{letter|iso=la|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜎ}}
|{{letter|iso=wa|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜏ}}
|{{letter|iso=sa, za|note={{noteTag|name=allo}}|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜐ}}
|{{letter|iso=ha|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜑ}}
|- 
|{{letter|iso=ki, ke|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜃᜒ|tops=ᜃ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=gi, ge|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜄᜒ|tops=ᜄ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=ngi, nge|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜅᜒ|tops=ᜅ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=ti, te|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜆᜒ|tops=ᜆ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=di, de|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜇᜒ|tops=ᜇ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=ni, ne|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜈᜒ|tops=ᜈ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=pi, fi{{br}}pe, fe|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜉᜒ|tops=ᜉ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=bi, vi{{br}}be, ve|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜊᜒ|tops=ᜊ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=mi, me|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜋᜒ|tops=ᜋ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=yi, ye|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜌᜒ|tops=ᜌ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=ri, re|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜍᜒ|tops=ᜍ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=li, le|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜎᜒ|tops=ᜎ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=wi, we|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜏᜒ|tops=ᜏ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=si, se{{br}}zi, ze|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜐᜒ|tops=ᜐ + ◌̇}}
|{{letter|iso=hi, he|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜑᜒ|tops=ᜑ + ◌̇}}
|-
|{{letter|iso=ko, ku|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜃᜓ|tops=ᜃ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=go, gu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜄᜓ|tops=ᜄ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=ngo, ngu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜅᜓ|tops=ᜅ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=to, tu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜆᜓ|tops=ᜆ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=do, du|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜇᜓ|tops=ᜇ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=no, nu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜈᜓ|tops=ᜈ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=po, fo{{br}}pu, fu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜉᜓ|tops=ᜉ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=bo, vo{{br}}bu, vu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜊᜓ|tops=ᜊ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=mo, mu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜋᜓ|tops=ᜋ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=yo, yu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜌᜓ|tops=ᜌ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=ro, ru|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜍᜓ|tops=ᜍ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=lo, lu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch= ᜎᜓ|tops=ᜎ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=wo, wu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜏᜓ|tops=ᜏ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=so, zo{{br}}su, zu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜐᜓ|tops=ᜐ + ◌̣}}
|{{letter|iso=ho, hu|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜑᜓ|tops=ᜑ + ◌̣}}
|-
|{{letter|ipa=/k/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜃ᜕<br />ᜃ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/g/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜄ᜕<br />ᜄ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/ŋ/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜅ᜕<br />ᜅ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/t/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜆ᜕<br />ᜆ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/d/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜇ᜕<br />ᜇ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/n/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜈ᜕<br />ᜈ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/p/, /f/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜉ᜕<br />ᜉ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/b/, /v/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜊ᜕<br />ᜊ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/m/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜋ᜕<br />ᜋ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/j/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜌ᜕<br />ᜌ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/r/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜍ᜕<br />ᜍ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/l/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜎ᜕<br />ᜎ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/w/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜏ᜕<br />ᜏ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/s/, /z/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜐ᜕<br />ᜐ᜔}}
|{{letter|ipa=/h/|l=tl|s=Tglg|color=violet|ch=ᜑ᜕<br />ᜑ᜔}}
|}




{{noteFoot|group=consonants}}

=== Punctuation and spacing ===
{{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} originally used only one punctuation mark ({{Script|Tglg|᜶}}), which was called ''Bantasán''.{{sfn|Potet|2018|p=95}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Noceda |first=Juan |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.aqj5903.0001.001&view=image&seq=61 |title=Vocabulario de la lengua tagala |date=1754 |publisher=Impr. de Ramirez y Giraudier |page=39}}</ref> Today {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} uses two punctuation marks, the Philippine single ({{Script|Tglg|᜵}}) punctuation, acting as a comma or verse splitter in poetry, and the double punctuation ({{Script|Tglg|᜶}}), acting as a period or end of paragraph. These punctuation marks are similar to single and double [[danda]] signs in other Indic Abugidas and may be presented vertically like Indic dandas, or slanted like forward slashes. The signs are unified across the Philippines scripts and were encoded by Unicode in the [[Hanunoo alphabet|Hanunóo script]] block.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 2020 |title=Chapter 17: Indonesia and Oceania, Philippine Scripts |url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode13.0.0/ch17.pdf#G26723 |publisher=Unicode Consortium}}</ref> Space separation of words was historically not used as words were written in a continuous flow, but is common today.<ref name=paulmorrow/>

