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Batak script

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Surat Batak
ᯘᯮᯒᯖ᯲ ᯅᯖᯂ᯲
Script type
Time period
c. 1300–present
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesBatak languages
Related scripts
Parent systems
Origins of Brahmi script unclear. On Aramaic origin hypothesis: Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
Sister systems
Direct family relationships unclear. Sister scripts on hypothesis of common Kawi origin: Balinese
Baybayin
Kulitan
Buhid
Hanunó'o
Javanese
Lontara
Old Sundanese
Rencong
Rejang
Tagbanwa
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Batk (365), ​Batak
Unicode
Unicode alias
Batak
U+1BC0–U+1BFF
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Batak script, natively known as surat Batak, surat na sapulu sia (the nineteen letters), or si-sia-sia, is an alphabet 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.[1]

History

In most Batak communities, only the priests, or datu were able to use the Batak script, and used it mainly for magical texts and calendars. 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.[citation needed] 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 alphabets, which ultimately were derived from the Brahmi alphabet, the root of almost all the Indic and Southeast Asian abugidas.

Structure

Batak is written from bottom to top within one column, and left to right for columns. Like most abugidas, each consonant has an inherent vowel of /a/, 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 [x] 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 baŋ (ŋ is above the consonant); and bing is baŋ.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.

Letters

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

Sia (Letters)
IPA a ha ka ba pa na wa ga dʒa da ra ma ta sa ja ŋa la ɲa tʃa nda mba i u
Transcription a ha ka ba pa na wa ga ja da ra ma ta sa ja nga la nya ca nda mba i u
Karo A Ha Ka Ba Pa Na1 Wa Ga Ja Da Ra Ma Ta Sa Ya Nga La Ca5 I I
Mandailing A Ha Ka Ba Pa Wa Ga Ra Ma Ta Sa4 Ya La Nya Ca
Pakpak A Ha Ka Ba Pa Wa Ga Ra Ma Ta Sa Ya La Ca
Toba A Ha Ka Ba Pa Wa2 Ga Ra Ma Ta3 Sa Ya La Nya
Simalungun A Ha Ka Ba Pa Wa Ga Ra Ma Ta Sa Ya La Nya Nda Mba6

Alternate forms:
^1 Na (used in Mandailing) ^2 Wa ^3 Ta ^4 Sa ^5 Ca ^6 Mba

Diacritics

Diacritics are used to change the pronunciation of a letter. They can change the vowel from the inherent /a/, mark a final [velar nasal] /ŋ/, mark a final velar fricative /x/, or indicate a final consonant with no vowel:

Latin
Trans. 		Batak Diacritics      Latin
Trans. 		Batak Diacritics with /ka/
Karo Mand. Pakp. Sima. Toba Karo Mand. Pakp. Sima. Toba
-a ka Ka Ka Ka Ka Ka
-e -E
-E 		-E -E
-E 		-E -E ke Ke
Ke 		Ke Ke
Ke 		Ke Ke
-i -I
-I 		-I -I -I -I ki Ki
Ki 		Ki Ki Ki Ki
-o -O
-O 		-O -O -O -O ko Ko
Ko 		Ko Ko Ko Ko
-ou -Ou kou Kou
-u -U -U -U -U -U ku Ku Ku Ku Ku Ku
-ng -Ng -Ng -Ng -Ng -Ng kang Kang Kang Kang Kang Kang
-h -H -H -H kah Kah Kah Kah
– - - - - - k K K K K K

