Adlao Baybayin is a variant of baybayin, the precolonial Philippine script, used by the Adlao tribe. The baybayin is an abugida (alpha-syllabary) and not an alphabet. This means that one symbol is equals to one syllable in abugidas, which is opposed to one symbol equals one phoneme (speech sound) in alphabets.
The letters of Adlao baybayin are as follows:
Each consonant letter is pronounced with the /a/ vowel:
Example words:
To produce syllables with the vowels e, i, o, or u, a special mark is combined with the basic letters.
This is where the similarities between baybayin of other tribes and baybayin of Adlaos end. Unlike baybayin used by other tribes, Adlao baybayin uses different marks for e/i and o/u.
For syllables with e/i, a kudlit is put at the top of the basic letter:
For syllables with o/u, a dot or circle is put at the bottom of the basic letter:
The kudlit can only be put at the top and the dot can only be put at the bottom.
Also, Adlao baybayin can be written in a way that will cancel the letter /a/ from the consonant letters. This is done by putting the letter with a cancelled vowel on top of the next letter. The cluster is written slightly smaller than uncombined letters.
For complex words with CCCV or CCCCV (C = consonant; V = vowel) forms like names or foreign words, in addition to topping the letter, a bar can be used to cancel the vowel /a/ of the next consonant letter. For Latin letters that do not have Adlao baybayin symbols (C, F, J, Q, V, X, Z), Adlaos spell them the way they sound (C= K or S, F= P, J= D+Y, etc.).
The bar is also used for consonants at the end of a word which are usually left unwritten in baybayin used by other tribes.
For vertical writing, consonant clusters can be indicated by the letters’ size and by adding a line on the left side of both characters.
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