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| Lontara | |
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| Type | Abugida |
| Spoken languages | Buginese language, Makassarese language, Mandar language |
| Time period | 17th century – present |
| Parent systems | |
| Sister systems | Balinese Batak Baybayin Buhid Hanunó'o Javanese Old Sundanese Rencong Rejang Rencong Tagbanwa |
| Unicode range | U+1A00–U+1A1F |
| ISO 15924 | Bugi |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | |
The Lontara script is an Brahmic script traditionally used for the Bugis language, Makassarese language, and Mandar languages of Sulawesi in modern Indonesia. It is also known as the Buginese script. It was largely replaced by the Latin alphabet during the period of Dutch colonization. The term Lontara is derived from the Malay name for palmyra palm, Lontar, whose leaves are traditionally used for manuscripts. In Buginese, this script is called urupu sulapa eppa which means "four-corner letters".
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Usage
Although the Latin alphabet has largely replaced Lontara, it is still used to a limited extent in Bugis and Makasar. In Bugis, its usage is limited to ceremonial purposes, such as wedding ceremonies. Lontara is also used extensively in printing traditional Buginese literature. In Makasar, Lontara is additionally used for personal documents such as letters and notes. Those who are skilled in writing the script are known as palontara, 'writing specialists'. Historically, Lontara was used for a wide range of documents including contracts, trade laws, treaties, and maps. The term Lontara has also come to refer to literature regarding Bugis history and genealogy.
Structure
Lontara is written from left to right. Each consonant carries an inherent /a/ vowel. Different vowels are marked as super-subscript or collinear adjuncts to consonants. Vowels (here shown on the zero consonant ᨕ) are ᨕ /a/, ᨕᨗ /i/, ᨕᨘ /u/, ᨙᨕ /e/, ᨕᨚ /o/, ᨕᨛ /ə/. The two final consonants, nasal /ŋ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/, are not written. Additionally, there is no marker for gemination, so that a stop consonant like ᨄ may be read as /pa/, /ppa/, /paʔ/, /ppaʔ/, /paŋ/, or /ppaŋ/.[1] For instance, ᨔᨑ can be read as sara 'sorrow', sara' 'rule', or sarang 'nest'.
The Buginese people take advantage of this defective element of the script in a language game called Basa to Bakkéq (ᨅᨔ ᨈᨚ ᨅᨙᨀ, 'Language of Bakkeq people')[clarification needed] which is closely related to élong maliung bettuanna (ᨙᨕᨒᨚ ᨆᨒᨗᨕᨘ ᨅᨛᨈᨘᨕᨊ, literally 'song with deep meaning') riddles.[2]
Additionally, the character, ᨞, called palláwa, is used to separate rhythmico-intonational groups, thus functionally corresponding to the full stop and comma of the Latin script. The palláwa is also sometimes used to denote the doubling of a word or its root.
Phonology
| Phonetic table of Lontara consonants | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voicing | Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
| Nasal | voiced | m | ᨆ | n | ᨊ | ɲ | ᨎ | ŋ | ᨂ | ||
| Cluster | mp | ᨇ | nr | ᨋ | ɲc | ᨏ | ŋk | ᨃ | |||
| Stop & affricate | voiced | b | ᨅ | d | ᨉ | ɟ | ᨍ | g | ᨁ | ||
| unvoiced | p | ᨄ | t | ᨈ | c | ᨌ | k | ᨀ | ʔ | —* | |
| Fricative | s | ᨔ | h | ᨖ | |||||||
| Rhotic | r | ᨑ | |||||||||
| Approximant | w | ᨓ | l | ᨒ | j | ᨐ | |||||
* /ʔ/ only occurs finally, and is therefore not written.