=== Alphabetical order ===
In the ''[[Doctrina Christiana]]'', the letters were ordered without any connection with other similar scripts, except for sorting vowels before consonants as:
:{{Script|Tglg|ᜀ ᜂ ᜁ ᜑ ᜉ ᜃ ᜐ ᜎ ᜆ ᜈ ᜊ ᜋ ᜄ ᜇ ᜌ ᜅ ᜏ}}<br>a, u/o, i/e; ha, pa, ka, sa, la, ta, na, ba, ma, ga, da/ra, ya, nga, wa.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doctrina Cristiana |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16119/16119-h/16119-h.htm#d0e129 |website=Project Gutenberg}}</ref>
In Unicode the letters are ordered in a similar way to other Indic scripts, by phonetic class.
: {{Script|Tglg|ᜀ ᜁ ᜂ ᜃ ᜄ ᜅ ᜆ ᜇ ᜈ ᜉ ᜊ ᜋ ᜌ ᜍ ᜎ ᜏ ᜐ ᜑ}}<br>a, i/e, o/u; ka, ga, nga; ta, da, na; pa, ba, ma; ya, ra, la; wa, sa, ha.<ref name="UnicodeTagalog">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1700.pdf|title=Unicode Baybayin Tagalog variant}}</ref>

===Way of writing===
{{TextDir| |historic=BT-LR|traditional=LR-TB|modern=LR-TB|none|exp}}
According to Scott, when the sign for ba has to be read as be / bi, it has a ''kudlit'' (a small "v" shaped diacritic sign) on the left (or above), if it has to be read as bu / bo, the kudlit is on the right (resp. below). The ancient characters of Tagalog and Camarines people had its own character for /r/, in contrast to more common modern Baybayin version and Ilokano Kurdita.<ref name="William Scott">{{cite book|title=Barangay|last=Scott|first=William Henry|publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press|language=en|page=186|year=2004|isbn=971-550-135-4}}</ref> In his time the kaldit was called {{lang|bik|kaholoan}} or {{lang|bik|holo}} according to [[Marcos de Lisboa]], author of the earliest dictionary of Bikol.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|entry-url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/aqa2025.0001.001/87?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=caholoan|entry=caholoan|page=86|last=Lisboa|first=Maŕcos de|authorlink=Marcos de Lisboa|title=Vocabulario de la Lengua Bicol|year=1865|lang=es, bik|access-date=2019-12-01|quote=CAHOLOAN.  pc. Una virgula de esta manera, V. que ponen á los lados de sus caractéres, etc.}}</ref><ref name="William Scott" />

According to Lisboa, the writing of the old Bikolnons started from the bottom up, writing to the right.<ref>[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/AQA2025.0001.001/364?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=ta] p. 363. Vocabulario de la lengua bicol. Kinua 10-16-20</ref><ref name="William Scott" /> However, some scholars such as Ignacio Villamor who have studied the 'basahan' of pre-Hispanic Filipinos strongly emphasize that they all wrote the scriptures in a straight line starting from left to right, then returning to the left at the beginning, keep writing right.<ref>Villamor, Ignacio. La Antigua Escritura Filipina.Tip. Pontificia Del Colegio De Sto. Tomas.publ. 1922.</ref>

==Contemporary usage and revival==
A number of legislative bills have been proposed periodically aimed at promoting the writing system, including the "National Writing System Act" (House Bill 1022<ref>{{cite PH act |chamber=HB |number=1022 |date=4 July 2016 |url=http://congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_17/HB01022.pdf |access-date=24 September 2018 |title=Declaring "Baybayin" as the National Writing System of the Philippines, Providing for Its Promotion, Protection, Preservation and Conservation, and for Other Purposes |publisher=[[17th Congress of the Philippines#House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] |archive-date=26 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191126193202/http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_17/HB01022.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>/Senate Bill 433).<ref>{{Citation |title=Senate Bill No. 433 |date=19 July 2016 |url=https://senate.gov.ph/lis/bill_res.aspx?congress=17&q=SBN-433 |access-date=24 September 2018 |mode=cs1 |via=[[17th Congress of the Philippines#Senate|17th Philippine Senate]]}}</ref>

