Buri Wolio

Buri Wolio (Wolio: ) is an Arabic script modified to write Wolio, a language spoken in and around Baubau, the capital of Buton, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Generally, this script is the same as the Jawi script, except in Buri Wolio, vowel sounds are written. This script has 35 letters, 28 letters from Arabic alphabet and 7 additional letters similar to those in Jawi script to represent sounds not found in Arabic. Of these, 22 are used for writing of Wolio language, while 13 are reserved for writing loanwords of Arabic (and European) origin.

Buri Wolio is similar in most aspects to Jawi script, except that in addition to the 3 diacritics in Arabic and Jawi, Buri Wolio has two additional diacritics for expressing the /e/ and /u/ vowel sounds.

It is unclear when Buri Wolio script was first created and used, but according to the oldest Buton manuscripts that have been found, it is estimated that this script has existed since the arrival of Islam on Buton Island in the 16th century. As Wolio language was the lingua franca of Sultanate of Buton, this script was used in writing ancient texts in Buton, including; texts of laws, religious texts and diplomatic letters.

In addition, this script has also been used to write kaḃanti (), a traditional type of long poetry consisting of lines, each with a pair of verses. The tradition of writing kaḃanti in Buton reached its peak of popularity in the 19th century (1824–1851), namely during the reign of the 29th Sultan of Buton, Muhammad Idrus Kaimuddin. For the people of Buton, besides from being known as a sultan, he is also known as a famous scholar and poet of Buton. As a poet, he composed a lot of kaḃanti literature, especially those based on Islamic teachings. Other than Muhammad Idrus Kaimuddin, several other Butonese poets came from the royal family of Buton, such as La Ode Kobu (Metapasina Bādia), La Ode Nafiu (Yarona Labuandiri), and H. Abdul Ganiu (Kenepulu Bula).

Alphabet Letters Buri Wolio script consists of 22 primary characters, of which 15 are from Arabic Script, and 7 are new characters, made by adding dots to existing Arabic Characters, similar to characters of the Jawi script. These new characters are highlighted in the table below. There are an additional 13 characters, that are exclusively used for writing of loanwords taken from Arabic or from European languages.

+Primary Characters of Buri WolioNameFormsSound representedLatin equivalentNotesIsolatedFinalMedialInitialʾalif ā / ʾ Pronounced as /ʔ/ in Wolio. Can be pronounced as /ā/ in loanwords.bāʾb A regressive /b/ phonemeḃāḃNew letter not present in ArabictāʾtjīmjcācNew letter not present in Arabicd A Plosive /d/ phonemeḋāḋNew letter not present in ArabicrāʾrzāynzsīnsngāngNew letter not present in Arabicpāp New letter not present in Arabickāfkgāg New letter not present in ArabiclāmlmīmmnūnnnyānyNew letter not present in Arabichāʾhwāwyāʾ /a/ a / y Pronounced as /a/ in Wolio. But in foreign words, pronounced as /j/

+Additional CharactersNameFormsSound representedLatin equivalentIsolatedFinalMedialInitialṡāʾsHaḥkhāʾkhżālzsyinsyṣādsḍāddṭāʾtẓāʾzʿaynʿghaynghfāʾfqāfq

Vowel Diacritics The purpose of vowel diacritics in an Abjad script is to give vowels to each consonants. Unlike its neighbouring relatives, Jawi and Pegon, Buri Wolio cannot be read without diacritics. The shape and position of diacritic is very important. There are 6 diacritics in Buri Wolio, which include the Sukun diacritic (zero-vowel), the 3 diacritics inherited from Arabic, representing sounds /a/, /i/, and /u/, as well as two new diacritics unique to Buri Wolio, representing diacritics /e/ (U+08F9) and /o/ (U+065A). All of these diacritics represent short vowel sounds. With the help of the letters "", "", or "", diacritics can also represent long vowel sounds.

+Vowel diacritics in Buri Wolio Sukun(Zero-vowel) Short Long -a -i -u -e -o -ā -ī -ū -ē -ō +Vowel as first sound of syllable Short Long A I U E O Ā Ī Ū Ē Ō +Vowel following a consonant Sukun(Zero-vowel) Short Long S Sa Si Su Se So Sā Sī Sū Sē Sō

Reduplication In Buri Wolio, Reduplication is done in a manner similar to Jawi script and Pegon script, that is with the use of the numeral "٢" right after the base word.

While suffixed, the numeral "٢" comes in between the base word and the suffix, effectively being in the middle of the word.

Below are some sample words:

Buri Wolio Latin humbu-humbu sumbe-sumbe incema-incema ngawu-ngawuna

Sample Text Below is a sample except of Wolio language poem "Kaḃanti Bunga Malati", which was rewritten in modern Latin Wolio Script in 2004.

Wolio Indonesian Translation Buri Wolio Latin Mincuanapo isarongi rangkaea

Ne sabutuna aḃari ʾaratāna

Tabeanamo isarongi rangkaea

Hengga ḥaquna apekaḋuwaakamoBelumlah dikatakan orang kaya

Kalau hanya banyak hartanya

Tapi yang dikatakan kaya

Miliknya pun rela diberikannya Mincuanapo isarongi misikini

Ne sabutuna inda teʾaratāna

Tabeanamo isarongi misikini

Apēlua ʿarasi koḥaqunaBukanlah dinamakan orang miskin

Jika hanya tidak punya harta

Sebenarnya orang miskin itu

(adalah orang yang) Masih mengharapkan hak sesamanya Mincuanapo isarongi maradika

Ne sabutuna apōpua ipau

Tabeanamo isarongi maradika

Amaradikamo iwāna narakā Belumlah dikatakan merdeka

Kalau hanya memangku jabatan

Sebenarnya yang (dikatakan) merdeka itu

(adalah orang yang) Sudah bebas dari api neraka

Buri Wolio

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