Buginese in Unicode
The Unicode range for Buginese is U+1A00 ... U+1A1F. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points.
| Buginese Unicode.org chart (PDF) |
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| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+1A0x | ᨀ | ᨁ | ᨂ | ᨃ | ᨄ | ᨅ | ᨆ | ᨇ | ᨈ | ᨉ | ᨊ | ᨋ | ᨌ | ᨍ | ᨎ | ᨏ |
| U+1A1x | ᨐ | ᨑ | ᨒ | ᨓ | ᨔ | ᨕ | ᨖ | ◌ᨗ | ◌ᨘ | ᨙ◌ | ◌ᨚ | ◌ᨛ | ᨞ | ᨟ | ||
Sample texts
| ᨕᨛᨛᨃ | ᨕᨛᨃ | ᨄᨑ᨞ | ᨕᨛᨃ | ᨙᨔᨕᨘᨓ | ᨓᨛᨈᨘ᨞ | ᨕᨛᨃ | ᨙᨔᨕᨘᨓ | ᨕᨑᨘ | ᨆᨀᨘᨋᨕᨗ | ᨑᨗ | ᨒᨘᨓᨘ᨞ | ᨆᨔᨒ | ᨕᨘᨒᨗ᨞ |
| əŋka | əŋka | gareʔ. | əŋka | seuwa | wəttu. | əŋka | seuwa | aruŋ | makunrai | ri | luwu. | masala | uli. |
Once there was a story, once upon a time, about a princess in Luwu with leprosy.
An Extract From Latoa
| ᨊᨀᨚ | ᨕᨛᨃ | ᨈᨕᨘᨄᨔᨒ᨞ | ᨕᨍ | ᨆᨘᨄᨈᨒᨒᨚᨓᨗ | ᨄᨌᨒᨆᨘ | ᨑᨗᨈᨚᨄᨔᨒᨙᨕ᨞ | ᨄᨔᨗᨈᨘᨍᨘᨓᨗᨆᨘᨈᨚᨓᨗᨔ | ᨕᨔᨒᨊ |
| nako | əŋka | taupasala. | aja | mupatalalowi | pacalamu | ritopasalae. | pasitujuwimutowisa | asalana |
| ᨄᨌᨒᨆᨘ᨞ | ᨕᨄ | ᨕᨗᨀᨚᨊᨈᨘ | ᨊᨁᨗᨒᨗ | ᨙᨉᨓᨈᨙᨕ᨞ | ᨊᨀᨚ | ᨅᨕᨗᨌᨘᨆᨘᨄᨗ | ᨕᨔᨒᨊ | ᨈᨕᨘᨙᨓ᨞ | ᨆᨘᨙᨄᨑᨍᨕᨗᨔ᨞ |
| pacalamu. | apa | ikonatu | nagəli | dewatae. | nako | baicumupi | asalana | tauwe. | muperajaisa. |
| ᨄᨉᨈᨚᨓᨗ᨞ | ᨊᨀᨚ | ᨄᨔᨒᨕᨗ | ᨈᨕᨙᨓ᨞ | ᨕᨍ | ᨈᨗᨆᨘᨌᨒᨕᨗ | ᨑᨗᨔᨗᨈᨗᨊᨍᨊᨙᨕᨈᨚᨔ | ᨕᨔᨒᨊ᨞ |
| padatowi. | nako | pasalai | tauwe. | aja | təmucalai[dubious ] | risitinajanaetosa | asalana. |
If you deal with a person guilty of something, do not punish him too harshly. Always make the punishment commensurable with the guilt, since God will be angry with you if the person's guilt is not great and you are exaggerating it. Equally, if a person is guilty, do not let him go without a punishment in accordance with his guilt.
See also
References
- ^ R. Tol (1992). Fish food on a tree branch; Hidden meanings in Bugis poetry
- ^ R. Tol (1992). Fish food on a tree branch; Hidden meanings in Bugis poetry, "Basa To Bakkeq". pg 85.
- Campbell, George L. (1991). Compendium of the World's Languages. Routledge. pp. 267–273.
- Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. pp. 474, 480.
- Dalby, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages. Columbia University Press. pp. 99–100, 384.
- Sirk, Ü; Shkarban, Lina Ivanovna (1983). The Buginese Language. USSR Academy of Sciences, Institute of Oriental Studies: Nauka Publishing House, Central Department of Oriental Literature. pp. 24–26, 111–112.
External links
- Lontara and Makasar scripts
- Article about Buginese script in JSTOR
- Buginese script on www.ancientscripts.com
- Saweri, a font that supports only lontara script.
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