There are attempts to modernize Baybayin, such as adding letters like R, C, V, Z, F, Q, and X that are not originally on the script in order to make writing modern Filipino words easier such as the word '''Zambales''' and other provinces and towns in the Philippines that have Spanish origins.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de los Santos |first1=Norman |title=SAVING ENDANGERED PHILIPPINE NATIVE SCRIPTS IN A MODERN DIGITAL WORLD THROUGH TYPOGRAPHY, TECHNOLOGY, AND STANDARDIZATION |date=2014 |journal=ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies|page=24 |url=https://lingdy.aa-ken.jp/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/140227-intl-symp-and-ws_norman_de_los_santos_paper.pdf}}</ref>

Baybayin was used in the most current [[Banknotes of the Philippine peso#New Generation Currency series (current)|New Generation Currency series of the Philippine peso]] issued in the last quarter of 2010. The word used on the bills was "Pilipino" ({{Script|Tglg|ᜉᜒᜎᜒᜉᜒᜈᜓ}}).

It is also used in [[Philippine passport]]s, specifically the latest [[Biometric passport|e-passport]] edition issued 11 August 2009 onwards. The odd pages of pages 3–43 have "{{Script|Tglg|ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜃᜆᜓᜏᜒᜇᜈ᜔ ᜀᜌ᜔ ᜈᜄ᜔ᜉᜉᜇᜃᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜁᜐᜅ᜔ ᜊᜌᜈ᜔}}" ("{{lang|tl|Ang katuwiran ay nagpapadakila sa isang bayan}}"/"Righteousness exalts a nation") in reference to [[Book of Proverbs|Proverbs]] 14:34.

<gallery>
File:Philippine passport (2016 edition) Baybayin.jpg|Philippine passport showing the Baybayin script
File:Philippine revolution flag magdiwang.svg|Flag of the [[Katipunan]] [[Magdiwang (Katipunan faction)|Magdiwang faction]], with the {{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} letter ''ka''
File:National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).svg|Seal of the [[National Historical Commission of the Philippines]], with the two Baybayin ''ka'' and ''pa'' letters in the center
File:National Library of the Philippines (NLP).svg|Logo of the [[National Library of the Philippines]]. The Baybayin text reads {{langx|tl|label=none|{{Script|Tglg|ᜃᜇᜓᜈᜓᜅᜈ᜔}}|karunungan|wisdom}}
File:National Museum of the Philippines.svg|Logo of the [[National Museum of the Philippines]], with a Baybayin ''pa'' letter in the center, in a traditional rounded style
File:CulturalCenterPH.svg|Logo of the [[Cultural Center of the Philippines]], with three rotated occurrences of the Baybayin ''ka'' letter
File:NCCA Logo.svg|Logo of [[National Commission for Culture and the Arts]], with the {{lang|tl|Baybayin}} letter ''ka'' stylized as an [[eternal flame]]
File:Gawad Lakandula.png|The insignia of the [[Order of Lakandula]] with the name ''[[Lakandula]]'', in the middle, read counterclockwise from the top
File:National Living Treasures Award logo.svg|Logo of the [[National Living Treasures Award (Philippines)|National Living Treasures Award]] with the words ''Manlilikha ng Bayan''
File:Panitik Silangan, September 1963.png|The front page of the publication "Panitik Silangan", mostly printed in Baybayin, September 1963
</gallery>

