Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/865

Rh SHORTHAND 839 sign ; aw, o, oo by a heavy dash in the same three positions, and generally struck at right angles to the direction of the consonant. The short vowels are (as in pat,}, & (as in pet), I (as in pit), 8 (as in pot), H (as in but), and SS (as in put}. The signs for these are the same as for the corresponding long vowels just enumerated, except that they are written light. Signs similarly placed are provided for the diphthongs oi (as in boil), da or (%, 61 (as in Boan- erges, pod, coincide), for the sevies yd, ye, yee, &c., and for the series wH, we, wee, &c. The signs for ei (as in bite) and ou (as in v cow) are A, and may be placed in any position with respect to a consonant. A straight line may receive four hooks, one at each side of the beginning and end, but a curve only two, one at each end in the direction of the curve. Hooks applied to a straight line indicate the addition of r, I, n, and /or v respectively, thus P r, pl,>pfor pv, and pn ; c kr, c kl, = kf, > kn; ^ rf or rv, -" <> rn. Hooks applied to a curve denote the addition of r, n respectively, thus ^_ ft; -^,fn; c~^ mr, -^^ mn. Vowel- signs placed after (or, in the case of horizontal strokes, under) a consonant having the n or/, v hook are read between the consonant and the n or / ; thus P" 3 cough, VD fun, but T~ crow, ^X pray. A large hook at the commencement of a curve signifies the addi- tion of I, as v_ fl. The hooks combine easily with the circle s, thus - sp, spr (where the hook r is implied or included in the circle), ^ spl, 6 pns (the hook n being included),  pfs, &c. The halving principle is one of the happiest devices in the whole history of shorthand. The halving of a light stroke that is, writing it half length implies the addition of t ; the halving of a heavy stroke that of d, the vowel placed after (or under) the halved stroke being read between the consonant and the added t or d, thus ) saw, )~ sought, I. Dee, |. deed, "v pit, ~ cat, ^ fat, Y note, &c. By this means very brief signs are provided for hosts of syllables ending in t and d, and for a number of verbal forms ending in ed, thus ^H ended. The halving of a heavy stroke may, if necessary, add t, and that of a light stroke d, thus V beautify. By combining the hook, the circle, and the halving principle, two or three together, exceedingly brief signs are obtained for a number of con- sonantal series consisting of the combination of a consonant with one or more of the sounds s, r, I, n,f, t, thus A sp t spr, < sprt, >o sprts ; pi, ^ spl, ^ spit,  splnt, % splnts ; V^ fn, s, fns, ^ fnt, ^9 fnts ; * frn, ^> frnd, &c. As a vowel-mark cannot conveniently be placed to a hook or circle, we are easily led to a way of distinguishing in outline between such words as i" 3 cough and ' V; coffee, pen and x^--. penny, x-i 9 race and 't racy, &c. This distinction limits the number of possible readings of an unvocalized outline. A large hook at the end of a stroke indicates the addition of -shon (as in fashion, action, &c.). This hook easily combines with the circle s, as in actions, & positions. The circle 5 made large indicates ss or sz, as in o* pieces, (^ losses. The vowel between s and s (z) may be marked inside the circle, as in ~*-v exercise, /N3 subsistence. The circle s lengthened to a loop signifies st, as in sfep,> post, while a longer loop indicates sir, as in ^R 1 muster, ^^/d minster. The loop may be continued through the consonantal stroke and terminate in a circle to denote sts and strs, as in & boasts, *^g5 minsters. The loop written on the left or lower side of a straight stroke implies the n hook and so signifies list, as in =-^3 against, d danced. A curve (or a straight stroke with a final hook) written double length implies the addition of tr, dr, or thr, as in ^ father, /^ letter, ~* 3 kinder, ^ fender, render. This practice is quite safe in the case of curves, but a straight stroke should not be lengthened in this way when there is danger of reading it as a double letter. The lineal consonant- signs may stand alone to represent certain short and common words as in many of the old a, b, c systems, with this difference, that in the old systems each letter represents several words, but in phonography, in almost every case, only one. By writing the horizontal strokes in two positions with respect to the line (above and on) and the others in three positions (entirely above, resting on, and passing through the line) the number is nearly trebled, and very brief signs are obtained for some seventy or eighty common short words (e.g., be, by, in, if, at, it, my, me, &c.). A few very common monosyllables are represented by their vowel -marks, as the (remnant of U, of (remnant of V. ), on (remnant of ^ ). A certain number of longer words which occur frequently are contracted, generally by omitting the latter part, sometimes a middle part of the word, as in '"~x, (ksp) expect, L (djr) danger, (krk sk) cliaracteristic,^, (ndft) indefatigable. The con- nective phrase of the is intimated by writing the words between which it occurs near to each other. The is often expressed by a short slanting stroke or tick joined to the preceding word and generally struck downwards, thus ^~* in the, ^. for the. Three principles which remain to be noticed are of such import- ance and advantage that any one of them would go far to place phonography at the head of all other systems. These are the principles of positional writing, similar outlines, and phraseography. (1) The first slanting stroke of a word can generally be written so as either to lie entirely above the line, or rest on the line, or run through the line, thus  , ^HLj^JLbS. In the case of words composed wholly of horizontal strokes the last two positions (on and through the line) coincide, as^ ^^- These three positions are called first, second, and third respectively. The first is specially connected with first-place vowels (a, a; aw, o; t; oi), the second with second-place vowels (e, % ; o, u), and the third with third-place vowels (ee, I ; do, SS ; ou). In a fully vocalized style position is not employed, but in the reporting style it is of the greatest use. Thus the outline (tm) written above the line (tri.) must be read either time or Tom; when written resting on the line (t ^) tome or tame; when struck through the line (.(_.) teem, team, or tomb. By this method the number of possible readings of an unvocalized outline is greatly reduced. That word in each posi- tional group which occurs the most frequently need not be vocalized, but the others should. In the case of dissyllables it is the accented vowel which decides the position ; thus methought should be written first position (._L ), method second position(^~) . (2) Another way of distinguishing between words having the same consonants but different vowels is to vary the outline. The possibility of variety of outline arises from the fact that many consonant-sounds have duplicate or even triplicate signs, as we have seen. For instance, r has two lineal signs and a hook sign, and so each of the words carter, curator, creature, and creator obtains a distinct outline. A few simple rules direct the student to a proper choice of outline, but some difference of practice obtains among phonographers in this respect. Lists of outlines for words having the same con- sonants are given in the instruction books ; the Reporter's Assistant contains the outline of every word written with not more than three strokes, and the Phonographic Dictionary gives the vocalized out- line of every word in the language. Aided by a true phonetic representation of sounds, by occasional vocalization, variety of outline, and the context, the phonographic verbatim reporter should never misread a word. 1 (3) Lastly, phraseography. It has been found that in numberless cases two or more words may be written without lifting the pen. A judicious use of this practice promotes legibility, and the saving of time is very considerable. Words written thus should be closely connected in sense and awk- ward joinings avoided. Such phrases are / am, X_ I have, A^* you are, ,v~s you may, L it would, {_, it would not, e/r we are, we have, *^~^, we have not, ^^^V we have never been, 1^ my dear friends, p in a very short time, ^ as far as possible, >TX for the most part, and many thousands of others. For the sake of obtaining a good phraseogram for a common phrase, it is often advisable to omit some part of the consonant outline. Thus the phrase you must recollect that may very well be written ^ * (you mus recollec that). Lists of recommended phraseo- grams are given in the Phonographic Phrase Book, the Legal Phrase Book, and the Railway Phrase Book. 1 Phonography is so legible that the experiment of handing the shorthand notes to phonographic compositors has often been tried with complete success. A speech of Richard Cobden, on the Corn Laws, delivered at Bath on ITtli September 1845, and occupying an hour and a quarter, was reported almost verbatim, and the notes, with a few vowels filled in, handed to the compositors of the Bath Journal, who set them up with the usual accuracy. A notice of the occurrence appeared the next day in the Bath Journal, and was immedi- ately transferred to the columns of the Times and other newspapers. Mr. Reed has tried the same experiment with equal success, the notes being handed to the compositors in their original state (Phonetic Journal, 1884, p. 337). In Mr Pitman's printing-office at Bath more type-setting is done from shorthand copy than from longhand. Of course it is generally unadvi sable to print a speech verbatim, but much time would be saved if the reporter could write his copy in the "corresponding" or less brief ami more vocalized style of phono- graphy. Compositors could acquire the faculty of reading phonography in a very short time.