Ligatures with U

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

Batak Script Description
A  + -U =  A  a + -u = u
A  + -U =  U a + -u = u (Simalungun)
Ha  + -U =  Hu  ha + -u = hu (Mandailing)
Ha  + -U =  Hu  ha + -u = hu (Simalungun)
Ha  + -U =  Hu  ha + -u = hu
Ka  + -U =  Ku  ka + -u = ku (Mandailing)
Ba  + -U =  Bu  ba + -u = bu
P  + -U =  Pu  pa + -u = pu (Mandailing)
Pa  + -U =  Pu  pa + -u = pu (Pakpak, Toba)
Pa  + -U =  Pu  pa + -u = pu (Simalungun)
Na  + -U =  Nu  na + -u = nu
Na  + -U =  Nu  na + -u = nu (Mandailing)
Wa  + -U =  Wu  wa + -u = wu (Mandailing, Toba)
Wa  + -U =  Wu  wa + -u = wu (Pakpak, Toba)
Wa  + -U =  Wu  wa + -u = wu (Simalungun)
Ga  + -U =  Gu  ga + -u = gu
Ga  + -U =  Gu  ga + -u = gu (Simalungun)
Ja  + -U =  Ju  ja + -u = ju
Batak Script Description
Da  + -U =  Du  da + -u = du
Ra  + -U =  Ru  ra + -u = ru
Ra  + -U =  Ru  ra + -u = ru (Simalungun)
Ma  + -U =  Mu  ma + -u = mu
Ma  + -U =  Mu  ma + -u = mu (Simalungun)
Ta  + -U =  Tu  ta + -u = tu
Ta  + -U =  Tu  ta + -u = tu
Sa  + -U =  Su  sa + -u = su (Pakpak)
Sa  + -U =  Su  sa + -u = su (Mandailing)
Sa  + -U =  Su  sa + -u = su (Mandailing)
Sa  + -U =  Su  sa + -u = su (Simalungun)
Ya  + -U =  Yu  ya + -u = yu
Ya  + -U =  Yu  ya + -u = yu (Simalungun)
Nga  + -U =  Ngu  nga + -u = ngu
La  + -U =  Lu  la + -u = lu
La  + -U =  Lu  la + -u = lu (Simalungun)
Nya  + -U =  Nyu  nya + -u = nyu
Ca  + -U =  Cu  ca + -u = cu (Mandailing)

Tompi

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

ha  + tompi =  ka sa  + tompi =  ca
Ha  + tompi =  A  Ha  + tompi =  A 
Ha  + tompi =  A  Ha  + tompi =  A 
Ha  + tompi =  A  Ha  + tompi =  A 

Placement of diacritics for Ng and H

The diacritics for Ng (-Ng) and H (-H) are usually written above spacing vowel diacritics instead of above the base letter.
Examples: Ping ping, Pong pong, Peh peh, and Pih 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:

ta  +  vowel  +  pa  +  pangolat  =  syllable
Ta + Pa + pangolat = Tap
ta + pa + pangolat = tap
Ta + -E + Pa + pangolat = Tep
ta + e + pa + pangolat = tep
Ta + -E + Pa + pangolat = Tep
ta + e + pa + pangolat = tep
Ta + -I + Pa + pangolat = Tip
ta + i + pa + pangolat = tip
Ta + -O + Pa + pangolat = Top
ta + o + pa + pangolat = top
Ta + -U + Pa + pangolat = Tup
ta + u + pa + pangolat = tup

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.

Examples Name Function
bindu na metek
bindu na metek
 Bindu na metek (small bindu) Begins paragraphs and stanzas
bindu pinarboras
 Bindu panarboras (rice-shaped bindu) Variant of bindu na metek, serves same function
bindu judul
 Bindu judul (title bindu) Separates a title from the body of the text
bindu pangolat
 Bindu pangolat Trailing punctuation

Unicode

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

Block

Main article: Batak (Unicode block)

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

Batak[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1BCx ᯀ ᯁ ᯂ ᯃ ᯄ ᯅ ᯆ ᯇ ᯈ ᯉ ᯊ ᯋ ᯌ ᯍ ᯎ ᯏ
U+1BDx ᯐ ᯑ ᯒ ᯓ ᯔ ᯕ ᯖ ᯗ ᯘ ᯙ ᯚ ᯛ ᯜ ᯝ ᯞ ᯟ
U+1BEx ᯠ ᯡ ᯢ ᯣ ᯤ ᯥ ᯦ ᯧ ᯨ ᯩ ᯪ ᯫ ᯬ ᯭ ᯮ ᯯ
U+1BFx ᯰ ᯱ ᯲ ᯳ ᯼ ᯽ ᯾ ᯿
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Rendering

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

Rendering Requirements Examples
Latin Trans. Image Unicode Text
Correct placement of one or more diacritics  ke Ke ᯂᯩ
ke (Mand.) Ke ᯄ᯦ᯩ
ping Ping ᯇᯪᯰ
reng Ping ᯒᯩᯰ
Ligatures with U hu (Mand.) Hu ᯄᯮ
hu (Sima.) Hu ᯃᯮ
gu Gu ᯎᯮ
lu Lu ᯞᯮ
Diacritic reordering for closed syllables tip Tip ᯖᯪᯇ᯲

Citations

  1. ^ Uli Kozok. "Sejarah Aksara Batak". Retrieved 17 May 2014.

Sources

  • Kozok, Uli (January 2009). Surat Batak: Sejarah Perkembangan Tulisan Batak : Berikut Pedoman Menulis Aksara Batak Dan Cap Si Singamangaraja XII (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Gramedia. ISBN 979-9101-53-0. {{cite book}}: External link in |last= (help)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Batak letters.

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