Leng-goa u 1-e hu-kiaN bo choan hou tak-ke, u su-iau e lang chhiaN ka goa tho.

----- Original Message -----
From: 
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 4:05 PM
Subject: Origin of Babuza alphabet (TAIWAN)



Who can povide further information as to the origin or the creator of the
Babuza alphabet ? Does anybody know of any books printed in the Babuzan
alphabet ?

BABUZA (also known as Babusa, Favorlang, Jaborlang, Poavosa) is spoken on
the west central coast and inland, Tatu and Chosui rivers, Taiwan. According
to SIL's Ethnologue this language is nearly extinct.

I came across a translation of the Lord's Prayer in the Babuza language
printed in an old German book of 1847. The book
refers to the language simply as "Formosanisch" ("Formosan"). The exact term
for the language, however, should be "Babuza".

I was able to transcribe the text by means of the alphabet chart which can
also be found in above book. Please note that the text in Babuza characters
is to be read from right to left !

Diameta ka tū vullum
Lulugniang ta nanangh oho
Mabatongaltatao gou moho
Mamtalto ki kamoienhu tu naly
Mama tū vullum
Pekame kakagniang wagy katta
Hamiakameky varaviang mamemiang mamia varauky
Tao ka mouroky ruch emitang
Inokamo poudanga dangah hovaga mekade
Ki litto idhovato ta gumaguma
Kallipu hang kahahamamang mikikva
Amen.


Vocabulary:

Diam father
eta our
ka who
tū in
vullum heaven

lulugniang praised be
ta the
nanangh name
oho your(s)

goumoho kingdom
kamoienhu will (n.)
tu on
naly earth
mama like, as
tū in
vullum heaven

Pe-kame (pe-came) give us
kakagniang (cacagniang) food
wagy day
katta this

varaviang (varauiang) sin
litto devil

gumaguma kingdom
kallipu hang (kallipuchang) power
kahahamamang glory
mikikva eternally


The book states as a source "Benjamin Schulze's V.U.S., Leipzig (1748)". The
abbreviation V.U.S. stands for "Vater Unser Sammlung" which means
"Collection of Lord's Prayers".

Looking at the alphabet chart you will note that some characters resemble
Greek letters (gamma = "l", delta = "ū, u, v, w").
The lower one of the two characters for letter "t" resembles the cyrillic
letter "B" and the one for "o" resembles the cyrillic "È".
My assumption is that the Babuza alphabet was most probably created by a
missionary.

Who can provide further information with respect to the Babuza alphabet ?
Your assistance is highly appreciated.

With kindest regards,
Wolfgang Kuhl
(Germany)










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* Li chu-chheh e e-mail khau-cho si: "Henry H. Tan-Tenn" .
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