Batak script

Surat Batak
ᯘᯮᯒᯖ᯲ ᯅᯖᯂ᯲
Surat Batak; ᯘᯮᯒᯖ᯲ ᯅᯖᯂ᯲
	"Surat Batak" in Toba variant.
Script type	Abugida
Time period	c. 1300–present
Direction	left-to-right
Languages	Batak languages
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic alphabet[a] Phoenician alphabet[a] Aramaic alphabet[a] Brāhmī; ; Detailed descent of Batak script from Brahmi unclear. Hypotheses of Kawi origin or direct descent through Pallava: Pallava script Old Kawi Surat Batak; ; ; ; ; ;
Sister systems	Direct family relationships unclear. Sister scripts on hypothesis of common Kawi origin:; Balinese; Baybayin scripts; Javanese; Lontara; Makasar; Old Sundanese; Rencong; Rejang
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Batk (365), Batak
Unicode
Unicode alias	Batak
Unicode range	U+1BC0–U+1BFF
	[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon.

The Batak script (natively known as surat Batak, surat na sampulu sia ("the nineteen letters"), or si-sia-sia) is a writing system 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

The Batak magicians and priests or datu used the Batak script mainly for magical texts and divinatory purposes. It is unknown how many non-specialists were literate in the Batak script, but judging from the widespread tradition of writing love laments, especially among the Karo, Simalungun, and Angkola-Mandailing Batak, it is likely that a considerable part of the non-specialist population was able to read and write the Batak script. 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.^[2] 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 scripts, which ultimately were derived from the Brahmi script, the root of almost all the Indic and Southeast Asian scripts.

Structure

Batak is written from left to right and top to bottom. Like all Brahmi-based scripts, 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 ba^ŋ (ŋ is above the consonant); and bing is ba^ŋ.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.

Basic characters

The basic characters are called surat. 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:

Surat (Basic characters)
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	ya	nga	la	nya	ca	nda	mba	i	u
Karo						¹													⁵
Mandailing														⁴
Pakpak
Toba							²						³
Simalungun																					⁶

Alternate forms:
^1 (used in Mandailing) ^2 ^3 ^4 ^5 ^6

Diacritics

Diacritics are used to change the pronunciation of a character. 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.	Karo	Latin Trans.	Karo
Latin Trans.	Batak Diacritics	Latin Trans.	Batak Diacritics with /ka/
-a		ka
-e		ke
-i		ki
-o		ko
-ou		kou
-u		ku
-ng		kang
-h		kah
–		k

Ligatures with U

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

		Description
+	=	a + -u = u
+	=	a + -u = u (Simalungun)
+	=	ha + -u = hu (Mandailing)
+	=	ha + -u = hu (Simalungun)
+	=	ha + -u = hu
+	=	ka + -u = ku (Mandailing)
+	=	ba + -u = bu
+	=	pa + -u = pu (Mandailing)
+	=	pa + -u = pu (Pakpak, Toba)
+	=	pa + -u = pu (Simalungun)
+	=	na + -u = nu
+	=	na + -u = nu (Mandailing)
+	=	wa + -u = wu (Mandailing, Toba)
+	=	wa + -u = wu (Pakpak, Toba)
+	=	wa + -u = wu (Simalungun)
+	=	ga + -u = gu
+	=	ga + -u = gu (Simalungun)
+	=	ja + -u = ju

		Description
+	=	da + -u = du
+	=	ra + -u = ru
+	=	ra + -u = ru (Simalungun)
+	=	ma + -u = mu
+	=	ma + -u = mu (Simalungun)
+	=	ta + -u = tu
+	=	ta + -u = tu
+	=	sa + -u = su (Pakpak)
+	=	sa + -u = su (Mandailing)
+	=	sa + -u = su (Mandailing)
+	=	sa + -u = su (Simalungun)
+	=	ya + -u = yu
+	=	ya + -u = yu (Simalungun)
+	=	nga + -u = ngu
+	=	la + -u = lu
+	=	la + -u = lu (Simalungun)
+	=	nya + -u = nyu
+	=	ca + -u = cu (Mandailing)

Tompi

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

ha	+	tompi	=	ka	sa	+	tompi	=	ca
	+		=			+		=
						+		=

Placement of diacritics for Ng and H

The diacritics for Ng () and H () are usually written above spacing vowel diacritics instead of above the base character.
Examples: ping, pong, peh, and 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 or 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	+	e	+	pa	+	pangolat	=	tep
	+		+		+		=
ta	+	e	+	pa	+	pangolat	=	tep
	+		+		+		=
ta	+	i	+	pa	+	pangolat	=	tip
	+		+		+		=
ta	+	o	+	pa	+	pangolat	=	top
	+		+		+		=
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 (small bindu)	Begins paragraphs and stanzas
	Bindu na metek (small bindu)
	Bindu panarboras (rice-shaped bindu)
	Bindu judul (title bindu)	Separates a title from the body of the text
	Bindu pangolat	Trailing punctuation

Unicode

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

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 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Rendering

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

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

Gallery

Batak book about the art of divination from a rooster (Robert C. Williams Paper Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
Batak script carved into a bamboo tube with wooden stopper (Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Bamboo inscribed with Simalungun Batak script (National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, The Netherlands)
Batak palm leaf book (Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Book of formulas, recipes, and rules applied by Batak priests (Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Magic book used by priests of the Toba Batak tribe (National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, The Netherlands)
Manuscript in Batak Toba language, central Sumatra, early 1800s. (Robert C. Williams Paper Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
Batak Pustaha (Magic Book) (SOAS University of London) - entire manuscript viewable online

Citations

↑ Uli Kozok. "Sejarah Aksara Batak". Retrieved 17 May 2014.
↑ Kozok 2009:168.

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 978-979-9101-53-2.

Everson, Michael; Kozok, Uli (7 October 2008), N3320R: Proposal for encoding the Batak script in the UCS (PDF)

Kozok, Uli. "Kursus Kilat Aksara Batak (Quick Course in Batak Script)" (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 31 October 2002. Retrieved 20 April 2011.

External links

Entry on Batak at Omniglot.com – A guide to writing systems
Transtoba2 – Roman to Toba Batak script transliteration software by Uli Kozok and Leander Seige (GNU GPL)
Uli Kozok's Batak Script website with free Batak fonts.
http://unicode-table.com/en/sections/batak/
Full Batak manuscript at SOAS University of London.

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

[2] Kozok 2009:168.

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