Editing Buginese language (section)

==Writing system==
{{main|Lontara alphabet}}
Buginese was traditionally written using the [[Lontara script]], of the [[Brahmic family]], which is also used for the [[Makassar language]] and the [[Mandar language]]. The name [[Lontara]] derives from the [[Malay language|Malay]] word for the [[palmyra palm]], {{lang|ms|lontar}}, the leaves of which are the traditional material for manuscripts in [[India]], [[South East Asia]] and [[Indonesia]]. Today, however, it is often written using the [[Latin script]].

===Buginese lontara===
The Buginese lontara (locally known as {{lang|bug-Latn|Aksara Ugi}}) has a slightly different pronunciation from the other [[lontara]]s like the Makassarese. Like other Indic scripts, it also utilizes diacritics to distinguish the vowels {{IPA|[i]}}, {{IPA|[u]}}, {{IPA|[e]}}, {{IPA|[o]}} and {{IPA|[ə]}} from the default inherent vowel {{IPA|/a/}} (actually pronounced {{IPA|[ɔ]}}) implicitly represented in all base consonant letters (including the zero-consonant ''a'').

But unlike most other Brahmic scripts of India, the Buginese script traditionally does not have any [[virama]] sign (or alternate half-form for vowel-less consonants, or subjoined form for non-initial consonants in clusters) to suppress the inherent vowel, so it is normally impossible to write consonant clusters (a few ones were added later, derived from ligatures, to mark the [[prenasalized consonant|prenasalization]]), geminated consonants or final consonants.