Writing System
Lontara is written from left to right. Each consonant carries an inherent /a/ vowel. Different vowels are marked as super–subscript or collinear adjuncts to consonants. Vowels (here shown on the zero consonant ᨕ) are ᨕ /a/, ᨕᨗ /i/, ᨕᨘ /u/, ᨙᨕ /e/, ᨕᨚ /o/, ᨕᨛ /ə/. The two final consonants, nasal /ŋ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/, are not written. Additionally, there is no marker for gemination, so that a stop consonant like ᨄ may be read as /pa/, /ppa/, /paʔ/, /ppaʔ/, /paŋ/, or /ppaŋ/. For instance, ᨔᨑ can be read as sara 'sorrow', sara' 'rule', or sarang 'nest'.
The Buginese people take advantage of this defective element of the script in a language game called Basa to Bakkéq ᨅᨔ ᨈᨚ ᨅᨙᨀ ('Language of Bakkeq people') which is closely related to élong maliung bettuanna ᨕᨒᨚ ᨆᨒᨗᨕᨘ ᨅᨛᨈᨘᨕᨊ (literally 'song with deep meaning') riddles. Despite its meaning, Basa to Bakkéq is not a language but a language game similar to punning, where words with different meanings but the same spelling are manipulated to come up with a phrase with a hidden message. It differs from punning in that even though words have the same spelling, they are pronounced differently.
Additionally, the character ᨞, called palláwa, is used to separate rhythmico-intonational groups, thus functionally corresponding to the period and comma of the Latin script. The palláwa is also sometimes used to denote the doubling of a word or its root.
Read more about this topic: Lontara Alphabet
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