THE QUICKSCRIPT ALPHABET‘THE QUICKSCRIPT ALPHABET Vigilspres gs) ics dsg: &esin up be ft do can go think the for of No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 io Syptipbi yp ty: &as in 80 18 show vision which just you we have what No. woo 613 45 e178 20 Asgcerssd: WORD =1NG_M-by N-o Leow Roe asin ink me and will ane NO. 21 22 23 24 25 PETAR RIAL SIs: KEYWORD «I-t EA-t E-t EIGH-tAt I A-h ANE & es in ul. No. O-x OY busy even ever able ss my calm haul on oll 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 3: “ 35 Df YRIOIVIN: OU-t OWE f-00-t 00-ze how toe pull truth now dough good boot 37 338 39 40 For the y/oo sound in ‘Ewe, Use, Few' combine Nos. 17440: write h For the sounds of ai/r in "Pair, Dare, There’, Nos. 20425: write €)ITS ALPHABET AND MANUAL with # general introduction to reformed alphabetic writings Crepe. Devised and issued by KINGSLEY READ Abbots Morton Worcester EnglendThe front cover has seven words in @ new alphabet of 40 letters. Cen seven words be written with less lebour, in less space, as neatly, using letters that could be typed? The more advantages a new alphabet offers, the greater is its chance of # serious trial and of proving irresistable in course of time. Without » widespread correspon- dence in phonetic script, its real needs and facilities are not well understood. The author gratefully acknowledges that such writings from most English-speaking parts of the world have helped to clarify the uses and misuses of a phonetic alphabet, thus evolving @ simple end readable Quickscript. Is it not time for schools to teach a mich simpler script with simpler spelling, as well as our present cumbersome way of writing? "QUICKSCRIPT' will be Surface Mailed anywhere on receipt of 3s. 6d. or 50 cents - (by Airmail ® 5s.6d. or 80 cents) From: Kingsley Read, Abbots Morton, Worcester, England.3 INTRODUCTORY REVIEW Many reforming alphabets seek only to make Spelling more consistent. A few seek to reduce the lebour of Writing as well. This is the purpose of Quickscript. Here is a brief review of alphabetic problems and possibilities in general, preparetory to considering Quickscript in particular. Its aim is to urge upon educational experts the need for investigation, with experimental trials. Alphabetic reform'is no longer rare enough to be ridiculed: 1t is now so overgrown as to be respectable but bewildering. No conclusions ere reached: no action is teken. We are getting nowhere. To this general stand-still, the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i/t/a) is a striking exception if only within self-imposed limits. It repudiates any claim as 9 reform for adult use. It is content to evade educational disaster among learners of Orthodox spellings, and this it does admirably. Limited though it is to first-year schooling of readers, it will disclose to a generation of children the archaic disadvantages of our Orthodox writing. Within two or three decades these same children will be parents and tax-payers, prepared to adopt means of overtaking alphabetic reforms already made by Russia, China and Japan. Merely to copy these with a consistent spelling of English is no longer enough: we must do better. Are our authorities prepared for action? No: there are proposals by the hundred, few of them investigated, none adequately put to the test. There is much work to do before any survey can select, test, and recommend a new writing system which, because of its advantage to the adult community, should be taught and perfectly acquired in schools. CLASSES OF ALPHABETS now competing are: 0. The Orthodox 26-letter alphabet with Orthodox spelling: no reform. 1, The old 26 letters used for reformed spelling which is therefore often digraphic (i.e., with two letters jointly used for single sounds). 2. Alphabets of 40+ letters, 23 old ones (c,q & x usually discarded) and 17+ new letters (instead of digraphs) for remaining sounds of English. 3. 40+ shorthand-style letters, end-joined in fast unabbreviated writing. (Neither typing nor printing from type can be done with such letters). 4, 40+ letters specially devised for fast but neat writing, typing or printing, and with complete definition for reading. Class 1 alphabets seek to reform spelling without reforming the old alphabet: @ makeshift reform, wasteful of writing, phonetically unsound. For example: The letter h may be used, digraphically or singly, for scven different sound-values: shin, chin, thin, dhen, when, fehdher, lythaus. Is a child or foreigner to guess that th stands for two separate sounds in 'lythaus' (lighthouse); or whether sh has two sounds or only one in "Bishampton' — where the inhabitants are uncertain?4 Using the old alphabet for both Orthodox and Reformed spelling would lead to great confusion unless an impossible overnight change is pre- supposed. Innumerable schemes of digraphic spelling are proposed. They write