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. 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. Shorthand is any system of rapid writing using symbols or shortcuts that can be made quickly to represent letters of the alphabet, words, or phrases. It has been variously known as stenography (close, little, or narrow writing), tachygraphy (swift writing), or brachygraphy (short writing). Shorthand is now employed extensively in reporting the proceedings of legislative bodies and the trial of cases in courts of law and for taking dictated business correspondence. Although the historian Xenophon (5th4th century BC) used an ancient form of Greek shorthand, the earliest record of an organized system of shorthand dates from 63 BC, when Marcus Tullius Tiro, a freedman and friend of Cicero, invented a system of notae that was used in recording the speeches of Cicero, Seneca, and others of the Roman Senate. The system invented by Tiro was taught in the Roman schools, was learned by emperors, and was widely used. After the fall of the Roman Empire the Tironian system survived for several centuries. England was the birthplace of modern shorthand. The publication by Timothy Bright of his Characterie: an Arte of Shorte, Swifte, and Secrete Writing by Character (1588) marked the beginning of this development there. In the next 50 years, 13 systems were known to have been published, a number of them passing through several editions. One of the best known of these early systems was Thomas Shelton's Short Writing (1626), in which Samuel Pepys kept his famous diary. Nearly two centuries later another famous English author, Charles Dickens, learned shorthand and earned his living for a time as a reporter in the law courts and in Parliament. Although most of the early systems of shorthand in England were orthographic or alphabetic, the idea of writing according to sound continued to gain in favour. The Reverend Phillip Gibbs (1736) was the first to break away from an alphabetic basis to a phonetic one by distinguishing between long and short vowels. The publication by Isaac Pitman in 1837 of Stenographic Sound-Hand marked a new era in the development of phonetic systems. Not only did he classify the sounds of the language scientifically and arrange his material for writing accordingly, but he also introduced simple expedients of abbreviation that made for rapidity. Because the Pitman system is phonetic, all words are written according to their sounds. The words lain, deal, may, knife would therefore be written as if they were spelled lan, del, ma, nif. The consonants are drawn from simple geometric forms, straight lines, and shallow curves. As far as possible all consonants are paired: a lightly written stroke represents the sound of f, for example, and the same stroke, written slightly heavier, stands for the companion heavy sound of v. The Pitman system was introduced into the United States a few years after its publication. In the Eastern Hemisphere, including Australia, New Zealand, and India, Pitman is the predominant system of shorthand. In 1888 John Robert Gregg published his Light-Line Phonography in England and soon thereafter brought his system to the United States. It is taught in more schools and practiced by more stenographers in the United States than any other system. It is published and taught in most of the nations of the world. The Gregg system is based on the following principles: (1) the system is phonetic; all words are written by sound; (2) there is a total absence of shading or thickening; all symbols are written light-line; (3) the characters are based on the elements of ordinary longhand; the strokes are familiar and the motion is uniform; (4) vowels are expressed by circles and hooks; the words are not (as in the Pitman system) placed on, above, or through the line of writing to imply the omission of certain vowels; (5) vowels are inserted in word outlines in their natural order without lifting the pen; and (6) there is a preponderance of curve motion to aid writing. The Gregg system makes use of brief forms for some of the commonest words, blended consonants, suffix and prefix forms, and it uses an abbreviation principle in order to enable the writer to gain speed in writing. A 20th-century trend in the development of shorthand systems makes use of longhand symbols for most, if not all, of the letters of the alphabet. Illustrations are: Abbreviatrix (1945), Baine's Typed Shorthand (1917), Carter Briefhand (1957), Forkner Alphabet (1952), Gersten's Alphabet Shorthand (1949), Hy-Speed Longhand (1932), Quickhand (1953), Speedhand (1952), Speedwriting (1923 and 1951), Stenoscript (1955), Stenospeed (1950), and Zinman (1950). Actually, the idea of using longhand symbols in rapid writing dates back to Cadmus Britannicus by Simon George Bordley (1787), which comprised three systems. The first, called Slower Shorthand, used letters of the alphabet; the second, Swifter Shorthand, was a script shorthand; and the third was Shorthand for Music. The main difference between Bordley's Slower Shorthand and modern systems of this type is that Bordley's letters were printed longhand and could not be joined. The advantages claimed for alphabetic systems are ease of learning, because of the learner's familiarity with the forms, and ease of transcription. The chief disadvantage is limited speed. Additional reading Edward Harry Butler, The Story of British Shorthand (1951), a complete history of early shorthand systems with emphasis on modern British systems; Hans Glatte, Shorthand Systems of the World: A Concise Historical and Technical Review (1959), a short history that emphasizes the extent to which important systems spread to countries other than those in which they originated; Louis A. Leslie (ed.), The Story of Gregg Shorthand: Based on the Writings of John Robert Gregg (1964), on the early life of John Robert Gregg, his invention of Gregg shorthand, his promotion of the system in the United States, and his method of teaching; Isaac Pitman, A History of Shorthand, 4th ed. (1918), a chronological history of shorthand systems with emphasis on British systems to the end of the 19th century; and Allien R. Russon, Methods of Teaching Shorthand (1968), the history of shorthand instruction.