Shorthand (Pitman, Gregg, Teeline) Search Shorthand Shorthand is any system of rapid handwriting which can be used to transcribe the spoken word. Shorthand systems use a variety of techniques including simplifying existing letters or characters and using special symbols to represent phonemes, words and phrases. A brief history of shorthand systems Ever since the invention of writing scribes have used various techniques to enable them to take notes quickly and efficiently. The Ancient Egyptians devised two scripts, Hieratic and Demotic , as alternatives to their complex Hieroglyphic script, which was used mainly for monumental inscriptions. Both Hieratic and Demotic worked on the same principles as the Hieroglyphs but the symbols were considerably simplified. During the 4th century BC, the Greeks devised a number of symbol systems which reduced letters to a single stroke and which could also be used to represent common words, suffixes and prefixes. Such systems are generally referred to as stenography (narrow writing), brachygraphy (short writing) or tachygraphy (swift writing). Their purpose was to make writing more compact and/or faster.

One shorthand system popular with the Romans was Tironian Notes or Notae Tironianae, which was invented by Cicero's secretary Tiro in order to record Cicero's speeches. It used a combination of simplified letters and special symbols and was used in Europe in various forms until the Middle Ages. During the Han Dynasty (207BC - 220AD) the Chinese devised two methods of rapid writing known as xíngshū (running script) and căoshū (draft script). In the Running script some of the strokes that make up characters are joined and others are left out. In the Draft script each character is written with a single continuous stroke and there is considerable variation in how this is done. As a result, the Draft script is very difficult to read without special training. Attempts have been made to standardise the way the characters are written in the Draft script but they have not met with popular acclaim. Modern shorthand systems There are a number of different shorthand systems currently in use. The most popular ones include: Pitman Shorthand Pitman Shorthand was devised by Sir Isaac Pitman (1813-1897) and was first published in 1837.

Over the years is has been gradually improved and has been also adapted for 15 different languages. The system was widely used in the UK and USA by secretaries, reporters and writers, but lost popularity with the invention of pocket tape recorders. Notable features Pitman is phonetic: it records the sounds of speech rather than the spelling. For example, the sound [f] in form, elephant and rough is written in the same way for each word. Vowel sounds are optional and are written with small dots, dashes or other shapes next to the main strokes. This helps increase writing speed because most words can be identified from their consonants only. The thickness, length and position of the strokes are all significant. There are many special abbreviations and other tricks to increase writing speed. The record for fast writing with Pitman shorthand is 350 wpm during a two-minute test by Nathan Behrin in 1922. Pitman consonants Sample text in Pitman 'Translation' All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) Gregg Shorthand Gregg was invented by John Robert Gregg (1867-1948) and was first published in 1888. Since then many different versions have appeared, including some for languages other than English. Gregg is still used, particularly in the USA. Notable features Gregg is phonetic: it records the sounds of speech rather than the spelling. For example, the sound [f] in form, elephant and rough is written in the same way for each word. Vowels are written as hooks and circles on the consonants. Gregg consonants The Shorthand Place: History of Shorthand: A select list of shorthand systems History of Shorthand: A select list of shorthand systems (Arranged in order of the date of publication.) << Previous Page 2 of 5 Next >> Taylor Samuel Taylor (b.1748) published his system, “A Universal System of Stenography or Short Hand-writing” in 1786. This was based on the earlier system of John Byrom.

Where Byrom gave 2 forms for the letters, B, H, J, W, X, SH and TH, Taylor reduced these to only one form each although retaining 2 forms for W, and giving 3 forms for L. He writes “I invented a new set of characters … previously all ..,. characters hitherto adopted, were improperly chosen”. However, his arbitrary consonant signs required very specific guidance for joining the strokes. All vowels were represented by a dot. He considered Byrom’s placing of the vowel dot in 5 positions as being “too many” and reduces this to one dot standing alone to represent a, i and o. Taylor developed an improved theory of shorthand in terms of the design of the consonant letters and uses the principle of abbreviating words by writing 2-4 of their first consonants (ps = possible). Many words are expressed by the initial consonant only (w = who, d = did, t = time), but an, and, in are all represented by the sign for 'n'. Bordley Simon George Bordley published ‘Cadmus Britannicus’ in 1787.

This was a script shorthand method to be written in three styles, Slower shorthand, Swifter shorthand, and Shorthand for music. Simple strokes were used to represent letters and vowels were indicated by the slope and position of the consonants. Bertin Theodore Bertin adapted Taylor's system into French in 1792 and in turn Josef Danzer, an officer in the Austrian army, adapted the Taylor-Bertin system into German. The shorthand entries in the note-books of the composer Beethoven, which he used after becoming deaf, were written in Danzer's adapted system. Gabelsberger Franz Gabelsberger (1789-1849) developed a cursive or script system based on longhand letters - “Speech-sign art”. This system employed both position writing and thickening of strokes. It became widely popular throughout Europe. The consonants are portions of ordinary letters, modifications of geometric forms distorted to suit the position assumed by the hand in writing longhand, and joined by upward strokes as in normal writing. The vowels are indicated by closer or wider spacing between the consonants and using longer or shorter joining strokes, but these are often omitted. There are many prefixes and suffixes and a large number of contractions.

Other devices include writing at different levels or curving or thickening the junction strokes. Pitman Isaac Pitman (b.1813-1897) published his book ‘Stenographic Sound-Hand’ in 1837; this marked a new era in the development of phonetic shorthand systems. It is one of the most important geometric systems of shorthand, but it had many contemporary critics; Thomas Anderson regarded the system as “one of the most ill-constructed and deficient systems ever invented”. Other critics included Thomas Malone who entered into a long critical debate about the merits of Pitman’s ‘Phonography’ and alternative ‘cursive’ systems. In the Pitman method all words are written according to their sounds and the consonant alphabet is based on the pattern of a crossed circle and uses paired thick and thin strokes. A thick stroke represents the heavier sound of the similar thin stroke, e.g. D is a thickened T. Pitman's shorthand is a masterpiece of word abbreviation but has a multiplicity of rules, alternatives and exceptions which makes it difficult to learn. A hook precursor sign written in different positions is used to indicate R and L.

