For the Philippines it is said to be the LAGUNA COPPERPLATE and is dated back to 900 AD (obivously before the nation, but still the oldest of the land!)

it was written in a form of the Indic Script (Kavi)? but the language mixture of Old Tagalog, Old Javanese, Old Malay.. but eventually this complex writing script was replace by another form of script which would later be known as baybayin. And it is the script the Spaniards recount seeing when they came to the islands. it was used by the Tagalogs, Ilokanos, Cebuanos, Pampangans, Hiligaynon, Pangasinanese, Bikolanos, and Waray (or the 8 major ethno-lingustic groups of the philippines) Eventually these script fell into disuse.

But variations of this Baybayin script is still used by various ethnolingustic minorities of the philippines, mainly the Hanunóo, Buhid, Tagbanwa and also Eskaya.

http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/lcieng.htm
http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/lci/lci.htm

And so in the Era when the spaniards came, "The widespread use of an indigenous script (Baybayiin) prompted the religious authorities to publish a book using the Tagalog script to help spread Christianity. In 1593, the Tagalog Doctrina Christiana, a book based on Cardinal Bellarmino's catechism, came out. It was published just a couple of months after the first book published in the Philippines, the Chinese version of Doctrina Christiana, was released."

http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/literacy/literacy.htm

Heres one from Bali a few hundred years later.

All south east asain nations once used a pallava/sanskrit derivitive to comunicate in the region.

Its kind of like how english is used as a communication bridge between foreign nations. It was universal. or Latin in old-europe.

yeah balinese and javanese script are so beautiful! are they still in use?

Heres one from Kambuja 612 AD


Looks simular to the Laguna plate huh..

At that time the Chams and the Khmers used the same derivitive of Pallava. And during 900Ad or the time of the Laguna plate there was a Mahalika kingdom in "the Philopeans" that had diplomatic relations with the Chams, even married each other. Is the Laguna plate indigenous to the areas or of an outside source. Will we ever find out?

By the way, according to Khmer sandstones and books, The Philipeans was known as Mahalika until late 17th century. Wierd huh, do philos know it was once called Mahalika. A name derived from Pallava. Maha=great lika=Islands/devine work?

yeah, my mom even use the word Maharlika... anyways i did not know the validity of the kingdom* tho... it ws like a legend to me. but are u serious about khmer validating it? can u provide some sources on this khmer inscriptions of the philippine and also articles about the Maralika kingdom of the PI? which island is it exactly, Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao...

i also read about the theory of the Visayan islands (the center islands of the archipelago) being name after the Sri-Visaya kingdom and that the ppl are the descendants of those who fled the Sri-Visaya kingdom of Sumatra (?) indonesia... iono the validity of it tho, i just consider it a legend.

but yeah please link me to some good sources on Maharlika in khmer please! i would appreciate it very much

ehhh i thought cave pictures were the first kind of writing.........

indeed, but this is a more organized form of writing...

The earliest examples of Chinese writing date to the late Shang period (ca. 1200 BC). These are the so-called Oracle Bone Inscriptions (jiaguwen) which were found at the site of the last Shang capital near present-day Anyang, Henan province.

Oracle Bones

The discovery of the oracle bones in China goes back to 1899, when a scholar from Peking was prescribed a remedy containing "dragon bones" for his illness: "dragon bones" were widely used in Chinese medicine and usually refer to fossils of dead animals. The scholar noticed some carvings that looked like some kind of writing on the bones he acquired from the local pharmacy. This lucky find led eventually to the discovery of Anyang, the last capital of Shang dynasty where archeologists have found an enormous amount of these carved bones.

The inscriptions on these bones tell us that by 1200 BC Chinese writing was already a highly developed writing system which was used to record a language fairly similar to classical Chinese. Such a complex and sophisticated script certainly has a history but so far we found no traces of its predecessors.

The oracle bone inscriptions received their name after their content which is invariably related to divination. The ancient Chinese diviners used these bones as records of their activity, providing us with a detailed description of the topics that interested the Shang kings. Most of these divinations refer to hunting, warfare, weather, selection of auspicious days for ceremonies, etc.

By request of dalawapo:

Its pretty neat how many languages look similar to the languages mentioned/shown above. Lao is like that too. From what I know....which is not much really , the origin of the Lao language came from buddhism and South Indian script. So did Thai and Khmer and Burma right? Lao looks very similar to Thai.

