Speedwriting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Speedwriting is a shorthand writing system developed in 1924 by Emma Dearborn, an instructor at the University of Chicago. It uses alphabetic characters and was originally designed so that it could be written by pen, or on a typewriter.
Speedwriting is phonetic with a ‘k’ used for a hard c, ‘C’ for ‘ch’, ‘j’ for ‘g’ in ‘age’. It condenses words by omitting silent letters and only writing long vowels, and initial short vowels. Sentences are ended with ‘\’ and a ‘/’ is used for omitted syllables. There are other abbreviating devices, including capitalisation, and the use of punctuation marks to denote combinations of sounds. It uses around 100 abbreviations for common words and suffixes.
In 1942 a stylized script for faster handwriting was invented, in which the ‘t’ is uncrossed (l is looped to distinguish them), ‘i’ is undotted, ‘m’ is a simple curve like a stretched ‘n’ and 'w' is also a simple curve such as a 'u'. Speedwriting also utilizes fluid symbols, primarily for the terms "it", "it's" and "the".
Common Abbreviations:
- . = the
- + = and
- v = of, have or very
- f = for, if
- b = by, bye, buy
- r = are
- u = you
- s = is
- underline last letter = -ing
- overline last letter = -ed
- - = -ment
- a = -ate
- j = tion
Speedwriting is more than twice as fast as longhand, due to using half the letters, but it is nowhere near as fast as symbolic shorthand systems. Speeds of up to 120 words a minute are possible for short periods of time, with speeds of 80 words a minute being regularly attained. It is therefore more useful for someone wanting a simple system to speed up handwritten note taking than for reporting.
The following line is written in speedwriting.
. flo lin s wrtn n spedwri \
[edit] References
- Stenography. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
- Speedwriting. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
[edit] External links
Free dictation demos at the shorthand site for Teeline, Pitman and Gregg