A final hook may represent N, F or V depending on the preceding letter. Vowels are indicated by inserting light and heavy dots or dashes as diacritic marks. These are placed in any of three positions before or after a consonant sign according to their sound and where they occur in a word. In addition, word outlines can be written in three positions, above, on or below the line of writing, relating to the sound of the vowel. Advanced writers can then omit most of the diacritic vowel signs and rely on indicating the vowel sounds by the position of the outline. Pitman himself changed his sign alphabet and published numerous editions of the method (these appeared yearly between 1871 and 1894. The complex system of word abbreviation has been progressively simplified over the years, but the system remains powerful although time-consuming to learn and practise. In 1970 a modified version was published – ‘Pitmanscript; a method of fast writing based on the English alphabet’. This was a recognition that for general office work writing speeds of up to 80-90 words a minute were adequate.

This revision used a mixture of normal longhand letters intermixed with 10 special strokes; these differ from the original Pitman geometric signs (d, h, n, r, s and t). These letters, it is claimed, form 40% of all letters written. The result tended to create somewhat long and cumbersome word outlines. There are some 24 short cuts for the 27 most common words ( m = me, w = we, n = not, y = why). It appears to have been intended to be a personal and individual system. In 1971 G.A. Reid wrote ‘Pitman Shorterhand’; this is a simplified and modified form of the original Pitman system. The Short Forms (known earlier as ‘Grammalogues’) are now termed as ‘Pitman Pacers’. The impressive primary collection of the works of Pitman, together with other systems, is held at the University of Bath Library (Pitman collection). See Library collections . Graham Andrew J. Graham published ‘Brief Longhand’ in 1857. This was not a shorthand system as such but rather a system of longhand contractions.

Frequent words were represented by their initial or significant letter (word signs); a = an, and, c = can, e = the, f = for, r = are, z = as. Many prefixes and suffixes were similarly represented by their initial letters. The method could be written in 3 styles. The Corresponding style where the word signs only were used, all other words being written in full. The Author’s style which had an extended list of word signs and where other words could be abbreviated according to certain fixed principles. In the third style the majority of vowels were omitted in words and silent consonants were omitted. This approach differs from his contemporaries who were concerned to develop shorthand writing based on arbitrary sign alphabets. Graham appears to be developing a set of word abbreviation principles. Duployé Emile Duployé (1833-1912) was influenced by several other previous shorthand inventors deriving from Taylor's system. Duployé's system was published in 1868. It is a French phonographic system representing the 28 sounds of the French language.

Consonants are paired by sound (P-B, T-D, F-V, K-G) and differentiated by length – an approach later followed by Malone and Gregg. Vowels are represented by small semi- or quarter circles which are not always easily distinguished. Its special merit lies in its simplicity but the method of combining consonant strokes leads to simple ‘flourishes’ which may not be easy to read when written out of context. The system was taught in Canada and was later adapted into Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic. In 1883 it was claimed to be “the most popular system in the world”. It was first adapted to English by A.J. Pernion (1877) and later by J.M.Sloan. T.S.Malone published his own version, ‘Script Phonography’ in 1886 (see entries below). Pitman’s comment on the Duployan system was that “ … nothing so puzzling to the reader as a series of sinuosities in which the letters are so anastomosed or blended that it is impossible, according to the old phrase to ‘tell t'other from which’ ”. SHORTHAND – CAN YOU WRITE AS FAST AS YOU SPEAK?

| ETEC540: Text Technologies SHORTHAND – CAN YOU WRITE AS FAST AS YOU SPEAK? Posted on November 3, 2010 by deedee DEFINITION “Shorthand, also called stenography, is a system for rapid writing that uses symbols or abbreviations for letters, words, or phrases.” (1) Shorthand is any system of accelerated handwriting used for the transcription of the spoken word. Shorthand systems use a variety of techniques including simplifying existing letters or characters, and using special symbols to represent phonemes, words and phrases. A typical shorthand system provides symbols or abbreviations for words and common phrases, allowing someone well trained in the system to write as quickly as people speak. Typically, shorthand notes are intended either for immediate use or for later transcription to longhand and are therefore, temporary in nature. Although a disadvantage of mastering shorthand is the learning curve involved to become proficient, it can increase the user’s speed of writing and ability to record the spoken word up to 200 words per minute depending on one’s command of the skill. The average person can only write at approximately 30 words per minute.

Knowledge of Shorthand aids in the development of skills related to listening, focus, organization, attention to detail and accuracy. It allows for efficiency and organization of thought in that the speaker can free flow their intended content while the person taking the dictation has only to record what is being said. HISTORY The history of shorthand is prodigious and dates as far back as Ancient Greece (the Akropolis stone) in the mid-4th Century BC while Hellenistic tachygraphy (shorthand of ancient scribes) dates back from at least the 2nd Century BC onwards. (2) It has been documented that shorthand was invented in Ancient Rome by Marcos Tullius Tiro, a slave and later freedman of one of Rome’s greatest orators, Cicero. Tiro’s Latin shorthand system was the basis for his “Tironian Notes”, which were recordings of Cicero’s speeches. The original Tironian notes consisted of about 4,000 signs which over time increased to approximately 13,000. It was also during this period that teams of ancient scribes would record orations and later compare their notes for the purpose of co-developing written transcriptions.

Another use for shorthand during this period was for dictation of journals as well as recording ‘secret’ information. Tiro’s system was considered so effective that it was taught in the Roman schools, learned by emperors, and remained in use for hundreds of years. (3) In Imperial China clerks used shorthand to record court proceedings and criminal confessions, and these recordings were then used to create more formal transcripts. (4) An example of 18th Century Shorthand Among the most popular modern Shorthand systems before the invention of the computer were Pitman, Gregg, Teeline, and Speedwriting. These formal methods of Shorthand were referred to as stenography (close, little, or narrow writing), stachygraphy (swift writing) and brachygraphy (short writing). Prior to the invention of recording machines (including typewriters) and ultimately computers, shorthand was the most widely used method for taking dictation and notes for business correspondence. Before recording devices, shorthand was vital to businesses, medical communities and the law. A good stenographer could make a decent living, and this skill improved the lives of thousands of men and women.

