Bakom can be written using several alphabets. What follows are details for writing in the Cyrillic Alphabet (Bakom: jiciri).
Pangsek-ji (alphabetical order)
The alphabetical order is different than that of most languages which use the Cyrillic alphabet, and follows more closely the order of Devanagari, used to write Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, and Sanskrit.
Following is the alphabetical order (letters in brackets ⟨⟩: first upright capital and lowercase, then italic capital and lowercase), with an IPA pronunciation guide in slashes // and the name of each letter written in Cyrillic and Roman.
⟨Аа Аа⟩ /a/ жиа jia
⟨Ее Ее⟩ /e̞/ жие jie
⟨Ии Ии⟩ /i/ жии jii
⟨Оо Оо⟩ /o̞/ жио jio
⟨Уу Уу⟩ /u/ жиу jiu
⟨Кк Кк⟩ /k/ жика jika
⟨Тт Тт⟩ /t/ жита jita
⟨Пп Пп⟩ /p/ жипа jipa
⟨Чч Чч⟩ /tʃ/ жича jica
⟨Гг Гг⟩ /g/ жига jiga
⟨Дд Дд⟩ /d/ жида jida
⟨Бб Бб⟩ /b/ жиба jiba
⟨Жж Жж⟩ /dʒ/ жижа jija
⟨Хх Хх⟩ /h/ жиха jiha
⟨Сс Сс⟩ /s/ жиса jisa
⟨Фф Фф⟩ /f/ жифа jipa
⟨Мм Мм⟩ /m/ жима jima
⟨Нн Нн⟩ /n/ жина jina
⟨Ң ң Ң ң⟩ жианг jiang (or жина и дел пенсу jina i del pensu “N with descender”)
If this letter is unavailable, it can be replaced with a digraph нг.
⟨Лл Лл⟩ /l/ жила jila
⟨Йй Йй⟩ /j/ жии пончас jii poncas “letter I with breve”)
⟨Яя Яя⟩ /ja/ жия jiya
⟨Ёё Ёё⟩ /jo/ жиё jiyo
⟨Юю Юю⟩ /ju/ жию jiyu
⟨Вв Вв⟩ /w/ жива jiwa
⟨Рр Рр⟩ /r/ жира jira
When spelling out words or reading acronyms, it is acceptable to omit the word ⟨жи⟩ ji “letter, symbol”. So, to spell out the word ⟨камай⟩ kamay “shop, store” one could say ⟨ка а ма а и пончас⟩ ka a ma a i poncas.
Raba delmuy (compound words)
Bakom commonly uses compounds words, where multiple roots or compounding elements are combined to form new words, like English football from foot and ball.
There are a few rules for where to include spaces in compound words:
If the describing word is a stative verb, a space is written.
For instance ⟨сим бо⟩ sim bo “contentment”, from ⟨сим⟩ “heart” (a noun) and ⟨бо⟩ “good” (a stative verb).
Words like this are always written after a space.
For instance ⟨жи домё да⟩ ji domyo da “capital letter”, where ⟨домё да⟩ “large version” is written after a space because ⟨да⟩ “large” is a stative verb.
If the compound could easily be replaced with a phrase using a stative verb such as ⟨е⟩ e “of/to/for” or ⟨та⟩ ta “on” or ⟨со⟩ so “as”, it is written with a space.
The compounding base ⟨о⟩ o is never followed by a space.
Compounds with the prefixes ⟨но⟩ no “un-, non-” or ⟨те⟩ te “more, -er” are treated as one compounding element for the purposes of spacing.
Lo ji domyo da (rules of capitalization)
Capitalization (Bakom: ji domyo da “large version letter”) is always optional, but there are certain situations where its use is stylistically encouraged.
At the beginning of a sentence:
О а сум бивчаи.
O a sum biwcay.
“He/she drinks tea.”
For personal names:
Си ма он Софиа пе жо?
Si ma on Sofia pe jo?
“Have you seen Sofía?”
For any foreign word:
Ми а тең Баклава е бе.
Mi a teng Baklava e be.
“I would like the baklava, please.”
In acronyms and abbreviations, in which case each individual element receives a letter: (However, acronyms should always be read out as the full words, never as the letters themselves.)
ДЧ1 (decu un) “Monday”, ПСА (paysemamik) “the U.S.A.”, Д28Л8С2016 (de tuday pat lu pat san tumil day sis) “August 28th, 2016”, etc.
Lojipon (rules of punctuation)
The only obligatory punctuation marks are the period (Bakom: jipon hol “complete punctuation mark”) and the comma (Bakom: jipon so del “partial punctuation mark”).
The period ⟨.⟩ is used after every sentence. It is not used between letters in acronyms.
The comma ⟨,⟩ has two main uses.
One is before a subordinate clause (all subordinate clauses have the words ⟨ва⟩ wa or ⟨ван⟩ wan, so they are easy to spot). This does not mean that a pause is pronounced, but simply serves to increase readability.
Ми а он си та вак, ва го ми ме ве.
Mi a on si ta wak, wa go mi me we.
“I saw you when I was walking along the street.”
Ми а ба е си пе жо, ми ван по ва са басапан.
Mi a ba e si pe jo, mi wan po wa sa basapan.
“I told you that I don’t speak Spanish.”
The other use is between items in a list. A comma is placed after each item, akin to the Oxford Comma in English. (Note that no word translating English “and” is used.)
комал и пожонив ё силде, ронхав, ронав
komal i pojoniw yo silde, ronhaw, ronaw
“renewable resources such as sun, wind, and hydroelectric”
То ин а и хак кай, ав, хам, кабот.
To in a i hak kay, aw, ham, kabot.
“Every person has a right to food, water, shelter, and dignity.”
A comma can also be used in any other circumstance in order to mark an important division of the sentence, such as before a quotation or to interject a comment.
Огижан ми, ва е гимен бо ри да, а жав китап та.
Ogijan mi, wa e gimen bo ri da, a yap kitap ta.
“My teacher, who is very helpful, is writing a book.”
The exclamation mark ⟨!⟩ (Bakom: jipon bepak, “command punctuation mark”) is optionally used to mark commands, which always have the particles ya or yan.
The question mark ⟨?⟩ (Bakom: jipon bejan, “question punctuation mark”) is optionally used to mark yes-or-no questions, and questions with a question word like mo “what”.
There are also quotation marks ⟨« »⟩ (Bakom: ji mal baway “quotation letter”). The quotation marks always are placed before or within other punctuation marks, and no space is used.
A quote-within-a-quote uses the same quotation marks, which can result in two of the same mark, for instance ⟨»»⟩, appearing side by side.