==Derivative scripts==
{{main|Buhid script|Hanunuo script|Tagbanwa script|Kulitan}}
Bayabin's surviving descendant scripts include the [[Tagbanwa script]], also known as known as ''ibalnan'' by the [[Palawan people]], who have adopted it, the [[Buhid script]] and the [[Hanunuo script|Hanunóo script]] of [[Mindoro]]. The modern [[Kulitan|Kulitan script]] is a unique script that employs consonant stacking and is derived from Old Kapampangan, the precolonial Indic script used to write the [[Kapampangan language]], and [[Spelling reform|reformed]]  in recent decades.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

==Sample texts==
===Article one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights===
;Tagalog in Baybayin script;
{{lang|tl|{{Script|Tglg|ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜎᜑᜆ᜔ ᜅ᜔ ᜆᜂ ᜀᜌ᜔  ᜁᜐᜒᜈᜒᜎᜅ᜔ ᜈ ᜋᜎᜌ
ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜉᜈ᜔ᜆᜌ᜔ᜉᜈ᜔ᜆᜌ᜔ ᜐ ᜃᜍᜅᜎᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜅ ᜃᜍᜉᜆᜈ᜔᜶. ᜐᜒᜎ ᜀᜌ᜔ ᜉᜒᜈᜄ᜔ᜃᜎᜓᜂᜊᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜃᜆᜓᜏᜒᜍᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜊᜓᜇ᜔ᜑᜒ
ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜇᜉᜆ᜔ ᜋᜄ᜔ᜉᜎᜄᜌᜈ᜔ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜁᜐᜆ᜔ ᜁᜐ ᜐ ᜇᜒᜏ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜆᜒᜍᜈ᜔᜶}}}}
;Romanized
{{lang|tl|Ang lahát ng tao ay isinilang na malayà at pantáy-pantáy sa karangalan at mangá karapatán. Sila ay pinagkalooban nang katuwiran at budhî at dapat magpalagayan ang isá't isá sa diwà nang pagkákapatíran.}}
;English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

=== Motto of the Philippines ===
;Tagalog in Baybayin script
{{lang|tl|{{Script|Tglg|ᜋᜃᜇᜒᜌᜓᜐ᜔᜵ ᜋᜃᜆᜂ᜵ ᜋᜃᜃᜎᜒᜃᜐᜈ᜔᜵ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜃᜊᜈ᜔ᜐ᜶ ᜁᜐᜅ᜔ ᜊᜈ᜔ᜐ᜵ ᜁᜐᜅ᜔ ᜇᜒᜏ᜶}}}}
;Romanized
{{lang|tl|Maka-Diyós, Maka-Tao, Makakalikasan, at Makabansâ. Isáng Bansâ, Isáng Diwà}}
;English
For God, for people, for nature, and for country. One country, one spirit.

