Old Tagalog (; Baybayin: pre-virama: , post-virama [krus kudlit]: ; post-virama [pamudpod]: ᜎᜓᜋᜅ᜕ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜕) refers to the unattested, pre-Hispanic stage of the Tagalog language. The language originated from the Proto-Philippine language and evolved to Classical Tagalog spoken during Spanish occupation, which was the basis for Modern Tagalog. Old Tagalog sparsely used Baybayin, one of the scripts indigenous to the Philippines.
No manuscripts, inscriptions, or written records in Tagalog are known from the pre-colonial period.
History
Old Tagalog is one of the Central Philippine languages, which evolved from the Proto-Philippine language, which comes from the Austronesian peoples who settled in the Philippines around 2200 BC.
The early history of the Tagalog language remains relatively obscure, and a number of theories exist as to the exact origins of the Tagalog peoples and their language. Scholars such as Robert Blust suggest that the Tagalogs originated in northeastern Mindanao or the eastern Visayas. Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription from the 10th century, which is largely written in Old Malay.Postma, Antoon. (1992). The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary. Philippine Studies vol. 40, no. 2:183–203
The question has been raised about the origin of some words in the various languages of the Philippines and their possible connection to ancient Buddhist and Hindu culture in the region, as the language is influenced by Sanskrit, Malay, Tamil and Chinese.
Phonology + Old Tagalog vowels Front Central Back Close Open
+ Consonant phonemes of Old Tagalog Labial Dental/Alveolar Dorsal Glottal Nasal Stop Fricative Approximant
Writing system
Old Tagalog was written in Baybayin, a writing system formerly used in the Philippines which belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts.
The italicized letters are foreign.
+ vowels a ie uo + b /b/ ba bibe bubo + k /k/ ka kike kuko + d/r /d/ /r/ da/ra di/ride/re du/rudo/ro + g /g/ ga gige gugo + h /h/ ha hihe huho + l /l/ la lile lulo + m /m/ ma mime mumo + n /n/ na nine nuno + ng /ŋ/ nga nginge ngungo + p /p/ pa pipe pupo + s /s/ sa sise suso + t /t/ ta tite tuto + w /w/ wa wiwe wuwo + y /j/ ya yiye yuyo
See also Proto-Philippine language Filipino language Dambana Baybayin Filipino alphabet Languages of the Philippines Suyat Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI)
References
External links A Handbook and Grammar of the Tagalog Language, by W.E.W. MacKinlay, 1905. Online E-book of Doctrina Christiana in Old Tagalog and Old Spanish, the first book published in the Philippines. Manila. 1593 Online E-book of Arte de la Lengua Tagala y Manual Tagalog by Sebastián de Totanes published in Binondo, Manila in 1865