Hanunoó is a writing system of insular
Southeastern Asia, used specifically in the more inacessable places of the
Philipines. The
abugida draws its distant origins from
Indic scripts like
Brahmi and
Devanagari. Similarities to surrounding scripts like
Buginese and
Javanese are more easy to decipher. Because words in Hanunoó are usualy disyllabic or monosyllabic, only the final-vowel syllable is sometimes written. Multi-word compounds that occur commonly usually resolve any ambiguity this might cause.
The script is written from bottom to top, moving from left to right in rows, the exact opposite order to Chinese. The extremely angular, scratchy shape of the letters is due to the common use of a knife for writing messages on bamboo. Literacy in Hanunoó is fairly wide, with a minimum of one household member each that can read and write. Adolescents commonly use the script to write courtship poems, adult males leave messages about hunting conditions, and adult women write down things such as lullabies.