=== National anthem ===
The first two verses of the Philippine [[national anthem]], ''[[Lupang Hinirang]]''.
{{col-float|style=margin-right:1em}}
;Tagalog in Baybayin script
{{lang|tl|{{Script|Tglg|ᜊᜌᜅ᜔ ᜋᜄᜒᜎᜒᜏ᜔᜵{{br}}
ᜉᜒᜍ᜔ᜎᜐ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜐᜒᜎᜅᜈᜈ᜔᜵{{br}}
ᜀᜎᜊ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜓᜐᜓ᜵{{br}}
ᜐ ᜇᜒᜊ᜔ᜇᜒᜊ᜔ ᜋᜓᜌ᜔ ᜊᜓᜑᜌ᜔᜶{{br}}{{br}}
ᜎᜓᜉᜅ᜔ ᜑᜒᜈᜒᜍᜅ᜔᜵{{br}}
ᜇᜓᜌᜈ᜔ ᜃ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜋᜄᜒᜆᜒᜅ᜔᜵{{br}}
ᜐ ᜋᜈ᜔ᜎᜓᜎᜓᜉᜒᜄ᜔᜵{{br}}
ᜇᜒ ᜃ ᜉᜐᜒᜐᜒᜁᜎ᜔᜶}}}}
{{col-float-break|style=padding-left:1em;border-left:1px solid #ccc; margin-right:1em}}
;Romanized
{{lang|tl|Bayang magiliw,{{br}}
Perlas ng silanganan,{{br}}
Alab ng puso{{br}}
Sa dibdib mo'y buhay.{{br}}{{br}}
Lupang hinirang,{{br}}
Duyan ka ng magiting,{{br}}
Sa manlulupig{{br}}
Di ka pasisiil.{{br}}}}
{{col-float-break|style=padding: 0 1em;border-left:1px solid #ccc; margin: 0 1em}}
;[[International phonetic alphabet]]
{{IPA|[ˈbaː.jɐŋ mɐˈɣiː.liʊ̯]{{br}}
[ˈpɛɾ.lɐs n̪ɐŋ sɪ.lɐˈŋaː.n̪ɐn̪]{{br}}
[ˈʔaː.lɐb n̪ɐŋ ˈpuː.so(ʔ)]{{br}}
[sɐ d̪ɪbˈd̪ib moɪ̯ bʊˈhaɪ̯]{{br}}{{br}}
[ˈluː.pɐŋ hɪˈn̪iː.ɾɐŋ]{{br}}
[ˈd̪uː.jɐn̪ kɐ n̪ɐŋ mɐˈɣiː.t̪ɪŋ]{{br}}
[ˌsa mɐn̪.lʊˈluː.pɪɡ̚]{{br}}
[ˌd̪i(ʔ) kɐ pɐ.sɪ.sɪˈʔil]{{br}}}}
{{col-float-break|style=padding: 0 1em;border-left:1px solid #ccc; margin: 0 1em}}
;English
Land of the morning,{{br}}
Child of the sun returning,{{br}}
With fervor burning{{br}}
Thee do our souls adore.{{br}}
{{br}}
Land dear and holy,{{br}}
Cradle of noble heroes,{{br}}
Ne'er shall invaders{{br}}
Trample thy sacred shores.{{br}}
{{col-float-end}}

== Unicode ==
{{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} was added to the [[Unicode]] Standard in March, 2002 with the release of version 3.2.

===Block===
{{Main|Tagalog (Unicode block)}}
The Unicode block for {{Lang|tl|Baybayin}} is called "Tagalog" and covers U+1700–U+171F:

{{Unicode chart Tagalog}}

== Keyboard ==

=== Gboard ===
[[File:Baybayin Keyboad by Gboard Screenshot.png|thumb|A screenshot image of the {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} keyboard on Gboard.]]
The [[virtual keyboard]] [[Mobile app|app]] [[Gboard]] developed by [[Google]] for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] and [[iOS]] devices was updated on 1 August 2019<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 August 2019 |title=Baybayin in Gboard App Now Available |url=https://techmagus.icu/baybayin-gboard-now-available/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801125919/https://techmagus.icu/baybayin-gboard-now-available/ |archive-date=1 August 2019 |access-date=1 August 2019 |website=Techmagus}}</ref> with its list of supported languages. This includes all Unicode {{Lang|tl|[[Philippine Scripts]]}} blocks. Included are "Buhid", "Hanunuo", ''baybayin'' as "Filipino (Baybayin)", and the Tagbanwa script as "Aborlan".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 August 2019 |title=Activate and Use Baybayin in Gboard |url=https://techmagus.icu/activate-baybayin-gboard/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801072641/https://techmagus.icu/activate-baybayin-gboard/ |archive-date=1 August 2019 |access-date=1 August 2019 |website=Techmagus }}</ref> The ''baybayin'' layout, "Filipino (Baybayin)", is designed such that when the user presses the character, vowel markers (''kudlít'') for e/i and o/u, as well as the ''virama'' (vowel sound cancellation) are selectable.

=== Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout with {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} ===
It is possible to type {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} directly from one's keyboard without the need to use [[web applications]] which implement an [[input method]]. The Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout<ref name="techmagus">{{Cite web |title=Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout |url=https://techmagus.icu/paninap-unicode-keyboard-layout/the-philippines-national-keyboard-layout/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726033435/https://techmagus.icu/paninap-unicode-keyboard-layout/the-philippines-national-keyboard-layout/ |archive-date=26 July 2019 |access-date=1 August 2019 |website=Techmagus }}</ref> includes different sets of {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} layout for different keyboard users: QWERTY, Capewell-Dvorak, Capewell-QWERF 2006, Colemak, and Dvorak, all of which work in both Microsoft Windows and Linux.

