Hanunoo

Hanunóo script   Hanunoo

The Hanunóo or Mangyan script is one of a number of closely related
scripts used in the Philippines until the 17th Century. It is thought
to have descended from the Kawi script of Java, Bali and Sumatra, which
in turn descended from the Pallava script, one of the southern Indian
scripts derived from Brahmi.

Hanunóo writing is used mainly to write love songs or
ʼambāhan, and also for correspondence. About 70%
of the Hanunóo are able to read and write their language, and there
is at least one person in each family who is literate.

Notable features

  • Hanunóo is a syllabic alphabet in which each consonant has an inherent
    vowel [a]. Other vowels are indicated by diacritics.
  • Hanunóo is traditionally written with the point of a knife on bamboo
    in vertical columns from bottom to top and left to right. Though it is usually
    read from left to right in horizontal lines.
  • Syllable final consonants are not written and readers have to use context
    to work out which final consonants are intended.

Used to write

Hanunóo, an Austronesian language spoken in the southern
part of the Philippine island of Mindoro by about 10,000 to 12,000 people. Speakers
of this language are known as Hanunóo or Hanunóo-Mangyan. The term
Mangyan is the collective name for the eight indigenous peoples of Mindoro.

Hanunóo syllabic alphabet

The letters are all pronunced in the same way as their IPA equivalents, with
the exception of ng = [ŋ] and y = [j].

Links

Ancient Hanunoo Philippine Script
http://iloko.tripod.com/Hanunoo.html

Information about the Hanunoo/Mangyan people
http://kcm.co.kr/bethany_eng/p_code3/1118.html

Mangyan Heritage Center
http://www.mangyan.org

Ancient scripts of the Philippines (in English and Tagalog)
http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm

Ancient scripts of the Philippines
http://iloko.tripod.com/scripts.html

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