Philippine Literature during the Precolonial Period

Philippine Precolonial Literature

1. Oral Tradition – The method of transmitting literary works through storytelling, chants, and songs before written records existed.

2. Writing System – Some early Filipinos used scripts like Baybayin to write down literature, though most were oral.

3. Spanish Influence on Precolonial Literature – Many early written literary works were destroyed by Spanish friars, but some survived due to resistance and geographical isolation.

Conventions of Oral Literature

1. Common Experiences as Subject Matter – Stories often reflected daily life, beliefs, and struggles of the community.

2. Communal Authorship – Stories were created and modified by the entire community rather than a single author.

3. Formulaic Repetitions – Phrases or verses were repeated to aid memorization and storytelling.

4. Stereotyping of Characters – Characters often had fixed traits (e.g., brave hero, wise elder, trickster figure).

5. Rhythmic and Musical Devices – Many oral literary works were chanted or sung to make them engaging and easier to remember.

E. Arsenio Manuel's Classification of Precolonial Literature

1. Mythological Age – Stories about the creation of the world, nature, deities, and spirits.

2. Heroic Age – Focused on cultural heroes and mortals, often through epics that inspired and taught values.

3. Folktales – Traditional stories with humans, animals, or plants as characters, passed down and modified over generations.

Baybayin Writing System

1. Origins – Derived from Kavi, an ancient Javanese script from Indonesia.

2. Writing Materials – Early Filipinos used palm leaves or bamboo, knives as pens, and sap as ink.

3. Structure –

   • 17 basic syllables (3 vowels, 14 consonants).

   • Symbols could be modified using kudlit (dots, short lines, or arrowheads) to change vowel sounds.