At the turn of the 20th C, the mechanization of shorthand became commercially feasible when American stenographer and court reporter Ward Stone Ireland introduced the Stenotype machine. Both the Stenograph and Stenotype machines have keyboards with 22 keys arranged so that the operator, using all fingers and both thumbs, is able to strike any number of keys simultaneously. The machines print roman letters on a strip of paper that folds automatically into the back of the machine. The operator controls the keys by touch and is thus able to watch the speaker. Although the machines were used in offices to some extent, they were primarily utilized for purposes of court reporting as well as for recording conferences. There are over 40 shorthand systems in existence worldwide and at least 19 documented inventors of shorthand dating as far back as the late 16th C. (5) Among the most noteworthy inventors: 1837 – Isaac Pitman – British, invented Pitman shorthand, a modern symbol system based on sounds. Words are written as they sound, not as they are spelled. 1888 – John Robert Gregg – Irish, invented Gregg Shorthand, a modern symbol system which superseded Pittman’s method as most predominantly used.

1924 – Emma Dearborn – Instructor at Columbia University, invented the Speedwriting Shorthand system. It requires the memorization of unique abbreviations to corresponding words. 1970 – James Hill – British, invented Teeline Shorthand. USES The primary use of shorthand has been to record oral dictation or discourse, and various methods were used for the demands of office administration (secretarial), journalism and court reporting. The Industrial Revolution brought a demand for stenographers in business. The geometric system then in use was complicated and required a high level of training. Because of this, a need existed for a simplified method of shorthand and in 1817 German Franz Xaver Gabelsberger inspired a simple cursive system. In 1893 John Robert Gregg introduced his system to the United States and found that shorthand was virtually unknown. It was during this time that high schools began teaching shorthand and Gregg traveled throughout the United States demonstrating his system, as well as his teaching methods, with tremendous success. Gregg Shorthand became the most predominant system taught and used in the United States, Canada and Britain.

Also during this period the United States’ flourishing economy, particularly on the East Coast, created a demand for schools that taught stenography and secretarial practices. This included courses in stenography, typing, proof reading and other commercial skills; all of which were considered valuable, particularly for women who were now entering the workforce. After the mid-1880s, a substantial share (but never a majority) of female clerical workers were employed as stenographers and typists. It was viewed that these skills created an ideal opening for women who sought to make their own living. Up until that time it was their male counterparts who were employed in these clerical positions. However, the men began moving into other areas, primarily in management. From an economic viewpoint women were paid lower wages, which could translate into a more profitable bottom line for their employers. In the late decades of the 19th C females accounted for more than half of high school graduates, while far more men than women graduated from college. “Thus a man who had enough education and literacy skills to obtain a job as a clerical worker was also probably educated enough in many cases to attain a managerial or professional position.

As a consequence, the supply of men available for clerical work was considerably diminished.” (6) Economists are now seeking to expand our understanding of the simultaneous increase in female clerical employment and adoption of new office technology in the late 19th C and early 20th C. Adshade (2004) and Adshade and Keay (2004) suggest that the key factor underlying both trends was an increase in secondary education, which not only increased the supply of female clerical workers but also encouraged organizational and technical innovations that increased the productivity of, and demand for, clerical workers.(7) Although the primary use of shorthand has been to record oral dictation or discourse, some systems are used for compact expression. For example, health-care professionals may use shorthand notes in medical charts and correspondence. Throughout the centuries shorthand was also used for cultural pursuits, and because of this was considered an art form. For example, George Bernard Shaw created his works using the Pitman Shorthand method.

By the late 19th C shorthand was regarded as a clerical skill more than an art form, and by the late 20th C speech recognition devices were being developed, which greatly diminished the role of shorthand written with pen and paper. The demise of shorthand can be seen as part of modernization with the invention of voice recording tools allowing speakers to talk directly into a recording device. A person can now speak into a tape recorder, enabling their assistant to transcribe word for word, directly into a typewriter or word processor. Increasingly, assistants now receive written drafts rather than oral communications and have only editing and proofreading to complete. An Example of a Shorthand Typewriter CONCLUSION Shorthand was originally developed as a method for capturing the spoken word. It was authentic in terms of representing and accurately preserving orality. It allowed for spontaneity on the part of the orator and allowed thoughts to flow freely. Before the introduction of digital voice recorders, shorthand served to preserve the magic of an oral performance, incorporating knowledge, understanding, creative thought and insight into the material. The transcription provided written access to that performance, and along with it the ability to revisit and tap into both the wisdom delivered and wisdom gained.

Invented by men and later employed primarily by women, shorthand is considered a mechanical skill and it’s a difficult argument to defend its academic relevance. While it was never developed as a tool for literacy and education, it was used by those who were both literate and educated. Shorthand set the stage for the later development of more sophisticated recording technologies. Modernization and the advancement of voice recording technologies have diminished the value of shorthand as a writing technology. Although rarely used today, many people who know how to use it maintain that it provides the benefits of improved memory, multitasking of the brain, increased power of retention, improved organization and increased productivity. Despite these benefits and Shorthand’s use throughout past centuries and across diverse cultures, it has now become virtually obsolete as a commercial skill, as a written method of preserving orality, and as an art form. REFERENCES (1) Shorthand. Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from Encyclopaedia Britannica Web site: (2) The Lost Art of Shorthand. Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from The Daily Star Web site: (3) Who Invented Shorthand?

Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from 4to40 Web site: (4) Shorthand. Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from Wikipedia Web site: (5) List of Inventors of Writing Systems. Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from Wikipedia Web site: (6) Gender & the Office. Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from Early Office Museum Web site: (7) Gender & the Office. Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from Early Office Museum Web site: SHORTHAND SHORTHAND... SHORTCUT TO A GOOD JOB 1 ï¿½. . . And therefore, this appears likely to be the more appropriate solution to our problem. I look forward to hearing from you, yours very trulyï¿½got that, Miss Morris?ï¿½ Miss Morris nods. Her boss has just finished dictating a letter to her, and she has taken everything down just as he spoke it, at his normal rate of speaking.

