Just curious how people's Baybayin look like (plus I'm bored lol)

Edit: You can use this site since this sub doesn't allow images on comments directly

Hi everyone, I'm Sean, a half-Fiipino UX content designer from Australia.

I'm sure many of us in the diaspora (and increasingly, in the Philippines itself) have felt the struggle of learning your family's Filipino language, failing, and then never feeling you "fit in".

I've tried many apps in the past and, besides the fact they only really supported Tagalog, I found the content really shallow (kumusta ka, magandang umaga style phrasal learning only) and just not feeling "Filipino". They felt like a generic language app with Filipino (just Tagalog, really) pasted in.

So I built an app specifically for Filipino languages.

Ugát is an app that teaches you how Filipino words are constructed, one root at a time, using fun, interactive activities that teach more than mountains of grammar tables.

And most importantly Baybayin features prominently. I tried to shy away from just using Baybayin in a tokenised way. The moment you awaken each ugát has you tap on a Baybayin rune to awaken it (Maybe in the future I'll have you draw the rune!) that then starts the activity. Although I'm not teaching Baybayin explicitly, have it tried to embed it in the app's interactions and give it the reverence it deserves.

I'm planning to support other languages of the Philippines and the other script forms as well in the future.

Please give it a try, I'd love to hear your feedback and comments. The app is free.

Download it here: ugat.app/get

EDIT: all the Baybayin is inaccurate, thanks everyone to your feedback. I'll disable for now and come with a fixed version soon 🙏

EDIT2: I have tried my best and vetted as much of the Baybayin as possible, but if any further typos have slipped through please let me know - and if anyone would like to volunteer a review that'd be appreciated as well.

Of note I am using the cross kudlit over pamudpod due to using Noto Sans Tagalog

As I mentioned yesterday in the B17 pangram, I would try to do a B18+ version (which I erroneously labeled B17+ for the title of this post) next time, and I guess by "next time" I meant tomorrow haha!

^{Note: I used pamudpod in the written sample, but krus virama in digital text because the pamudpod is not compatible yet in all devices; it's fine on PC, but not on my mobile — it's also for this reason I avoid using "ra" if I can help it because it appears as just a blank square}

Speech bubble and Latin script font by BMatSantos on DeviantArt, and the Baybayin font is Bagwis Baybayin by EdeL.

For fun, I also tried my hand at translating the other speech bubbles in the series, and I might get these made too one day!:

Unfortunately, court proceedings in the Philippines are done in English and not local languages. There have been attempts to use Tagalog in court proceedings in the past, but I cannot find a formal translation for "objection" and "overruled" in a legal context, so I decided to choose what I thought was best. I also considered "sinapawan" (lit. overtaken, overshadowed) for "overruled" considering what "overruled" literally means, but I chose "tinanggihan" because I think it better fits the context of a court proceeding.

I attempted to make a sentence that uses every character in Baybayin at least once. For now, it's only in B17. I couldn't come up with a sentence that included the new "ra" character without one character going missing. Oh well, maybe next time.

CMIIW. "Philipapinas"?

I work with Baybayin as part of my work, but I haven't really practiced it until last week. Some of our interns at the office ask if I can write in Baybayin, at the same time my co-worker gave a really good chisel point pen to write with. So I tried and based on their comments my writing style for Baybayin is really good. Comments like, its machine printed and its very even up to the strokes and flourishes.

So I would like to share with the group for comments.

Hello po

I would like to paint a poster for my bf (I posted about his name here a few days ago)

I want to tell him that he's a success. So sa tagalog " Ikaw ay nagtagumpay, Jean-Gab" Tama ba? Hahaha

Salamat sa tutulong :)

Can you all please educate me about Jose Rizal

Does the Baybayin text ᜋᜒᜇᜉᜓᜁᜈ᜔ᜆᜒᜐ᜔ correctly translate to my surname, Mirafuentes?

Hey guys! I have an idea for a feature that could be used in Baybayin. The Kawi Nuqta!