This keyboard layout {{Lang|tl|baybayin}} can be downloaded [https://bitbucket.org/paninap/ph-ukl/ here].

==See also==
* [[Filipino orthography]]
**[[Philippine Scripts]]
***[[Buhid script]]
***[[Hanunoo script|Hanuno'o script]]
***[[Tagbanwa script]]
***[[Kulitan alphabet|Kulitan]]
***[[Basahan]]
*[[Kawi script|Kawi]]
**[[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]]
**[[Butuan Silver Paleograph]]
**[[Butuan Ivory Seal]]

* [[Tagalog language]]
** [[Old Tagalog]]

* [[History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia]]
** [[Abugida]]
** [[Indian cultural influences in early Philippine polities]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Works cited==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Delgado |first=Juan José |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aqp5054.0001.001 |title=Historia General sacro-profana, política y natural de las Islas del Poniente llamadas Filipinas |date=1892 |publisher=Imp. de el Eco de Filipinas |location=Manila |language=es |via=University of Michigan Library}}
* {{Cite book |last=Diringer |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1287 |title=The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind |date=1948 |publisher=Hutchinson's Scientific and Technical Publications |via=Archive.org |edition=Second and revised |location=London}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Donoso |first=Isaac |date=2019 |title=Letra de Meca: Jawi Script in the Tagalog Region During the 16th Century |url=https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/JAT/article/view/16534 |journal=Journal of Al-Tamaddun |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=89–103 |doi=10.22452/JAT.vol14no1.8 |doi-access=free|hdl=10045/93950 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |last=Duka |first=Cecilio D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4wk8yqCEmJUC |title=Struggle for Freedom: A Textbook on Philippine History |date=2008 |publisher=Rex Book Store |isbn=978-971-23-5045-0 |location=Manila}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chirino |first=Pedro |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/AQN8202.0001.001 |title=Relación de las Islas Filipinas y de lo que en ellas han trabajado los padres de la Compañía de Jesús: del P. Pedro Chirino |date=1890 |publisher=Imprenta de D. Esteban Balbas |edition=2nd |location=Manila |language=es |orig-date=First published 1604 |via=University of Michigan Library}}
* {{Cite book |last=Halili |first=Maria Christine N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUt5v8ET4QYC |title=Philippine History |date=2004 |publisher=Rex Book Store |isbn=978-971-23-3934-9 |location=Manila}}
* {{Cite book |last=Potet |first=Jean-Paul G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ca5XDwAAQBAJ |title=Ancient Beliefs and Customs of the Tagalogs |date=2017 |publisher=Lulu Press |isbn=978-0-244-34873-1 |location=Morrisville, North Carolina}}
* {{Cite book |last=Potet |first=Jean-Paul G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHGADwAAQBAJ |title=Baybayin: The Syllabic Alphabet of the Tagalogs |date=2018 |publisher=Lulu Press |isbn=978-0-244-14241-4 |location=Raleigh, North Carolina}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sagar |first=Krishna Chandra |title=An Era of Peace |date=2002 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |location=New Delhi}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scott |first=William Henry |title=Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History |date=1984 |publisher=New Day Publishers |location=Quezon City |author-link=William Henry Scott (historian)}}
* {{cite book|last=Salomon|first=Richard|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYrG07qQDxkC|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-535666-3}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{commonscat-inline}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140201135616/http://www.congress.gov.ph/download/basic_16/HB00160.pdf House Bill 160, aka the ''National Script Act of 2011'']

*[https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Tagalog Noto Sans Tagalog]
*[https://fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/2100603/iskriturang-guhit sample of Basahan script font]
*[https://omniglot.com/writing/basahan.htm Basahan]
{{Kawi family}}
{{Philippine scripts}}
{{list of writing systems}}
{{India-related topics in Philippines}}
{{Symbols of the Philippines}}

[[Category:Brahmic scripts]]
[[Category:Philippine scripts]]
[[Category:Tagalog language]]
[[Category:Filipino language]]