She employed a system of writing called shorthand, which uses special symbols and abbreviations to permit a secretary to record rapidly the words of anyone talking. How did shorthand develop, and how does it work? 2 Shorthand was invented because a need for it existed. People needed to find a fast way to write down the spoken word. The first system of shorthand was invented about 2,000 years ago by a man named who was the secretary to the ancient Roman politician Cicero. Tiro recorded Ciceroï¿½s speeches by using a system symbols with which he could write down a word by using a few quick, simple strokes of the pen. Tiroï¿½s system was adopted by the early Christian churches in their correspondence. The system had two advantages: first, it allowed someone to take down words spoken at a normal speed; and second, it was a code that only a few could decipher, so it ensured the secrecy of the correspondence. 3 Shorthand languished during the middle Ages.

It was reinvented around 1580 by an official in the government of Queen Elizabeth I of England For a long time; however, there was not much need for shorthand outside government circles, since trade and business were just beginning their large-scale development. But by the 1800ï¿½s, business was expanding rapidly, and there was an ever-increasing need for improved written communication. So in 1837, the first modern system of shorthand was developed by Isaac Pitman. This system is still used today. Pitmanï¿½s system uses geometrical formsï¿½its symbols are built up of straight lines and curved strokes. Different sounds are shown by different positions, directions of slant, and thickness of the symbols. Vowels are shown by dots or dashes placed outside the main part of the word. Here is an example, the sentence ï¿½This sentence is written in shorthand,ï¿½ in Pitman: 4 In the late 1800ï¿½s, John Gregg developed another system of shorthand, which also continues to be widely used. In Gregg shorthand, the symbols slant the way we write, and vowels are not placed outside their words.

The Gregg symbols are not supposed to be written thick or thinï¿½they can all be the same thickness. Here is the sentence ï¿½This sentence is written in shorthand.ï¿½ in Gregg: 5 The third system of shorthand, Speedwriting, is a child of the20th century. In Speedwriting all the unnecessary vowels are dropped, and the word is written by using the letter of the alphabet and common punctuation marks to represent the sounds. Speedwriting is easier to learn than Pitman or Gregg shorthand because the student already knows how to write the letters of the alphabet, but it is not quite as fast as the other two systems. This is what ï¿½This sentence is written in shorthandï¿½ looks like in Speedwriting: 6 The three systems of shorthand share common techniques. They use only the letters that are sounded in the spoken word and leave out those that are not. For instance, in the word knee, we do not pronounce the letter ï¿½kï¿½ or the second ï¿½e.ï¿½ So in shorthand, only the ï¿½neï¿½ is written.

In addition, very commonly used words are given brief forms that make for extra speed in shorthand writing. Common word endings such as -ing and -ation, are also given brief forms, as are common phrases such as to be, there are, I am, you will, and it is. A good secretary may improve on the system by further developing her own special signs. For example, if her boss usually begins a letter with a standard phrase such as ï¿½In reply to your letter of January 15th . . .ï¿½ she might write something like X 1/15. 7 There is a great demand in almost all fields for people skilled in shorthand. Businessmen, politicians, lawyers, doctors, scientists, scholars, and writers all need secretaries to take down their reports, letters, and notes. A person who knows shorthand will find the door open to many interesting jobs. The Shorthand Place: History of Shorthand: A select list of shorthand systems History of Shorthand: A select list of shorthand systems (Arranged in order of the date of publication.) << Previous Page 4 of 5 Next >> Kingsford Percy Edward Kingsford published ‘The New Phonography’ in 1888.

This is known as the Oxford system. It is a complex shorthand system using joined vowels and based on normal longhand writing. The core letters, B, T, D, M, R, are allocated signs derived from their longhand equivalents. The 5 vowel signs are included in the word outline. A vowel-place-indication method is used where an initial vowel is indicated by the placement of the following consonant. Two similar letters, e.g. T + T, are blended into a single double-size stroke. Thus letters may be ‘dwarfed’ (shortened) or lengthened with economy of movement. The sound of R is indicated by thickening a consonant and the sound of L is indicated by thickening a vowel sign. Callendar H.L. Callendar published ‘Orthic Shorthand (Orthographic cursive)’ in 1891. This was known as the Cambridge system, as distinct from Kingsford’s ‘Oxford’ system. It is a light-line method – no thickening of strokes. based on spelling using 26 cursive symbols for letters with forward-moving strokes for vowels. Double letters, consonants or vowels, are indicated by placing a dot beneath the letter.

The similar letters, L and S (both represented by a small circle) are distinguished by writing them in different directions (clock-wise or counter clock-wise). It was claimed to be easy to learn and to write but it was not fast enough for verbatim reporting speeds. White Frederic William White published his ‘Briefhand or orthographic shorthand’; an abbreviated system of writing words as spelt, in 1903. This is a very slight publication of only eight pages with hand-written plates. The consonant alphabet is formed from parts of the familiar Roman alphabet, but these are very arbitrary selections and not easily recognizable. The vowels include circles, straight and sloping lines, hooks and dots. Clarke Edward George Clarke published his ‘Swifthand’ in 1909. This has an esoteric alphabet with different forms for up and for downward signs and these require clear distinction in the proportions of the letter signs. [It might be argued that writing familiar Roman letters would be faster than using this special alphabet.] Blackburn ’Blackburn’s print shorthand’, published in 1912, is a complex method of writing requiring a pre-printed page containing multiple blocks of letters. Words are indicated by marking the blocks.

These marks include 4 forward and 4 backward written curves with additional marks to indicate a Prefix, a Syllable, an Affix, and abbreviated word, a phrase of an abbreviation of 3 letters. Dutton Reginald John Garfield Dutton (b. 1886) published his "Dutton's Shorthand" in 1916. This system is built on the principle of "look after R's and L's, T's and D's, S's and N's, and the other letters will look after themselves". A phonetic approach is adopted together with an arbitrary sign alphabet and position writing. This results in a compact method of writing. A double-size letter written on the line indicates a following R, but when written through or below the line indicates a following sound of L. It was advertised widely as 'Dutton's 24-hour Shorthand' claiming it could be learned in that time period. Dutton also invented 'Speedwords', an alternative international language.

