Buginese Letter Mpa

It writes mpa, a syllable with an inherent “a” vowel. In Lontara, consonant letters include an “a” unless a vowel sign changes it. Read ᨇ as m, then p, then a in one syllable; mpa is a pronunciation guide, not three Latin letters written in Lontara.

By itself, ᨇ is not a complete word or message. It belongs inside a Bugis word; comparative charts mark it as a letter specific to Bugis, even though the broader script was also used for Makassarese.

Why was Lontara made?

It grew to record Bugis family histories and public affairs. One account links its development to keeping Bugis genealogies, but scholars do not settle on a single invention date. Palm-leaf strip-rolls were early writing material; paper manuscripts came later.

A Gowa chronicle credits harbor master Daeng Pamatte’ with putting Makassarese records into writing. Scholars interpret this as organizing historical record-keeping, not inventing the script. Lontara manuscripts carried chronicles, treaties, customary law, calendars, and literary works.

Which traditions are connected to Lontara?

Lontara belongs to a family descended from ancient Brahmi writing. Brahmi was an old writing system from India. The exact path is uncertain; some accounts suggest a link to Javanese scripts through Kawi, an older writing system used in Java. Buginese and Makassarese scripts share a syllabic structure but have distinct letter shapes; regional additions are documented for Bima and Ende.

The older Makassarese Jangang-jangang (“Bird”) was a separate script. Lontara bilang-bilang is a poetic cipher drawing on Arabic, Jawi (Malay written in an Arabic-derived script), and Buginese. The core digital repertoire reflects forms standardized for print by the mid-19th century; palm-leaf manuscripts can show other letter shapes.