Batak Alphabet

The Batak script (natively known as ''surat Batak'', ''surat na sampulu sia'' ("the nineteen letters"), or ''si-sia-sia'') is a writing system used to write the Austronesian Batak languages spoken by several million people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The script may be derived from the Kawi and Pallava script, ultimately derived from the Brahmi script of India, or from the hypothetical Proto-Sumatran script influenced by Pallava.

History

The Batak magicians and priests or ''datu'' used the Batak script mainly for magical texts and divinatory purposes. It is unknown how many non-specialists were literate in the Batak script, but judging from the widespread tradition of writing love laments, especially among the Karo, Simalungun, and Angkola-Mandailing Batak, it is likely that a considerable part of the non-specialist population was able to read and write the Batak script. After the arrival of Europeans in the Batak lands, first German missionaries and, from 1878 onwards, the Dutch, the Batak script was, alongside the Roman script, taught in the schools, and teaching and religious materials were printed in the Batak script. Soon after the first World War the missionaries decided to discontinue printing books in the Batak script.Kozok 2009:168. The script soon fell out of use and is now only used for ornamental purposes.

Origin

The Batak script was probably derived from Pallava and Old Kawi scripts, which ultimately were derived from the Brahmi script, the root of almost all the Indic and Southeast Asian scripts.

Structure

Batak is written from left to right and top to bottom. Like all Brahmi-based scripts, each consonant has an inherent vowel of , unless there is a diacritic (in Toba Batak called ''pangolat'') to indicate the lack of a vowel. Other vowels, final '' ŋ'', and final velar fricative are indicated by diacritics, which appear above, below, or after the letter. For example, ''ba'' is written ba (one letter); ''bi'' is written ba.i (''i'' follows the consonant); ''bang'' is written ba^ŋ (''ŋ'' is above the consonant); and ''bing'' is ba^ŋ.i. Final consonants are written with the ''pangolat'' (here represented by "#"): ''bam'' is ba.ma.#. However, ''bim'' is written ba.ma.i.#: the first diacritic belongs to the first consonant, and the second belongs to the second consonant, but both are written at the end of the entire syllable. Unlike most Brahmi-based scripts, Batak does not form consonant conjuncts.

Basic characters

The basic characters are called ''surat''. Each consonant has an inherent vowel of . The script varies by region and language. The major variants are between
Karo,
Mandailing,
Pakpak/Dairi,
Simalungun/Timur, and
Toba:

Alternate forms:


(used in Mandailing)

Diacritics

Diacritics are used to change the pronunciation of a character. They can change the vowel from the inherent , mark a final elar nasal, mark a final velar fricative , or indicate a final consonant with no vowel:

Ligatures with U

The diacritic for U used by Mandailing, Pakpak, Simalungun, and Toba can form ligatures with its base character:

Tompi

In Mandailing, the diacritic ''tompi'' can be used to change the sound of some characters:

Placement of diacritics for Ng and H

The diacritics for Ng () and H () are usually written above spacing vowel diacritics instead of above the base character.

Examples: ping, pong, peh, and pih.

Diacritic reordering for closed syllables

Vowel diacritics are reordered for closed syllables (that is, syllables where the final consonant has no vowel).
Consonants with no vowel are marked by the Batak ''pangolat'' or ''panongonan'' diacritic, depending on the language.
When they are used for a closed syllable (like "tip"), both the vowel diacritic and the pangolat/panongonan are written at the end of the syllable.

Examples of closed syllables using ''pangolat'':

Punctuation and ornaments

Batak is normally written without spaces or punctuation (as scriptio continua). However, special marks or bindu are occasionally used.
They vary greatly in size and design from manuscript to manuscript.

Unicode

Batak script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 2010 with the release of version 6.0.

Block

The Unicode block for Batak is U+1BC0–U+1BFF:

Rendering

Unicode fonts for Batak must handle several requirements to properly render text:

Gallery

File:Paper Museum in Atlanta 010.JPG, Batak book about the art of divination from a rooster ( Robert C. Williams Paper Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Bamboe tabaks- en wichelkoker met Bataks schrift TMnr 512-4.jpg, Batak script carved into a bamboo tube with wooden stopper ( Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
File:Bamboo with Batak script.jpg, Bamboo inscribed with Simalungun Batak script ( National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, The Netherlands)
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Wichelboekje van palmblad TMnr 5991-6.jpg, Batak palm leaf book ( Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Wichelboek met formules recepten en voorschriften die worden toegepast door de priester-genezer TMnr 1581-1.jpg, Book of formulas, recipes, and rules applied by Batak priests ( Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
File:Book of Wizards Batak Indonesia.jpg, Magic book used by priests of the Toba Batak tribe ( National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, The Netherlands)
File:Manuscript in Toba-Batak language, central Sumatra, early 1800s - Robert C. Williams Paper Museum - DSC00360.JPG, Manuscript in Batak Toba language, central Sumatra, early 1800s. ( Robert C. Williams Paper Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
File:Batak Pustaha = Magic Book, leaf 73.tif, alt=Batak Pustaha, Batak Pustaha (Magic Book) (SOAS University of London) - '
entire manuscript viewable online
''

See also

*Sitopayan I inscription, 13th century usage of mixed Malay and Batak scripts

Citations

Sources

*

*

*

External links

* Entry o
Batak
a
Omniglot.com – A guide to writing systems

Transtoba2
– Roman to Toba Batak script transliteration software by Uli Kozok and Leander Seige (GNU GPL)
* Uli Kozok'
Batak Script website
with free Batak fonts.
*http://unicode-table.com/en/sections/batak/
Full Batak manuscript
at SOAS University of London.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batak Script
Indonesian scripts
Brahmic scripts