Each word is built up from 488 'parent' Speedwords mostly of 1-3 letters using either a single-letter suffix to change the meaning, or by idea-compounds where two Speedwords are combined to form a new self-explanatory word.( lo = long, but lox = short, sa = knowledge, but sax = ignorance; ca = room, dor = sleep, cador = bedroom). Webster William O. Webster published ‘Speedography’ in 1919. This was a phonetic system with arbitrary geometric signs; these are paired, T and D, R and L, N and M, K and G, F and V, P and B. The paired consonants, SH and Ch are different sloping curves, J is a larger curve. The joined vowel method uses circles, hooks and combinations for the diphthongs. This system was clearly influenced by Gregg shorthand. Sessions Leonard Sessions published his ‘Sonoscript or Soundhand’ in 1921. His alphabet, which he called “The Soniture” consists of three groups of letters. The first group, the Sonants, are written forwards with light and heavy strokes.

The second group, the Consonants, are similarly written downwards. The third group, the Resonants, are the lighter sounds of ‘th, s, l, m, n and ng’. This appears to be a somewhat esoteric system of special interest to linguists. Dewey Godfrey Dewey made significant contributions to the development of shorthand. He was particularly interested, as was Isaac Pitman, in simplified spelling. He published his first shorthand manual, ‘Personal Shorthand’, in the U.S.A. in 1927. This was a phonetic system using single stroke letters with some pairing and distinguishing consonants with thick and thin strokes. It was a joined vowel system but unessential vowels were omitted in the body of a word. There was a very small set, less than 50, of special word signs where single letters represented the most frequently occurring words. This textbook was re-published in 1938 with the title, ‘Script Shorthand’. Dearborn Emma B. Dearborn developed the system of "Speedwriting, or Natural Shorthand" (1923) while revising the manual for the Stenotype shorthand machine.

In 1942 it was changed to be written by hand with pen or pencil. This is a script, or alphabetic system. Every letter of the Roman alphabet represents its own sound but certain letters have a second use to represent particular groups or families of syllables. A final vowel letter may indicate a range of word endings. In addition some half-dozen punctuation signs are used to indicate specific syllables or word endings. Oliver George A.S. Oliver published ‘Stenoscript; a simple and legible system of shorthand based on the model of ordinary handwriting’, in 1930. This was a phonetic system with a very technical approach to the representation of sounds. The short sound consonants are a smaller size than the long sound consonants and all involve a downward stroke. Loops, circles and hooks are added to the down stroke to differentiate the letters. The loops may be dropped at the beginning or end of words. M and N are given horizontal curves. Graham Andrew Graham’s system ‘Brief Longhand’, originally published in 1857, was the basis for Hy-Speed Longhand, an American method published in 1932.

This followed the general practice of omitting silent letters and most vowels and using numbers or signs and combinations to indicate specific syllables. Coover 'The Note-script manual' was published in 1936 by J.E. Coover of Stanford University, U.S.A. The author’s premise is that “substantial brevity in the writing of English cannot be obtained without abbreviating the letters”. This is a very technical approach based on an esoteric design of letters and brevity in writing them. The resultant words are quite unfamiliar and the 'phonetic' base of the method echoes the earlier systems of Pitman and Gregg. shorthand | Britannica.com Shorthand Alternative Titles: brachygraphy, stenography, tachygraphy Related Topics cryptology Shorthand, also called stenography, a system for rapid writing that uses symbols or abbreviations for letters, words, or phrases. Among the most popular modern systems are Pitman, Gregg, and Speedwriting. Besides being known as stenography (close, little, or narrow writing), shorthand is sometimes called tachygraphy (swift writing) and brachygraphy (short writing).

Because shorthand can be written rapidly, the writer is able to record the proceedings of legislative bodies, the testimony of law courts, or dictation in business correspondence. In addition, shorthand has been used through the centuries as a cultural tool: George Bernard Shaw wrote his plays in shorthand; Samuel Pepys recorded his diary in shorthand; Cicero’s orations, Martin Luther’s sermons, and Shakespeare’s plays were all preserved by means of shorthand. History and development of shorthand Through the centuries shorthand has been written in systems based on orthography (normal spelling), on phonetics (the sounds of words), and on arbitrary symbols, such as a small circle within a larger circle to represent the phrase, “around the world.” Most historians date the beginnings of shorthand with the Greek historian Xenophon , who used an ancient Greek system to write the memoirs of Socrates. It was in the Roman Empire, however, that shorthand first became generally used. Marcus Tullius Tiro , a learned freedman who was a member of Cicero’s household, invented the notae Tironianae (“Tironian notes”), the first Latin shorthand system. Devised in 63 bc, it lasted over a thousand years. Tiro also compiled a shorthand dictionary.

Among the early accomplished shorthand writers were the emperor Titus, Julius Caesar , and a number of bishops. With the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe, however, shorthand became associated with witchcraft and magic, and disappeared. While he was archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket (c. 1118–70) encouraged research into Tiro’s shorthand. By the 15th century, with the discovery in a Benedictine monastery of a lexicon of Ciceronian notes and a Psalter written in Tironian shorthand, a renewed interest in the practice was aroused. Somewhat influenced by Tiro’s system, Timothy Bright designed an English system in 1588 that consisted of straight lines, circles, and half circles. (Tiro’s method was cursive, based on longhand script.) Bright’s system was called Characterie: an Arte of Shorte, Swifte, and Secrete Writing by Character.