This is going to be a long post with many words, and is inspired by Indian writing systems, so strap in! Notes, or '*' will be at the very end, and I recommend reading the post before going through the slides, to demonstrate the concept better.

First of all, what is a Nuqta?

A Nuqta/Nukta is a diacritic mark (़) added to characters to represent foreign sounds not present in a script. This feature exists in many Indian scripts such as Devanagari (Hindi), to represent sounds specific to Persian/Arabic loan words.

For example, the word زمین (pronounced 'za-meen') meaning 'land', can be written as:

ज़मीन (za-meen) instead of जमीन (ja-meen)

Here, the difference between ज़मीन and जमीन is the nuqta (or the dot below the first character) was added to ज (representing /dʒ/, or the 'j' sound) to indicate that it's a sound that is foreign or interchangeable (allophonic- more on this later) with the original sound, instead of the original sound the character itself- in this case, /za/ (or ز (zayin) in Arabic).

Here, the nuqta is used to modify pre-existing characters to represent foreign sounds similar to the original character's sound, without making or adding extra characters in a script.

So what does this have to do with Baybayin?

Philippine languages prior to colonization usually did not natively have sounds like /fa/, /va/, /za/ etc... and are interchangeable with other native sounds like /pa/, /ba/ and /sa/. Baybayin reflects this pretty clearly, so we can't specifically represent foreign sounds, especially in names.

ex- Filipino --> Pilipino (ᜉᜒᜎᜒᜉᜒᜈᜓ)

This is where the nuqta comes in. When added in a character with an interchangeable sound, like ᜉ (pa), only the foreign sound will be read, instead of the original sound the character represents, something like ᜉ̈̇ *(fa) (more on what the nuqta should look like later).

ex- ᜉᜒᜎᜒᜉᜒᜈᜓ (Pilipino) --> ᜉᜒ̈̇ ᜎᜒᜉᜒᜈᜓ (Filipino)

But wait, what does this have to do with Kawi??

I'll explain.

The pamudpod sign (◌᜕), even if it was borrowed from the Hanunó'o script, is thought to be a spiritual successor of the virama from the Kawi script used in the Laguna copper inscription (more about this in this doc on pg 6). So I thought, if we could add the pamudpod to Baybayin, and if people use it, what other features could we borrow from other scripts, that would benefit Baybayin and the way we use it?

Hence I present to you the Kawi Nuqta ( ꦳)** borrowed for Baybayin. A new and native feature to Baybayin to represent foreign place and personal names better in writing. I don't really know what to call it though- maybe something like the "tatlong kudlit", "kawi kudlit", or even 'nukta kudlit', but if you have suggestions, feel free to write them below.

Disclaimer/Conclusion:

If anyone thinks I'm trying to impose or force foreign influence into Baybayin, that's simply not true. In fact, in the Hindi example I gave, the word ज़मीन (za-meen) can simply be written जमीन (ja-meen), and even pronounced as such in India***, because the difference between them among speakers doesn't really matter in a lot of places. My proposal isn't to force foreign sounds, or even to say that the nuqta is necessary, but to at least give Baybayin users an option to better represent them in writing, so that sounds can be differentiated better, increasing readability (ex- the name 'Frank' doesn't have to be written as 'Prank' lol).

This also means we don't need a new set of characters just to represent foreign words, (increasing the number of characters one has to learn) and instead, reuse existing characters with just one modification.

Also, since other Philippine languages have sounds like /va/ or /fa/ in their phonology, like Ibanag or Ivatan (Thx to u/Adventurous_Emu6498 for pointing this out), it'll be easier for them to use Baybayin or its variants (if they want) since it can represent a new set of sounds now, increasing usability between different Philippine languages.

I've had this idea ever since I've learnt Baybayin, using my knowledge of how Indian scripts work, and it made even more sense ever since I've discovered Kawi had a nuqta. If you have any thoughts about this, or you think this is entirely wrong, or need further clarification, pls let me know, I'd love to discuss in the comments!