"Lao (or Laotian) in its written form evolved from an ancient Indian script called Pali. However Lao speech, syntaxes, vocabularly, etc. had already existed prior to the introdution of Pali. When Buddhism entered the country and became its principle religion hundreds of years ago. Buddhist texts at the time were in Pali. Pali was one of two of the original languages that Buddhism was written in (the other being Sanskrit).
Moreover, when Buddhism spread throughout Southeast Asia other countries also adopted Pali, or an extract of it, as their language. And so the language developed separately through the years in each different country. In some cases there were deliberate projects to simplify the Pali language for modern and wide spread use, as seen in Thailand in its early history. Other countries who have similar writing and language as Laotian are Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, to name a few. While Laotian is under the Sino-Tibetan language group, it doesn't have any true relation to Northern Asia (ie. China). Of course there may be some vocabulary similarities throughout the region but the writing is very separate (for the aforementioned reasons). Lao is also under the Tai subgroup of Asian languages (not to be confused with the word Thai).

Lao or Laotian is the official language of Laos. This language is a part of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. It is a tonal language and is generally monosyllabic. There are polysyllabic words although they are borrowed from Pali. Lao language has no inflections. "
Source:
http://www.laoconnection.com/language1.htm

1850 Pali-Burmese version

modern Lao

Lao, Thai writing system looks more related to Khmer. I read somewhere that Thai script derived from Khmer script but who adopted it first, Lao or Thai? But that picture in the previous post makes it look like it's related to the Burmese style writing. I think that's only because the Lao is written in the round style. Write Lao in the more elegant way and it will look like Khmer writing. I noticed the Burmese writing style has a lot of circles.

Man, that LAGUNA script looks so much like Khmer script I'm suprised. I do know the reason why it's not in use today because the Spaniards did conquer.

the laguna copperplate style of writing fell into disuse a long time ago before the spaniards came. During the time of the 1600s when the spaniard came, we were writing in another form of script called Baybayin





and this script fell into disuse with the introduction of Roman Alphabet because baybayin was not the best way to express the native languages of the philippines. But today some minorities of the Philippines continue to write using a varation of the Baybayin that was written by the 8 major tribes of the my islands. Those minorities are the Hanunóo, Buhid, Tagbanwa and also Eskaya.

http://www.proel.org/alfabetos/tagalog.html

http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?...=0&#entry321180

I do notice the similiarities in vowels for Point Dexter's and Dawapalo's post.


Seems like one of those prediction-banners.

huh? what are u talking about vowels? you can read the laguna copperplate inscriptions??!!!

yeah, point dexters' pic looked like my uncles' handwriting. And some of the consonants from both (dala's and pd's) pics look like Lao consonants too.
Spiffy.

myanmar script looks soooooo cool!! thats my favorite of all

can you tell mroe about it lydef?

About myanmar script? I don't know too much... The language itself is like 1000 years old I think. Like many SE asian script its derived from Indian script. Which I think its kind of cool. Most don't realize how much influence Southeast Asia has had from India because its not really noticeable at all. But yet at the same time it is...like the length and sometimes proununciation of Thai/Lao names (I searched my last name online once and it came up with Indian doctor(s)/businesses )...buddhism (which of course originated from India) with its sanskrit...statues...icons/gods/goddesses/stories myths and tales...
And yet at the same time, the cultures are so different.

Its shway.

I like that mongolian script it looks cryptic, heheh. Speakin of which...Mongolian men look so handsome. Mongolian and Samoan guys, my two favorites hahaha. Samoan ppl are so cool. They seem really friendly and funny. Polynesian people are bomb diggity!
I'm goin off topic again!

Dalawapo! Where's mah maan!?!! *shakes fist*

yeah mongolian look so tight & out of this world! but i really like myanmar script it look real bomb diggity! ahha...

&UMM IM HALF CHAMORRO WHICH IS PACIFIC ISLANDER TEOO!!!

and as for yo manz... haha here he is!



ask somebody like nung1 or vn1234 to make a sig out of it haha! they can cut his body in section or something with the new sig roolz! LMAO

*sigh* Anuwat... .....

Chamorro, isn't that on or near Guam? How's the script look like?
Neat! You're halfa polynesian. I told ya polynesian people are bomb diggity!

hahah!!!!! what part of him are u drooling about???!!

you know...where that big belt covers... lmao j/k
Its aaaall good.

lmao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DONT SEE ANYTHING! omgggg

i guess ur using ur imagination

daeng girl!

quick! post something on topic before I really go off.

