Buri Wolio

Buri Wolio (Wolio: بُرِ وٚلِيٚ‎) is an Arabic/Jawi script modified to write Wolio, a language spoken in and around Baubau, the capital of Buton, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Generally, this script is same with Jawi script, except in Buri Wolio, vowel sounds are symbolized. This script has 35 letters, 28 letters from Arabic alphabet and 7 additional letters similar to those in Jawi script to represent sounds not found in Arabic. Of these, 22 are used for writing of Wolio language, while 13 are reserved for writing loanwords of Arabic (and European) origin.[1]

Buri Wolio بُرِ وٚلِيٚ‎
An Islamic poetry in Buri Wolio
Script type	Abjad
Time period	c. 16 c. to the present
Direction	Right-to-left
Languages	Wolio
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Nabataean Arabic Buri Wolio
Sister systems	Pegon script, Jawi script, Sorabe alphabet

A dual-language street sign, Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin, in Baubau, written in both the Indonesian language and Buri Wolio

Buri Wolio is similar in most aspects to Jawi script, except that in addition to the 3 diacritics in Arabic and Jawi, Buri Wolio has two additional diacritics for expressing the /e/ and /u/ vowel sounds.

It is unclear when Buri Wolio script was first created and used, but according to the oldest Buton manuscripts that have been found, it is estimated that this script has existed since the arrival of Islam on Buton Island in the 16th century.[2][3] As Wolio language was the lingua franca of Sultanate of Buton, this script was used in writing ancient texts in Buton, including; texts of laws, religious texts and diplomatic letters.[3]

In addition, this script has also been used to write kaḃanti (كَڀَنْتِ‎), a traditional type of long poetry consisting of lines, each with a pair of verses. The tradition of writing kaḃanti in Buton reached its peak of popularity in the 19th century (1824–1851), namely during the reign of the 29th Sultan of Buton, Muhammad Idrus Kaimuddin. For the people of Buton, besides from being known as a sultan, he is also known as a famous scholar and poet of Buton. As a poet, he composed a lot of kaḃanti literature, especially those based on Islamic teachings. Other than Muhammad Idrus Kaimuddin, several other Butonese poets came from the royal family of Buton, such as La Ode Kobu (Metapasina Bādia), La Ode Nafiu (Yarona Labuandiri), and H. Abdul Ganiu (Kenepulu Bula).[4]