Baybayin, the Syllabic Alphabet of the Tagalogs

Download or read book Baybayin, the Syllabic Alphabet of the Tagalogs written by Jean-Paul G. POTET and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Spaniards conquered the Philippines (Cebu 1565, Manila 1571), they noticed several of its nations had a writing system of their own, called Baybáyin in Tagalog. It was a king of short-hand that did not make it possible to record closing consonants; thus i-lu in Baybáyin could represent í-log "river", i-lóng "nose" or it-lóg "egg", so much so that, while easy to write, it was difficult to read. Because of this shortcoming, it gave way to the Latin alphabet in the course of the 17th century. Nowadays Filipino graphic artists are reviving Baybáyin to express their philippineness.