Siuálâ Ding Meángûbié

Date Posted: July 08,2009 06:17 AM

Súlat Kapampángan: The Indigenous Kapampangan Script.

Súlat Kapampángan, the indigenous Kapampangan script, is an abugida or alphasyllabary, where the consonantal characters possess a default vowel sound that can be altered with use of diacritical marks (Daniels, 1996).

Historically, the indigenous characters used to represent the Kapampangan language were called culit by early Spanish friars Alvaro de Benavente (1699) and Diego Bergano (1732) and written as kulit by Zoilo Hilario (1965). The whole writing system is known as kulitan (Pangilinan, 2002).

Atin Ku Pung Singsing, the sacred Kapampangan song, written vertically from right to left, is tattooed in the indigenous Kapampangan script on Jeff Tanganco's skin by Marlon Maristela. Photographed by Vajrasattva Jon Tanganco.

 

See related article: Kapampangan Tattoo

 

Reference Notes:

Bergaño, Diego. [2^nd ed.]. (1860). Vocabulario de la Lengua Pampanga en Romance.  Manila: Imprenta de Ramirez y Giraudier.

Benavente, Alvaro de. (1699). Arte de Lengua Pampanga. [Bilingual ed. 2007: Spanish and English]. Transl. Edliberto V. Santos. Angeles City: Holy Angel University Press.

Daniels, Peter T. & Bright, William. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Hilario, Zoilo. (1965). Bayung Sunis. Typescript.

Pangilinan, Michael R.M. (2009). Assessing the current status of the Kapampangan "pre-Hispanic" script. A paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, June 21 - 25, 2009, Aussois, France.

Pangilinan, Michael R. M. (2008). Súlat Kapampángan: The Indigenous Kapampangan Script. [PowerPoint slides] A lecture presented to the Pampanga Arts Guild, the Pampanga Tattoo Community and the Maharlika Artists and Writers Federation, Aftershack Gallery, Balibago, Angeles City, September 2008.

Pangilinan, Michael R. M. (2002). Matuâng Súlat Kapampángan. [PowerPoint slides] (2007 ed. revised). A lecture presented to the students and teachers of Kapampangan Culture (YKAMP) at the end of every semester from the years 2002-2004, Holy Angel University, Angeles City.

Pangilinan, Michael R. M. [as Siuálâ ding Meángûbié]. (1995). Pamagkulit King Kekatamung Matuang Kasulatan. In Ing Susi, 6:1:24-25. Scanned pages available online at Armando Regala's Kapampangan Dictionary website: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/4059/ortho.html.