Buginese letter Sa

It is read “sa,” with the vowel a built in. In Lontara (also called Lontaraq), a consonant letter normally supplies its own a; vowel marks can change it. Traditional Lontara leaves final consonants unmarked, so ᨔ writes a syllable, not a whole word.

Lontara, used for languages of South Sulawesi, appears in records by the fourteenth century. Its manuscript tradition includes law, religious texts, and literature; by the seventeenth century, it also carried chronicles and diaries. One reconstruction links its early record-keeping to genealogies, and manuscripts include writing on palm-leaf strips. Lontara was also used for Makasar and, earlier, Bimanese and Madurese.

Old Makasar, also called Jangang-jangang, is a separate South Sulawesi script with some vowel-system features in common with Lontara. Lontara belongs to the Brahmi-derived script family of South and Southeast Asia. A Javanese connection is possible, and an affinity with traditional Tagalog writing is noted; neither resemblance alone establishes descent.