Speedwriting is a type of shorthand that uses the standard alphabet and punctuation marks to help write faster. Unlike traditional shorthand systems like Pitman or Gregg, which rely on a new set of symbols, speedwriting is based on the phonetic sounds of words and uses abbreviations. This is achieved by following a few key principles:
Phrasing: Frequently used groups of words are written together without spaces to save time. A phrase like “as long as” could be abbreviated to “slgs.”
Phonetic Spelling: Words are written as they sound, not necessarily how they’re spelt. For example, “you” might be written as “u,” and “file” as “fil.”
Vowel and Letter Omission: Unstressed vowels and other unnecessary letters are often left out to shorten words. The word “important” could be written as “imprtnt,” and “little” as “ltl.”
Abbreviations and Shortcuts: Common words, prefixes, and suffixes are represented by simple abbreviations. For instance, the suffix “-ing” can be indicated by a short horizontal line under the final letter, and an uppercase “N” could represent “enter-” or “inter-“.
History of Speedwriting
The original Speedwriting shorthand came into being in the early ’20s because a leading American shorthand teacher, Emma B. Dearborn, was dissatisfied with the symbol shorthands she was teaching. Therefore, she worked out a shorthand system that was based on the ABC rather than complicated signs and symbols and established a company, the Speedwriting Publishing Co. Inc. to market the product.
As time progressed it became necessary to revise the original Speedwriting shorthand to keep pace with the high-speed requirements of modern business. This task was taken up by another shorthand teacher – Dr. Alexander L. Sheff – using the experience of over 250,000 Speedwriting students. He became president of the Speedwriting Company.
The Three Versions of Speedwriting
Dearborn’s original version was designed for handwriting or when using a typewriter, so it adhered faithfully to the standard alphabet and its use on a QWERTY keyboard.
The changes introduced in the 1950s by Dr. Sheff were intended to increase speed of recording and to do this he introduced symbols that were not available on a typewriter. Thus:
- Vowels were sometimes included where they had been omitted in the originalversion. For example ‘leap’ is written ‘lep’ rather than ‘lp’
- The word “the” is indicated by a dot rather than the letter t
- A period at the end of the sentence is written as a large diagonal stroke \ rather than a dot
- A past tense of a regular verb is indicated by a short horizontal stroke above the final letter of the root-word
- The -ing suffix is indicated by a short horizontal mark under the last letter of the outline rather than the letter g
The next incarnation of Speedwriting was The Landmark Series ‘ Principles of Speedwriting’ published by The Bobbs-Merrill Co. Inc. It appeared in the late 1970s and was aimed principally for use in Colleges. Students generally enjoyed Landmark classes more than symbol-based shorthand because of the “immediate positive feedback … Within minutes, words, phrases and sentences are written readily.”
Inside the Landmark book were the following tables detailing abbreviations for some words. A quick comparison with the earlier Sheff version shows up some differences as noted below the tables.
The third and final version was that produced by Dr. Joe Pullis in the 1980s, although he was wrongly cited as “the inventor and author of “Speedwriting,” in an address to Louisiana Tech’s spring graduates in 2013.
Changes implemented in the Pullis version included the “ch” sound written with uppercase C and the sound of ‘k’ written with lowercase c.
Ownership of ‘Speedwriting’ is indicated by the following copyright declarations included in the Pullis books:
© 1987 by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Education Division
© 1984, 1977 by The Bobbs-Merrill Company. Inc.
© 1975, 1973, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1954, 1951, 1950, 1925 by Speedwriting Publishing Company
Sources of Information – apart from own collection of manuals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedwriting‘Shorthand Writing Resources‘ found in Dutton Speedwords by Art of Memory. An excellent over including Speedwriting
‘How to take notes faster with speedwriting‘ in Business Management Daily
‘Speedwriting‘ in wikipedia