more letters than are necessary. They use an unnecessary second alphabet. of CAPITALS which is profitless learning for children and a double outfit of type for printers. Class 2 avoids the ambiguities of Class 1 by dispensing with digraphs, Its 17+ new letters preserve some measure of familiarity in so far as they are made from old letters by adding tails, twists or diacritical markings, or by joining two old letters to be called a single new one. Unequivocal spelling becomes possible. The extra complexity and width of the new letters tend to cancel any economy made by using fewer letters. There is clear advantage in learning to spell, or to pronounce if,in fact, the spelling is phonetic. Economy in adult writing and reading is not the intention. (i/t/a belongs to this Class). Classes 5 and 4 are not content with simplified spelling alone; they seek speedier writing, by means of simplified letters. Clearly, such simpler letters will be new and strange: otherwise they cannot effect that lifelong time-saving by writers which outweighs the short time spent in learning a second alphabet as well as Orthodox. If children (end foreigners) are to use an easier spelling, let it be done ine script which perpetually saves time. Both Classes do this, but differently. Glass 3, using 40+ single-stroke shorthand-styled letters, spells words in full, joining letters continuously and wandering from the horizontal, more than abbreviated shorthand does. It is therefore not lettering which can be typed or set for printing. (Every other Class is printable from type). Though producing a fast script, letters often differ only in length, angle of direction, or weight of stroke, and are not the easiest sort to write safely or read swiftly. Any joint saving by writers-and-readers is questionable. Such unabbrevieted writing can be done with any 40-letter shorthand alphabet. Bernard Shaw wrote his manuscripts in this way to save labour but advocated a better way. Kunowski's 'Sprechspur', of this Class, has long been in partial use in German schools by way of first-year training. ‘The subsequent trans— ition to orthodox German reading and writing is said to be effected in 10 to 30 days. It has the advantages and defects of its Class which should be worth investigation after more than 20 years’ limited service in schools — and by adults. Class 4 alphabets have 40+ letters designed to be more distinguishable than shorthand characters, while being simpler and less space-consuming than Classes 0, 1 and 2 (i.e., saving material costs as well as time). As neat in appesrance as Orthodox, This Class and its aims originated with the Shaw Alphabet — devised after his death, to his recommendations, ‘That alphabet produced printers’ type in three styles. It produced acheap portable typewriter. More immediately important, it served for handwritten correspondence spread thinly but widely over four continents, with consequent accumlation of experience on spelling and writing. From this trial by a cross-section of English-writers, marked advances are now formulated in this Quickscript Manual. (Apart from their having the seme designer and similar style, they are different and separate alphabets). Junior Quickscript, as written in separate letters by young children, is as printable from type as Orthodox. It should not be difficult to select or compile one alphabet best representing each Class; or to discover which Class best serves a writing and reading community. That one, when found, should undoubtedly be taught. It does not have to be tought universally before it will bring lifelong advantage to its learners. But let us be realistic. No better alphabet will suddenly displace Orthodox, its text-books, its libraries, and its newspapers. If it is ever relegated to second place, that will be done by gradual experience of advantages not to be missed. The first advance will necessarily be in handwriting. Without any substantial outlay a new script can be tried in schools, using the old pen and much less paper. Whatever the system chosen, teachers will need no elaborate manual, and children will need none. But let us recognize that Orthodox remains with us, and that ary new alphabet in addition to it must be of marked service to the grown community as well as to first-year schoolchildren. WRITING end READING We mist study these as two aspects of one function — Communication. Though alphabets are better when they allow s more consistent spelling, they are hardly ‘best' without also being inherently more writable and/or readable. The adult reader does not go through the childish processes of breaking words down into letters, reassembling their several sounds into pronunciations, and at length recognizing these as meanings. Indeed he does the reverse, instantly recognizing each word-unit as a meaning, and then pronouncing it how he likes, This he must do to read