18 Facts About Lontara script

The script is primarily used to write the Buginese language, followed by Makassarese and Mandar.

Closely related variants of Lontara script are used to write several languages outside of Sulawesi such as Bima, Ende, and Sumbawa.

The Lontara script was actively used by several South Sulawesi societies for day-to-day and literary texts from at least mid-15th Century CE until the mid-20th Century CE, before its function was gradually supplanted by the Latin alphabet.

Today the Lontara script is taught in South Sulawesi Province as part of the local curriculum, but with very limited usage in everyday life.

The Lontara script is a descendant of Brahmi through Kawi intermediaries.

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Traditionally, the Lontara script is written without word breaks and with little to no punctuation.

Term Lontara script has come to refer to literature regarding Bugis history and genealogy, an important subject in traditional South Sulawesi societies.

Historically, Lontara script was used for a range of documents including contracts, trade laws, treaties, maps, and journals.

In Makasar, Lontara script is additionally used for personal documents such as letters and notes.

Traditionally, Lontara script is used to write several languages of south Sulawesi.

Lontara script is frequently found in Islamic themed texts such as hikayat, prayer guide, azimat, tafsir, and fiqh.

In contemporary context, the Lontara script has been part of the local curriculum in South Sulawesi since the 1980s, and may be found infrequently in public signage.

The lack of coda indicator is one reason why standard Lontara script texts are often very ambiguous and difficult to parse to those not already familiar with the text.

Lontara script variants used for Bima and Ende are known to developed viramas, but these innovations are not absorbed back into Bugis-Makassar writing practice where lack of coda diacritics in Lontara script texts is the norm until the 21st century.

Traditional Lontara texts are written without space and only use a limited number of punctuation: pallawa and end of section marker.

Lontara script Bilang-bilang is a substitution cipher in which the glyph of standard Lontara script letters are substituted by stylized digits derived from the numeric value of corresponding Arabic alphabet.

Lontara and Old Makassar script are closely related with almost identical orthography despite the graphic dissimilarities.

ManuLontara script containing Story of a War Between Two Young Bugis Rajas over a Princess, Library of Congress.