Basahan

Basahan script, also known as Guhit, is the native name used by Bicolanos to refer to Baybayin.

The word basahan was already recorded in a book entitled Vocabulario de la Lengua Bicol by Marcos de Lisboa in 1628, which states it has three vowels and fifteen consonants.

Alphabet
Basahan has three stand-alone vowels (a, e/i, o/u) and fifteen consonants (ba, ka, da, ga, ha, la, ma, na, nga, pa, ra, sa, ta, wa, ya). This script can be called an abugida because signs represent syllables, that is a consonant with a vowel.

Way of writing
According to Scott, when e.g. the sign for ba has to be read as be / bi it has a kaldit (a small "v" shaped diacritic sign) on the left (or above), if it has to be read as bu / bo the kaldit is on the right (resp. below). Basahan had its own character for /r/, in contrast to Tagalog Baybayin and Ilokano Kurdita. In his time the kaldit was called kaholoan or holo according to Marcos de Lisboa, author of the earliest dictionary of Bikol.