Similar Topics Braille The 17th century produced four important inventors of shorthand systems: John Willis, who is considered to be the father of modern shorthand; Thomas Shelton , whose system was used by Samuel Pepys to write his famous diary; Jeremiah Rich, who popularized the art by publishing not only his system but also the Psalms and the New Testament in his method of shorthand; and William Mason, whose method was used to record sermons and to translate the Bible in the years following the Reformation . Mason’s system was later adapted and became the official system of the British Parliament. Several other systems were invented in the next decades, but most of them were short-lived. One of the most successful was that of the British stenographer Samuel Taylor, who invented a system in 1786 that was based on that of one of his predecessors. Taylor’s method was adapted into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, German, Dutch, Hungarian, and other languages. The Industrial Revolution brought a demand for stenographers in business. Because the geometric systems then in use required a high level of education and long training, a need existed for a method that would be easier to learn.

The German Franz Xaver Gabelsberger (1789–1849) turned away from geometric methods and developed a simple cursive system. Gabelsberger’s system, which he called “Speech-sign art,” was based on Latin longhand characters and had a neatness and beauty of outline that is unsurpassed. It enjoyed a spontaneous success and spread to Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia, Finland, and Russia. The system’s simplicity made it an easy matter to translate it into other languages, and in 1928 it became the Italian national system. Modern symbol systems Name that Mark In 1852 Isaac Pitman’s brother, Benn Pitman, brought the system to America , where, with several slight modifications, it became the method most extensively used in the United States and Canada. An investigation in 1889 stated that 97 percent of the shorthand writers in America used the Isaac Pitman system or one of its modifications. Pitman shorthand has been adapted to Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Dutch, French, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Spanish, and other languages.

The Irish-born John Robert Gregg (1867–1948) taught himself at the age of 10 an adaptation of Taylor’s shorthand. He then studied Pitman by himself but disliked its angles, shading, and positioning. Later, while in his early teens, he read a history of shorthand by Thomas Anderson, a member of the Shorthand Society of London. Anderson listed the essentials of a good shorthand system, stating that no method then in use possessed them: independent characters for the vowels and consonants, all characters written with the same thickness, all characters written on a single line of writing, and few and consistent abbreviation principles. Gregg was 18 when he invented his own system and 21 when he published it in the form of a pamphlet, Light-Line Phonography (1888). The Gregg system was predominantly a curve-motion shorthand with circles, hooks, and loops. Based on the ellipse or oval and on the slope of longhand, its motion was curvilinear. Obtuse angles were eliminated by natural blending of lines, vowels were joined, shading was eliminated, and writing was lineal, or in one position.

Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest In 1893 Gregg took his system to the United States, and Light-Line Phonography became Gregg Shorthand. The inventor found that, except for the eastern coastal cities, shorthand was virtually unknown. At that time high schools began teaching shorthand, and Gregg traveled through the Midwest, the West, and the South, selling his system and demonstrating his teaching methods with great success. The Gregg system supplanted Pitman’s as the predominant system taught in the United States. It also spread to Canada and to the British Isles . Gregg shorthand has been published in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Russian, Italian, Tagalog, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Scottish Gaelic, Esperanto, Sinhalese, and Polish. An early German system of importance was the Stolze-Schrey method. Wilhelm Stolze invented his system at about the same time as Gabelsberger and along similar lines. In 1885 Ferdinand Schrey, a Berlin merchant, attempted to simplify the Gabelsberger system. Sometime later the Stolze and Schrey methods were merged and became the leading system in Germany and Switzerland.

Stolze-Schrey shorthand was also adapted to other languages, including Danish, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish. In 1924, after two decades of development, a new system based on the Gabelsberger and Stolze-Schrey methods was completed. As revised in 1936 and 1968, the Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift is the principal system now used in Germany and Austria. Modern abbreviated longhand systems The system of Speedwriting shorthand was created around 1924 by Emma Dearborn , an instructor at Columbia University . Her method was designed to be taken down on the typewriter; but in 1942 it was changed to be written by hand with pen or pencil. Speedwriting shorthand uses the letters of the alphabet and the known punctuation marks to represent sounds. For example, the sound of ch is written with a capital C; the word each is thus written eC. More than 20,000 words in the Speedwriting dictation can be written with a total of 60 rules and a list of approximately 100 brief forms and standard abbreviations.

Speedwriting shorthand is taught in several languages—including English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Flemish, and Afrikaans—in many countries. Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Forkner Alphabet shorthand was first published in 1952 in the United States. The author, Hamden Forkner, spent 10 years in research before publishing the first edition of the new system, which uses a combination of conventional letters and a few symbols for the hard-to-write letters and sounds. For example, H is expressed by a short dash above the line. This same short dash through the letter C gives the ch sound, through the longhand S it gives sh, and across the T it designates th. Abbreviations are used for a number of common words. Another American method, Hy-Speed Longhand, was first published under that title in 1932. Based on Andrew J. Graham’s Brief Longhand, published in 1857, its principles include the omission of silent letters and most vowels, the substitution of letters, numbers, or signs, and the combination of certain letters.

Stenoscript ABC Shorthand is a phonetic system using only longhand and common punctuation marks. It originated in London in 1607 and was revised by Manuel Claude Avancena, who published a modern edition in 1950. Stenoscript has 24 brief forms that must be memorized; e.g., ak stands for acknowledge, ac for accompany, bz for business, and gvt for government. Stenospeed originated in 1950 in the United States; the first publication was called Stenospeed High Speed Longhand, but in 1951 the system was revised under the name of Stenospeed ABC Shorthand. It is used by many schools as a standard text. Other alphabetic or partially alphabetic systems have also been devised. Among these is Teeline, a system used extensively in Great Britain. Machine shorthand A method of recording speech by using machines became commercially feasible around 1906, when the Stenotype machine was invented by Ward Stone Ireland, an American stenographer and court reporter. At present, the Stenograph and Stenotype machines are used in offices to some extent, but they are principally employed for conference and court reporting .

Both machines have keyboards of 22 keys. Because the operator uses all fingers and both thumbs, any number of keys can be struck simultaneously. The machines print roman letters on a strip of paper that folds automatically into the back of the machine. The operator controls the keys by touch and is thus able to watch the speaker. The fingers of the left hand control the keys that print consonants occurring before vowels. These keys print on the left side of the tape. The thumbs control the vowels, which are printed in the centre of the tape, and the fingers of the right hand control the consonants that follow the vowels, which are printed on the right side of the tape. There are not separate keys for each letter of the English alphabet; thus, those letters for which there are no keys are represented by combinations of other letters. Abbreviations are used for some of the most frequent words, giving the operator the ability to write two or three words in one stroke. shorthand - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) Stenography, more often called shorthand, is any writing system that uses symbols or shortcuts that can be made to represent letters of the alphabet, words, or phrases.

