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Abakada is the alphabet of Tagalog, and was the first alphabet of Wikang Pambansa Batay sa Tagalog (English: Tagalog-Based National Language) or simply Wikang Pambansa (English: National Language).<ref>Mga Probisyong Pangwika sa Saligang-Batas</ref> The national language is presently Filipino, the de facto standardized version of Tagalog,<ref>Andrew Gonzalez, FSC. Language planning in multilingual countries: The case of the Philippines. SIL International. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.</ref> though is de jure distinct from it. The abakada is made up of 20 letters.



Before the arrival of the Spanish, Tagalog was written with the Baybayin/Alibata system. Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography. When the Wikang Pambansa Batay sa Tagalog was introduced, grammarian Lope K. Santos created a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters called ABAKADA in school grammar books called balarilà. This became the alphabet for both Tagalog, and the Tagalog-Based National Language.

Order/Collation of the Alphabet

The Tagalog Baybayin script, featuring the equivalent of each of the 20 letters of the Abakada

Abakada is arranged this way. Inside the quotation marks is the name of the letters.

A - "A"
B - "Ba"
K - "Ka"
D - "Da"
E - "E"
G - "Ga"
H - "Ha"
I - "I"
L - "La"
M - "Ma"
N - "Na"
NG - "Nga"
P - "Pa"
R - "Ra"
S - "Sa"
T - "Ta"
U - "U"
W - "Wa"
Y - "Ya"


<references />
  1. Kautusang Pangkagawaran Blg. 7

See also

External links