Shorthand Alphabet Pdf

[Berna Cagley]

Greggshorthand is a system of shorthand developed by John Robert Gregg in 1888. Distinguished by its phonemic basis, the system prioritizes the sounds of speech over traditional English spelling, enabling rapid writing by employing elliptical figures and lines that bisect them. Gregg shorthand's design facilitates smooth, cursive strokes without the angular outlines characteristic of earlier systems like Duployan shorthand, thereby enhancing writing speed and legibility.

Over the years, Gregg shorthand has undergone several revisions, each aimed at simplifying the system and increasing its speed and efficiency. These versions range from the Pre-Anniversary editions to the more recent Centennial version, with each adaptation maintaining the core principles while introducing modifications to suit varying needs and preferences.

Despite the advent of modern recording and dictation technologies, Gregg shorthand remains a valuable skill, particularly in fields requiring fast, accurate note-taking, such as journalism and court reporting. Its efficiency, once mastered, allows for speeds upwards of 280 words per minute, demonstrating its potential as a powerful tool for rapid written communication. The system's adaptability to both right- and left-handed writers further underscores its versatility and enduring relevance in the digital age.

Gregg shorthand, invented by John Robert Gregg in 1888, is a form of shorthand that, like cursive longhand, primarily uses elliptical figures and lines that bisect them.[1] The advent of dictation machines, shorthand machines, handheld tape recorders, digital voice recorders, voice recording applications on smartphones, and the trend of executives drafting their own letters on personal computers has led to a gradual decline in shorthand usage in business and reporting contexts.[2]

Gregg shorthand is often compared with Pitman shorthand due to their significant dominance over other English shorthand systems. While Pitman shorthand differentiates between similar sounds through line thickness and position,[3] Gregg shorthand maintains uniform line thickness and uses stroke length to distinguish between sounds.[4]

Initially, John Robert Gregg taught an adaptation of Duployan shorthand for English, a system that was predominant in France and characterized by uniform stroke thickness and attached vowel representation.[5] However, he found the angular outlines of Duployan-based systems to be detrimental to speed.[6]

Gregg shorthand is distinguished by its cursive strokes that blend smoothly, avoiding sharp angles, and its symbols are specifically designed for English, offering a better fit than the Duployan system. For example, Gregg shorthand has a unique symbol for the "th" sound (/θ/ and //), in contrast to Duployan systems, which use a dotted "t," resulting in slower writing.[7]

Many of the letters shown are also brief forms, or standard abbreviations for the most common words for increased speed in writing.[12] For instance, instead of writing kan for "can", the Gregg stenographer just writes k.[4] These brief forms are shown on the adjacent image. There are several others not shown, however. For instance, "please" is written in Simplified and before as simply pl,[13] and "govern" as gv.[14]

Phrasing is another mechanism for increasing the speed of shorthand writing. Based on the notion that lifting the pen between words would have a heavy speed cost, phrasing is the combination of several smaller distinct forms into one outline.[15] For example, "it may be that the" can be written in one outline, "(tm)ab(th)a(th)".[16] "I have not been able" would be written, "avnba" (note that to the eye of the reader this phrase written in shorthand looks like "I-have-not-been-able", and so phrasing is far more legible than a longhand explanation of the principle may lead one to believe).

Due to the simple alphabet, Gregg shorthand is very fast in writing; however, it takes a great deal of practice to master it. Speeds of 280 WPM (where a word is 1.4 syllables) have been reached with this system before, and those notes are still legible to others who know the system.[24]

Throughout its history, different forms of Gregg shorthand have been published. All the versions use the same alphabet and basic principles, but they differ in degrees of abbreviation and, as a result, speed. The 1916 version is generally the fastest and most abbreviated version. Series 90 Gregg has the smallest degree of abbreviation, but it is also generally the slowest standard version of Gregg. Though each version differs in its level of abbreviation, most versions have expert and reporting versions for writers who desire more shortcuts.