(Stenography is from Greek words meaning "narrow writing.") The purpose of shorthand is to be able to write approximately as fast as someone speaks, in order to take down everything that is said. An early French shorthand text by Jacques Cossard in 1651 was entitled ’A Method for Writing as Fast as One Can Speak’. In court trials court reporters use shorthand machines to take down every word spoken by all participants in a case. The record must be accurate, to safeguard the rights of all parties to a case. Article Contributors A Guide to Alternative Handwriting and Shorthand Systems for Dummies Introduction The letters you are now reading, while well adapted to the eye to be read, are so ill adapted to the hand to be written that schools teach longhand as an alternative to printing them. The more cursive longhand is easy to learn, but only about 10% faster than printing. Alternative handwriting systems offer 100% or better improvements in handwriting ease and speed. If you could spend the rest of your life taking notes or keeping a journal/diary while writing two or three times faster, then, gee, why not?

As a bonus for learning an alternative system, you can be almost certain that no one you know will be able to read anything you write, so you will have learned not only a fast but secret way to write. Learning an alternative to longhand can not only be fun and way cool, but practical as well. Most alternative systems write words the way they sound, not the way they are spelled. English spelling is so quirky that winning a spelling bee is a major achievement, and even the champs falter at some point. While the Phoenicians may have needed only 26 symbols to represent their speech sounds, English has from 32 to 50 speech sounds depending on who's doing the counting, and using only 26 letters to represent them just doesn't cut it. To make up for the missing symbols, several letters are often combined to represent a sound. This wouldn't be so bad if there was any consistency involved, but as all children and ESL students know there isn't, as English is only about 40% phonetic (which is to say 60% of common words have irregular spellings).

For example the "sh" sound can be spelled 13 different ways: ocean, machine, special, pshaw, sure, schist, conscience, nauseous, she, tension, issue, mission, nation. With vowels things are even worse (about 20 spellings per vowel sound!). The "oo" sound has 29 different spellings: rule, ruby, flue, troupe, fruit, through, maneuver, wooed, group, ooze, grew, rheumatism, move, bruise, canoe, two, moon, do, plus 11 other spellings found in less common words. On average, there are at least 13 different ways to spell each sound in frequently used Engish words. If all English words are counted, there are 28 different spellings for each sound, or over 1,100 ways to spell 40 sounds. No wonder even very good spellers have only about a 50/50 chance of correctly spelling a word that is new to them. The way out of this madness is to write using a phonetic alphabet—one sound, one symbol.

Because multiple letters are often used to indicate a single sound, the average English word has more letters than sounds. Writing phonetically requires learning more symbols initially, but requires fewer symbols per word, and so is faster. If each sound is represented by the simplest possible symbol (single stroke lines, loops and hooks), the number of strokes needed to write a word can be greatly reduced in comparison to longhand. This is how the alternative systems can be so much faster than looooooonghand, which uses several strokes per letter and often several letters per sound. Pitman Shorthand The better known alternative systems include the Pitman system, developed by Sir Isaac Pitman in 1837. It is based on geometrical curves and lines in varying lengths and angles written on lined paper. Lines are also written thin or thick using a special flexible fountain pen tip, though a pencil will work. Here's an example from The Joy of Pitman Shorthand . The Pitman system is a complete phonetic alphabet, though diacritical marks have to be added alongside the lines to indicate vowels, which is awkward. When speed is important they are often omitted.

But since it is possible to write each word that sounds different in a unique way, I consider Pitman's system to be a form of handwriting as well as shorthand. Shorthand is a system of abbreviation in which only a bare outline of a word is written—just enough (note the middle line above) to allow you to later decipher from the word's outline and its context what the word is. Shorthand systems go for maximum speed at the expense of readability. Shorthand systems can become readible once you learn to sight read all the outlines or "brief forms," which can number in the thousands, but just learning the basic symbol set won't cut it. The Pitman system is still used, especially in England. Do check it out. It is not easy to learn or become proficient in, but it is fast (up to 10X faster than longhand!), elegantly austere, and has been adapted for use in many languages other than English. Gregg Shorthand John Robert Gregg devised the most famous of alternative systems in 1888. All lines are of the same thickness, position relative to a line is irrelevant so lined paper is not needed, and awkward diacritical marks are avoided though not abscent.

Gregg Shorthand won out over Pitman Shorthand in America, and was widely taught in public schools as an essential skill needed by office workers to take dictation. Many books are available, and most public libraries in America will have copies. Unfortunately, Gregg Shorthand is only a shorthand system; you can only write outlines of words. If you write something and then immediately transcribe it, as secretaries tend to do, then no major problem, but if you try to read something you wrote last year, then a major effort may be needed to decipher it, unless, that is, you have so mastered the system that you can sight read thousands of brief forms. Although Gregg Shorthand is nominally phonetic, in practice outlines sometimes follow the sound of a word, and sometimes its spelling. Dictionaries are available to show you how to outline tens of thousands of words, but the need for such dictionaries should tell you something of the inherent ambiguities of the system. The system is fast, attractively cursive, but frustrating for personal use since each vowel symbol can represent several possible vowel sounds.

It is the exact opposite of printing alphabetic characters by hand; handwritten text is readable, but blocky and slow to write, while Gregg Shorthand is highly cursive and fast, but only marginally readable. Teeline Shorthand Teeline Shorthand is taught to journalism majors in some Commonwealth countries, mainly the UK, but is little known elsewhere. James Hill, an instructor of Pitman Shorthand, developed it in 1970. It is simpler than Pitman Shorthand, without the need to use both thick and thin lines, or diacritical marks. It is not phonetic, but instead is based on the standard alphabet, and so retains the inadequacies of that alphabet. Vowels are often omitted for speed at the expense of readability, as in most shorthand systems. It is intended to aid in taking dictation by creating word outlines, and so needs to be transcribed soon after it is taken. It is, therefore, more suited to professional than personal use. Alphabetic Shorthand Systems Various systems of rapid writing based on alphabetic print or longhand characters have been devised.

