The Tagalog Writing System

Before Spaniard rule in the Philippines, Tagalog was written using the Baybayin or Alibata alphabet, a writing system whose ancestry goes all the way back to the Indian Brahmi alphabet. Today, Tagalog is written using the 26-letter standard Latin alphabet with the addition of ñ and ng.¹

According to the Wikipedia, a standard alphabet for Tagalog was not implemented in the Philippines until the first half of the 20th Century when Tagalog became the official language. Up until that time, the Tagalog writing system had been based on Spanish orthography, but still lacked consistency in its use. The first Tagalog alphabet was introduced by Lope K. Santos and was called ABAKADA. It consisted of the following 20 letters: A B K D E G H I L M N NG O P R S T U W Y. In 1976, the number of letters in this alphabet were increased to 28 to include C, CH, F, J, Q, RR, V, X, and Z (to make it easier to incorporate loan words from Spanish and English). Letters continued to be added and subtracted from the Tagalog alphabet following the 1976 reforms until 1987 when the current Tagalog alphabet was implemented.²

Tagalog is regulated by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino or the Commission on the Filipino Language.

For additional information on the Tagalog writing system, you can check out the following resources on the Web at:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tagalog.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language#Writing_System

http://www.komfil.gov.ph/index2.php

¹ "Tagalog language" Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language#Writing_System
[Accessed December 11, 2004]

² "Tagalog alphabet" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language#Writing_System
[Accessed December 11, 2004]