at tolerable speed and to grasp the connected meanings of a sentence. We are therefore concerned with the function of letters in building uniquely shaped outlines, each of which is an ideogram, a logogram, a word-graph -- call it what you will. It only needs in the end to be conveniently simple to write and familiar to read ‘automatically’. We write the date '1966' economically and read it instantly; we fumble over the unfamiliar ‘NCMLXVI', We read ‘£50 + 10 %' and pronounce it, without spellings, We are content with familiar contractions such as "a= & Co Ltd'. All the practised reader requires or values is a well known graph. Use will make any graph familiar, any spelling readable; but the getting used to words is eased by systematic spelling.6 If we intend to learn and use two different alphabets, both should be justified by utility. Our Orthodox Capital alphabet serves no real purpose, and we are self-deluded to say that ‘the alphabet’ and ‘THE ALPHABET! are spelt by the same letters; they are only matching letters. They differ in shape. In style they are obviously different alphabets. Can any new alphabet differ more than these do? Capital letters used to begin sentences are purely ornamental. French uses no capitals for its ‘Monday, January, English’ etc. There is no need for a separate alphabet to indicate names; a single indicator such as a preceding dot serves as well for all of them. Capitals do nothing extra as spelling. Letters can always be enlarged or decorated for display, without using basically different shapes. Certain familiar features are best retained in e new alphabet. It is our habit to read from left to right. It 4s not our habit to read whole pages in letters all alike in height. It 4s our unconscious habit to recognize words all the better by such diversified ‘coastlines’ as in the word ‘alphabet’ with its several Tall letters and one Deep one. Orthodox does not vary sufficiently the shape of its prominent heads end tails - hyb,k,1,d,p,q - and is deficient in Deep letters (descenders). Simple letters should in general be assigned to frequent sounds: the frequent sound of t should not require two strokes and a penlift. Any script will have its scribblers., It will be clearer without the confusion of meaningless link-strokes, A break in a word does no herm, SPELLING It is popularly assumed that a phonetic alphabet is useless unless. every spelling is a precise representation of speech, without reserv— ations or conveniences. Whose speech, then, is to be so precisely rep- resented? The beginner's instinct says: My own, the only English I can represent with conviction, 'It's how everyone here speaks’. International correspondence soon discloses that every state, every district, has its almost sacred ways of speaking. Whole cultures are in revolt if ‘pass, last, fasten’ are spelt with an ah-vowel, or if ‘what, which, when,' are not spelt with an aspirated-w. Where Britain seys,'It has been sujested', Anerica says ‘It has bin sug-jested' — and so on, Not only do the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries differ now and again as to pronunciation: in a very great number of words both will give acceptable alternatives. If some respected model of speech is chosen (as for his alphabet Bernard Shaw chose ‘that recorded of His Majesty our late King George V') ‘the model speech varies, as our own does, according to context, emphasis, formality or colloquialism. We can decide to spell as though every word written is emphatic; but as nobody ever speaks in that way, such spelling ceases to be phonetic.7 ‘The raw beginner, unaware of these problems, is least aware of any trouble. For a time he may bé left to spell quite phonetically what he believes he should be saying. It will be intelligible; or if it is nobody's English, it will be the sooner noticed and corrected. But as soon as words are not to vary in their spelling, how should we spell 'the'? We are faced at once with making an arbitrary decision. To spell 'the' with the vowel used in 'then' is phonetically misleading. ‘The natural pronunciation where a vowel-sound follows is as in ‘swarthy’ (‘the aim, the oak"). But where @ consonant follows we say ‘thuh' 9s in ‘other’ (the gun, the bird). Our decision, though arbitrary, can at least be convenient; and in this case the solution which,from experience, satisfies all writers and ell occasions, is to omit the variable vowel entirely. This is labour-saving, and in context the remaining consonant can mean nothing else than ‘the’. Constant spelling results, without violence to Communication, Consider, then, how a few such contracted spellings will be justified by their saving of penwork. ECONOMY, Compared with the number of letters required for Orthodox spelling: Class'l (26 letters and digraphs) uses about ... 4% fewer letters. Classes 2,3,4 (40 letters) .... use about ...15% ~ ~ or with Contractions of 'the,of,and,to,for,it,is,be'... 