How are you at 413+ ? The other day you were just at 4003

ANU-WAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT!

lmao get it? yeah, im stupid.... anyway... i just try to post like a crazy person, im on a mission to make it to the 10 ten poster.

lol. you clever one you

At the rate you're goin, you'll do just fine. Is AF Elite the highest status you can get?


I forgot. Chinese/Japanese/Korean script is very beautiful when written in calligraphy/artistic strokes.
Out of the SE Asian nations, why does Vietnam not have a Pali/Bhrami based script? Or do they?

iono whats the highest balls u can get on af

& well chamoru are ppl of guam island and also ppl of northern mariana island chain because guam is the southern most island of the mariana chain, so it is just political division, not necessarly cultural/ethnic. and iiono about chamoru script, dont believe there is one...

LyDef, do u think these scripts would be considered the fancy way of writing? I would like to pick up these styles and be able to write ancient as them.

Hard question...They're all very beautiful to me. I once saw a calligraphy of Japanese kanji. I remember thinkin it was SO beautiful. Its amazing how it can evoke emotion. I particularly like Point Dexter's example of Bali script. You should choose one that you are most familiar with. I think that would be easier to learn. Or one that you feel best expresses your meanings/emotions.

More about the Hanunóo script of Mindoro island





Buy some document remakes here:

http://www.reflectionsofasia.com/ambahan_poetry.htm

Inscribed container, bamboo
Philippines, Mindoro, Mangyan; Hanunóo
10–1502ab



Inscribed lime tubes
Philippines, Mindoro, Mangyan; Hanunóo
10–1510, 1513

These lime tubes are inscribed with an Indic-derived script, read in columns from bottom to top and left to right. Although rare in the Philippines, such writing is common among the Hanunóo, some of whose communities are more than 60 % literate. Neither ritual or historic, the texts are primarily courting songs. Both boys and girls strive to amass a large repertoire of traditional chants. Writing is also used for correspondence.

http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/exhibitions/cent/3_1_2.html

^Wow. Those simple looking characters imply all that? Very cool.



Thats a good way for one to be well versed in their language. I think the hmong have a similar tradition? They (young men and women) banter/sing back and forth almost like courting. Its kinda cool. Laotians have something similar too, like a different kind of mor lum.

do hmong have a writing script as well?

maybe some one can tell about the hmong script??

Maybe Midwest or one of the Hmong peeps, cuz I don't have a clue

& i wold like to see vietnamese and thai to tell us about the origins of their skripts too pssss!

i thought it was cuneiform from mesopotamia

this is about the earliest writing scripts of people's countries, not the earliest writing script of the whole world!

ohhh sorry never seen that part on the bottom, oh well.

This is all from omniglot.com. It sorta shows how interconnected the language is with parts of Southeast Asia and India. Basically, its shows Khmer alphabets came from Indian Brahmi, and Thai alphabets were developed or heavily influenced from the Khmer alphabet, and finally Lao alphabets were dervied from the Thai alphabets.

Origin
The BRAHMI alphabet is the ancestor of most of the 40 or so modern Indian alphabets, and of a number of other alphabets, such as Khmer and Tibetan. It is thought to have been modelled on the Aramaic or Phoenician alphabets, and appeared in India sometime before 500 BC. It was used to write a variety of languages, including Sanskrit and Prakrit.

KHMER
The KHMER alphabet is descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India by way of the Pallava script, which was used in southern India and South East Asia during the 5th and 6th Centuries AD. The oldest dated inscription in Khmer dates from 611 AD.

THAI
King Ramkhamhaeng (1275-1317) claims to have created an alphabet for Siamese language in 1292, which later developed into the Thai alphabet. The alphabet was probably derived from, or at least influenced by, the Khmer alphabet.

LAO
After the unification of the Lao principalities (meuang) in the 14th century, the Lan Xang monarchs commissioned their scholars to create a new script to write the Lao language. The scholars adapted an early version of the Thai script, which was developed from the Old Khmer script, which was itself based on Mon scripts. The modern Lao script retains many aspects of the appearance of the early Thai script which have disappeared from the modern Thai script.

Its all like a tree branch. Interesting.

thanks to everybody for their input!