Siuálâ Ding Meángûbié

Date Posted: May 03,2009 03:46 AM

That Nagging Orthography Issue: K versus C&Q

Is it Kapampángan or Capampáñgan?  This petty squabble over orthography has for the past sixty years confused and discouraged native speakers from reading and writing their own native language. It is partly responsible for the retardation of Kapampangan/Capampangan literature and has thus far only promoted illiteracy rather than literacy.

Read more: Problems in Kapampangan Orthography

 

The 3 sets of Roamanised attitudinal procedures:

1. SÚLAT BACÚLUD (Bacolor Script), commonly known as C&Q orthography, is the first Romanised orthography introduced by the Spaniards during the colonial period. It is called SÚLAT BACÚLUD because for a long time it has been identified with the literary giants like Crissot, Galura and Pabalan who all hail from the town of Baculud. Many Kapampangan believed this to be the original orthography and call it TUTÛNG KAPAMPÁNGAN (genuine Kapampangan) because it has been identified with the orthography used in the Kapampangan "pasion" that is still being used today, believed by many to be the oldest living Kapampangan literature to date.

Proponents: The people of Bacolor.

 

2. SÚLAT WÁWÂ (Guagua Script), commonly known as K orthography. The name is derived from the town of Wáwâ (Guagua), Bacolor's economic and literary rival, because it was it was first introduced by Wáwâ nationalist writers Don Monico Mercado and Aurelio Tolentino, who were following Jose Rizal's example to indigenise Philippine writing. In the 20th cnetury, there were three phenomena that further popularised this orthography: the legal imposition of the Tagalog-based Philippine national language with its ABAKADA orthography, the creation of the Akademyang Kapampangan by Zoilo Hilario and the prolific writings of Poet Laureate Jose Gallardo.

Proponents: Akademyang Kapampangan and the Angeles University Foundation.

 

3. ÁMUNG SAMSON'S HYBRID ORTHOGRAPHY. This orthography was created by former Catholic priest Venancio Samson in the 1970s prior to the official translation of the Bible into the Kapampangan language. His orthography was meant to resolve the conflict between the proponents of the C&Q and K orthography. Samson adopted the K in place of the conventional QUE and QUI but retained the C for CA, CE, CI, CO and CU.  He also eliminated the Ñ and LL and replaced them with NY and LY respectively.. An expert in Kapampangan, Latin and Spanish, Amung Samson was the official translator of the Kapampangan Bible as well as the translator of Diego Bergano's Vocabulario.

Proponents: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga.

 

The Essential Diacritical Marks

In the mid 1990s, Kapampangan language and culture advocates Mike Pangilinan, Edwin Camaya and Marco Nepomuceno, decided to adopt the use of the indigenised Roman orthography (Súlat Wáwâ or K) but insisted on the proper use of the diacritical marks that are essential in reading Kapampangan words. The diacritical marks are also a unique feature of Kapampangan writing that makes it different from Tagalog. Read further: The importance of diacritical marks in Romanised Kapampangan.

Proponents: The Kapampangan literary elite.

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Pangilinan, Michael R.M. (2006) Kapampángan or Capampáñgan: Settling the Dispute on the Kapampángan Romanized Orthography. A paper presented at the 10^th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistiics, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. January 2006.

Pangilinan, Michael R.M. (2006) The Importance of Diacritical Marks in Romanized Kapampangan. A paper presented at the 10^th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistiics, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. January 2006.