Many versions of this system were published.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Several of these versions were given names: Anniversary (published in 1929), Gregg Shorthand Simplified (1949), Diamond Jubilee (1963), and Series 90 (1978). The last version was Centennial, published in 1988.[33] Versions published before 1929 are often referred to as Pre-Anniversary. These versions are described below in this article. Besides the main editions, a number of simpler, personal-use editions were published from 1924 to 1968. These included "Greghand" in 1935, and "Notehand" in 1960 and 1968.[34]

Gregg Shorthand was first published in England 1888 by John Robert Gregg under the title Light Line Phonography; however, it was in a very primal stage. Due to its rough-and-ready character and the fact that Pitman shorthand was well established there, it did not gain much success. Five years later, in 1893, a second edition of the manual with an improved version of the system was published in the USA, then in a third edition titled Gregg Shorthand in 1897. The fourth edition, published in 1902, developed more shortcuts. The fifth edition, published in 1916, is the version most commonly referred to as "Pre-Anniversary" Gregg shorthand; this version has the largest number of brief forms, phrases, and shortcuts.

In 1929 another version of Gregg shorthand was published. This system reduced the memory load on its learners by decreasing the number of brief forms and removing uncommon prefixes. It was intended to have been published in 1928 on the 40th anniversary of the system, but it was published a year afterward due to a delay in its production.

Published in 1988, this is the most recent series of Gregg shorthand. It was the only version since the Pre-Anniversary edition of 1916 to increase the complexity of the system from the previous one, having 132 brief forms.

The above versions of Gregg shorthand were marketed for professional use, such as business and court reporting. Gregg Shorthand Junior Manual, designed for junior high school students, was published in 1927 and 1929. Greghand, A Simple Phonetic Writing for Everyday Use by Everyone was published as a pamphlet in 1935. The 1960 and 1968 editions of Gregg Notehand focused on how to take effective classroom and personal notes using a simple form of Gregg shorthand.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD. Jennifer Mueller is a wikiHow Content Creator. She specializes in reviewing, fact-checking, and evaluating wikiHow's content to ensure thoroughness and accuracy. Jennifer holds a JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2006.

There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.

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In this day and age, when smartphones are ubiquitous, you might wonder how often you'd use shorthand if you learned it. Plenty of times, it turns out! Whether you're a student or need to take quick notes at a meeting or while you're on a call, the ability to write notes by hand more quickly is always a valuable skill. Read on to learn about the 3 major styles of shorthand so you can pick the one that works best for you. Then, we'll let you in on some tips to improve your shorthand skills after you've learned the basics.

User JellicleCat posted this on linguistics stackexhange a few years ago. None of us were able to come up with a satisfying answer but most seemed to agree that it was an idiosyncratic cipher or shorthand. It means that puzzlers may be better equipped to solve it than linguists.

I have wanted to write for a living ever since I learned my ABCs. But little did I know that I would have to relearn the alphabet as part of my quest to become a journalist. Since most U.K. news outlets oblige reporters to have an NCTJ shorthand qualification, I was taught Teeline shorthand as part of my diploma at the London-based journalism school News Associates.

Once we had the basic building blocks down, we practiced writing alongside exam passages at the talking speed of 60-words-per-minute. But writing outlines is only half the battle with shorthand; you need to be able to read what you wrote to transcribe shorthand back to longhand (ordinary handwriting)! Practicing shorthand was very different to my experiences practicing French at secondary school. Since it is such a technical language and relies on drilling for speed development, it was a pressurized learning environment focused around passing exams from the very first day. My secondary school French lessons had been laidback sociable affairs where we watched Friends with subtitles and completed word searches at a leisurely pace.

As an adult learner with more developed study skills, learning shorthand was less frustrating than trying to wrap my head around French verb conjugations as a teenager. Still, there was a lot of social pressure to progress at a certain rate each week and eventually obtain the industry standard. My classmates were my competition: I would be pitted against them for work in the future and so there was definitely a sense of rivalry in our lessons, which felt very different from the more supportive classical language classroom. But this competitive atmosphere was also a useful motivator.

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