Buhid Letter La

It writes the Buhid syllable “la.” The base ᝎ combines the l sound with an inherent a vowel. Follow it with ᝒ for the i/e series (ᝎᝒ), or ᝓ for the u/o series (ᝎᝓ).

Traditionally, Mangyan writers used Buhid for ambahan, a form of poetry, and carved it on bamboo containers and instruments. The earliest securely dated printed record for the wider Philippine script family is the 1593 Doctrina Christiana, a religious book. Mangyan syllabic signatures are recorded in 1792. Bamboo tubes were collected in 1894 and discussed in a 1895 publication. As of 2014, the oldest surviving inscribed bamboo pieces were only a little over a century old; bamboo decays.

Buhid, Tagalog/Baybayin, Hanunóo, and Tagbanwa share structural features but are distinct scripts in a wider Philippine syllabic tradition that developed over time. After Roman-letter writing spread, Buhid continued in Mindoro. The Mangyan scripts were declared National Cultural Treasures in 1997 and entered UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 1999.

How do I type ᝎ?

Type the base before its vowel sign. In ᝎ, the base supplies the l sound plus an inherent a; a sign after it changes the vowel series. Each sign is a separate character and follows the base, so order matters.

Digital Buhid text runs left to right in horizontal lines. On bamboo, carving can turn glyphs into upward columns and rotate them to fit the surface; the reading order remains left to right.