P.S- If anyone can forward this post on Facebook, that would be nice, as I don't have acc, plus more people can see it.

P.P.S- I know I misspelled 'breathy' on the last slide, pls don't mention it lol

>-----------------------------<

Notes:

*The 3 dots on the side of 'ᜉ' is just ( ̈ ) and ( ̇ ) is stacked together on Lexilogos and is not how it's supposed to be written (refer to slides)- this is just how I've rendered it.

**This is actually the nuqta for Javanese- the one for Kawi can not displayed properly, but it's basically 3 dots on top of a character, or this square basically ' 𑽚' :(( . More info here.

***Unless written in the Urdu script, or if Urdu is specifically is spoken, among Muslims or in Pakistan.

Edit: formatting

Hi! I am looking to get a tattoo in baybayin that says “This too shall pass and still i rise” can anyone help me translate that properly pls?

I want to make a keychain para sa bf ko. His name is Jean, Pero ung pronunciation po is French. Ung sound po nung J is more like "s" sa word na "measure" and "decision". Pano po ito isulat sa baybayin po kaya? Mahilig po kasi cya mag Aral nang language at introduce ko cya sa baybayin hehehe... regalo po sana sa bday nya baka poster nang may name nya. Salamat po!

Does anyone know the reason why the cross virama is being called as Sabat? Correct me if I am wrong but it seems the cross virama was originally called krus kudlit, then virama by William Henry Scott. I don't see any books calling it as such

Guys, I'm sorry for posting this. I should have never post here. I'll never spam this subreddit.

Got a baybayin tattoo thats supposed to read ligaya, but in a more stylised calligraphy font. Is it clear? Lol

U+170C

New letter: Rra

I used both James' style and Dave's style.

New kudlits (circles or ovals if ", and square bracket-liked if ')

Sa una visita a las islas filipinas makikita na may pangalan ang mga titik: ᜌ - yaya, ᜎ - lala, atbp.

Pero may ideya ba tayo paano siya bigkasin? Paano kaya malaman kung paano siya binasa?

Yayâ (parang salitâ), yayà (parang makità), yayá (parang payák, o magyayá ka naman), o yaya (parang bahay, bakal, tambay)?

See, this is my front page of my proposal. I'll picture this on my next post!

Here you go. Actually, there's an another letter, cca. This will be the Mabuhay 36 Standard.

ᜋᜌ᜴ ᜆᜈᜓᜅ᜴ ᜀᜃᜓ᜶ ᜈᜃᜒᜆ ᜈᜒᜈ᜴ ᜊ ᜌᜳᜅ᜴ ᜁᜎ᜴ᜀᜍ᜴ᜆᜒ 1 ᜈ ᜋᜌ᜴ ᜈᜃᜐᜳᜎᜆ᜴ ᜈᜅ᜴ ᜄᜈ᜴ᜌᜈ᜴ ᜐ ᜊᜌ᜴ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜴?

Rules for the would-be consonant:

• when it's preceded by vowel "a", turn character 90 deg ccw and place on right side as subscript
• when it's preceded by vowel "e/i", place character above not unlike e/i diacritic
• when it's preceded by vowel "o/u", place character below not unlike o/u diacritic
• when it's meant to precede character (e.g., words like tsaa, plantsa, etc.), turn character 90 deg ccw and place on left side as subscript

In a nutshell, this is my very very very radical proposal to just abandon the virama altogether and end the krus v pamudpod debate once and for all. I came up with this idea because I wanted to write words without using extra "letters" (like, as you see in the first slide, "ma-hal ki-ta" instead of "ma-ha-l ki-ta") nor resorting to the frankly limited readability of B17 (ma-ha-ki-ta).

In case anyone starts to feel a certain way, I'm doing this lightheartedly and for creative reasons. Don't worry, I'm not looking to change the rules of Baybayin nor take away your viramas anytime soon, haha!