Speedwriting , Stenoscript, Forkner, Easyscript , AlphaHand, Baine's Typed Shorthand, HySpeed Longhand, Abbreviatrix, Quickhand, and Carter Briefhand are examples. Keyscript , a new system based on Pitman's, claims to be the fastest of the Alphabetic systems. Few if any new symbols need to be learned. Most systems consist of rules for abbreviating words together with memorized abbreviations. If the rules are consistently applied, they can be reversed to decode your notes. These systems have the advantage of working with both pen and paper, and with keyboards. Word processing software, such as Word, could possibly be set up to decode and expand words as you type which would allow you to speed type. Rules usually call for dropping of most vowels, some words, and using semi-phonetic spelling.

An example of "Briefhand" might be: "The Sierra Club sued the Forest Service to stop clear-cutting on the National Forests of Texas, and judge Robert Parker decided that clear-cutting "took" red-cockaded woodpeckers within the meaning of the Endangered Species Act." Which might be abbreviated to: Srr Clb sued FS to stp cc on NF's in Tx, v jdg R.P. dcd'd cc "took" RCWs undr ESA. Shorthand systems based on alphabetic characters can always fall back on longhand where clarity is important or when you might forget what an abbreviation stands for, such as "RCWs" standing for "red-cockaded woodpeckers." The example above, unless transcribed soon, would likely become undecipherable. Still, given that many people are spending more time typing than writing by hand, these systems have their appeal. As modifications on longhand, they retain the shortcomings of multi-stroke symbols per letter and, not being phonetic, the vagaries of English orthography. They lack the elegance of the symbol systems, such as Pitman's and Gregg's, that at least avoid the mistake of building on the flawed foundation of longhand.

Handywrite Unlike the other systems mentioned, except Pitman's, this is both a handwriting and shorthand system. It contains symbols for all the consonants and vowels needed to write English phonetically, and so when words are written in full, the writing is unambiguously readable. Simple strokes, very much like those in Gregg Shorthand, are used, so the system is cursive and fast. In fact, most of the symbols used for the consonants are the same as used in Gregg Shorthand. The main difference is that enough symbols have been added to represent all necessary vowel sounds. In this it is like Pitman's system, but without dependence on position relative to lines, strokes of different width, or use of diacritical marks. Even when written in full, words are much shorter (fewer strokes) than when written in longhand. When abbreviations are used, making Handywrite into a shorthand system, writing becomes progressively faster as more abbreviations are learned—but at least you can get by without using or learning any abbreviations, unlike the shorthand-only systems. Normal punctuation symbols can be used which adds to readability. A Handywrite Web site is available to aid in learning the system (for free).

The handwriting at the beginning of this page is the title in Handywrite. Bell's Visible Speech Although not intended as a replacement for longhand, this system provides a means of recording human speech sounds, and not just those used to make words, but virtually any speech sound! Alexander Melville Bell, whose more famous son was Alexander Graham Bell of telephone fame, developed Visible Speech in 1864 as a kind of universal alphabet that reduces all vocal sounds into a series of symbols. He was working with the deaf and wanted to illustrate for them how speech sounds are made by using a shorthand system based on anatomical positions within the human vocal tract. It was the first system for notating the sounds of speech independent of any particular language or dialect. The International Phonetic Alphabet is based on Bell's work. The International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used by all serious students of speech. It has the advantage of being more easily printable by hand or keyboard than Bell's Visible Speech. The IPA is the final guide to accurate pronunciation, as all other guides and pronunciation keys used in most dictionaries are flawed.

It is the product of the International Phonetic Association, which in IPA would be written: While not intended to be fast, it is the most precise and accurate form of writing. It distinguishes between far more speech sounds than are minimally needed to identify one word from another. With IPA you can write dialects of English, other languages, and individual speech patterns. The phonetic alphabets used in alternative handwriting systems like Handywrite are much simpler, based on the minimum number of speech sounds (phonemes) actually needed to distinguish one word from another. This allows you to write basic English, but not the subtle nuances of English dialects. Blissymbolics Blissymbolics is a rather intriguing effort to create a modern ideographic writing system based on concepts rather than words. It is similar to Chinese and Egyptian writing systems. Written Chinese can be read by people speaking mutually unintelligible languages, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, or even Japanese. Developed by the Austrian Charles Bliss, Blissymbolics was originally conceived as a universal written language that all native language speakers (speaking thousands of different languages) could learn and communicate in.

The idea is that it would be much easier for everyone to learn an ideographic written language than a constructed spoken, quasi-European language like Esperanto, or, worse, expect everyone to learn English. If everyone in the world could just communicate with one another, Bliss thought, then international understanding and world peace would follow, or at least be more likely. Today Blissymbolics is used to provide individuals with severe speech disabilities a written language to communicate in, although its more idealistic intentions have not been forgotten. Of course it makes no claim to being fast to write, but if you're looking for something really different, try Blissymbolics and have some fun with your brain. Conclusions Most people will probably never bother to learn any alternative handwriting system. Schools and colleges, although depending heavily on lectures, will probably never provide students with a means to take notes efficiently—as sensible as that would be. A few questioning souls, however, will realize that longhand sucks, and will seek alternatives. More power to them, and I hope that those who are willing to learn some new tricks will have fun doing so. For some good advise on how to learn any shorthand system, checkout Shorthand Systems .

If I have omitted a system that should have been mentioned or committed some error, let me know (use Contact link below). Eric Lee Fine Poster Art Support this site: Visit our Zazzle store featuring ultra hi-res images of artworks, Hubble/ESA/NASA space images, Mandelbrot fractals, maps and more. Images up to 525 megapixels allow for fine printing at the largest sizes. Give a fine print as a gift that could hang on someone's wall for a hundred years.

Question: Who invented the system of shorthand writing?
Answer: ISAAC PITMAN