20%- - - or contracting a few affixes and 50 more words . = 30K- - It is not to be supposed that time-saving is fully proportionate to letter-saving. But there are further valuable savings of labour if a simpler alphabet is written, besides those made by using fewer letters. Quickscript makes both savings. It has both simpler and fever letters. Given any truly comparable experience of both Quickscript and Orthodox writing, the reduction of perwork should be In Junior Quickscript (Section I only) ... 35 to 40 % In Senior Quickscript (Sections II & III) ... 50% This halving of perwork (and near-halving of ink and paper) seems to be quite possible without detriment to reading. This review has dealt with technical issues involved in alphabetic reform. The Manual is the result of widespread experimental writing. It is not addressed to children but to their instructors. WILL THIS LEAD ANY FURTHER? What unbiassed and forward-looking Authority, University or Trust will take the initiative? Who will investigate, narrow the field, conduct trials? Who will prepare the way for ACTION?8 NOTES ON THE ALPHABET Familiar Features We are accustomed to writing such letters as aenoru all of the seme 'Short' height. They are said to be written between ‘the parallels’ -- although the parallel lines are imaginary. That is how Quickscript letters numbered 23 to 40 are written: they are ‘Short’. Our old letters dhk1 rise above the Sho! So do Quickscript letters odd-numbered 1 to 21: these are 'Tall'. Old letters g qy go lower then the Shorts. So do even-numbered Quickscript letters 2 to 22: they are ‘Deep! . Shorts end Talls stand on the same level of the ‘writing-line' and keep it clearly defined. Shorts and Deeps rise to the same level of the upper parallel' keeping that slso well defined. There is nothing new in this. Correct placing and proportioning of letters is important. Again, we are quite used to distinguishing Short @ from Tail 2 ; we observe the small additions which make four different letters Coad, and the reversals which distinguish db pq nu hy. Letters in Quickscript are as recognizably different as soon as they become equally familiar. A GENERAL RULE ‘Finish each letter rightwardly', if there is more than one way-of forming the letter, This means that it is correct to begin low on the left and finish higher and rightwardly to write Nos.18, 20, 22, 24, 50, 31, 32, 36, 37, These habits should be acquired early, in preparation for future connection of letters. PUNCTUATION etc. No Capital Letters are used in Quickscript. Where a Name will not be easily recognized without special indication, a preceding name-dot is used. Three name-dots suffice in writing: ‘At Rome, Jack met Mr Harold Jones al +304, 29% gl “2 Cory, 7022, Brackets are /engled/ instead of (curved). Possessive apostrophes are usually omitted without loss of meaning, Numerals written among words should be underlined; so should foreign words, SOUNDS represented are those of first letters or other CAPITALS in the hyphenated Keywords. The true sound is not always enough for safe NAMING of letters, and in such cases the whole Keyword may serve as a letter-name. To refer to a letter in Quickscript, it is written with ‘@ nane-dot. Scottish, Welsh and Irish plece names etc. may require these letters: ‘The Ch-sound in ‘Loch’ may be spelt with Tall ‘The Li-sound in ‘Lian’ may be spelt with Short.. yeSECTION 1: HOW TO WRITE JUNIOR QUICKSCRIPT Unfold the Alphabet Sheet for constent reference as you read, and study page 8 carefully first. SPELLING Keywords beneath each letter indicate the kind of sound represented. It must be clearly understood that Orthodox spelling is apt to be very misleading as to sounds spoken, and therefore spelt in Quickscript. For example, the words So, Is, Sure, Vision have four different sounds of 8, requiring letters numbered 11, 12, 13, 14, The O-sound in On, No, Who, Or are to be spelt with Nos.34, 38, 40, 33. ‘The vowels in Case, Cat, Calm, Call need Nos. 29, 30, 32, 33. Spell Gell with 11, not with the 5 used for Can. Spell Gem with 16, not with 6. Write 7 for Thigh, but 8 for Thy. Write 14 in Measure, Rouge, Garage if you pronounce them with the French J-sound (J'ai). Write Church with 15, Chaos with 5, Charlotte with 13, Write Whole and Whose with 19, not 20; Ingle, Anger, Hunger with two letters 21/6; Singing with only one,No.21; Anchor, Uncle with two letters 21/5. There is no W-sound or letter to write in Write, Wrap, Wretch, Wrong; nor any H to spell in Honour, Heir, Hour. Though Write and Right, Wrap and Rap, Hour and Our, Heir and Air will be spelt alike, experience shows that they cannot be misunderstood in context. Indeed it is proved so in Orthodox, where such words as Bank, Mine, Ball, Train, Box are never in doubt as to their meaning in a particular context. LEARNING LETTERS ‘The use of all 15 vowels is soon acquired by a word-making pastime. Take a few letters at a time. Begin with writing and recognizing two consonants Nos. 3 and 23 (for T and N sounds) and the first five of the vowel letters, Nos. 26 to 30. Now see what words can be written with these seven letters only. You can write: “at, eat, tin, net, tan, neat, gnat, Tate, knee, eight, nay, it, in, tea, ten, any" (Write No.26 for the final -y in ‘any! and similar words). Having put down all you can think of, be sure to read what you have written and correct mistakes. Remember to name-dot "Tate’. Next time you can learn the second five vowels, still with the same two consonants, and then the third five. Always read what you have written. Consonants need less study. Master them five at a time, with various vowels. When they are all memorized, try writing this: ‘dead, pip, baby, tight, kick; thaw, gag, they, fifth, vague; shoes, z00, size, chose, azure; why, yea, how, judge, woe; Jemb, nine, rare, more, long". Put it aside and try to read it next day, remembering that it will be far easier to read whole sentences, where each word suggests what may follow once the topic is grasped.10 SPELL ALL R's Most of the English-speaking world utters an R-sound wherever this letter occurs in Orthodox spelling, though an influential minority will frequently omit to pronounce R where followed inuediately by a consonant. For the sake of uniform spelling, it will be assymed that # single R is pronounced wherever single or doubled R occurs in Orthodox. That is to say, we all agree to folbow the pronunciation of the majority who speak English at home and abroad. This rule enables us to distinguish such spellings as -- Gve saw, So = sore Y= alms, SIKQ= arms (| = nut, (ro = hurt. VOWELS +R ‘The vowel letter No.36 serves both for Hut and for Hurt, for Us,Upon and Urge. It serves for any sounds similar to these which Orthodox may spell differently, e.g., First, Myrtle, Worth, Serve, Heard are (in most areas) pronounced like Urge and Hurt; Worry, Hurry like Us, Hut; and the unstressed vowel in China, Fauna, Allow, Ago, Better, Circus, Vicious sounds just like the U in Upon. Experience shows that any subtle distinctions between these sounds are neither heard nor spelt successfully and consistently by all writers, and that they are best understood as a single catagory of closely related sound to be written alike with letter No.36. ‘Though the joining of letters is fully discussed at a later stage, it is worth noting here how easily and naturally certain vowel letters are Joined to # following R-letter No.25. ‘This is a habit to encourage early. Nos.32/25 J) = are, 33/25 \D= or, 36/25 /)= word-ending -er, as in Baker, Gather, Hotter, Author, Colour, Pillar, Kaffir, Centre, Martyr, besides occurring frequently as a first syllable — Arrange, Arrive, Arrears, Arose, where the vowel is stressless. Notice the changed vowel which distinguishes between — AOC] = Arose, JI07, = Arrows WRITING Here are a few hints on how to write easily and well. It is a great help at first to write in lined paper or to use a black- lined backing sheet which can be seen through most plain writing papers. A piece of hard-board with two bulldog clips on its top edge is very convenient for holding both backing sheet and writing paper firmly, As some inks will not write on a slightly greased surface, it is well to let the hand rest on a loose protecting sheet. ‘A beginner should not attempt to write smaller than with three lines of writing wholly within an inch of depth, To write clearly any smaller requires more practice. Choose a pen or pencil with which the small loops of letters 29, 31, 35, 37 are easily and cleanly formed, Cultivate the light touch whichsey makes for better and freer writing. If upward strokes seem awkward, it is through excessive pressure on the pen; and particularly bear in mind that over-anxiety is bound to result in pen-pressure. Remember that drawing a letter is not writing it. Try to ‘see’ on the paper the letter you are about to write (and later, foresee the syllable, the word), so that penstrokes are made swiftly and boldly. Keep Short letters regular in height. Make Tells and Deeps nearly twice as large. Keep constant watch that these and other distinctions are preserved. Always re-read after writing. Errors and bad tendencies will at once be noticed; but not all of them. Read a second time when the words are forgotten, and more errors will appear. This self-correction is the only way to learn fast. Whatever you can read easily at the end of a week's lapse of memory will be readable by other Quickscript writers. Here are examples of Junior Quickscript. This manual is not addressed to children but to their instructors. First steps in childish language are unnecessary. Let us begin with a comparison: Here are two ways of writing the same words. Which 1s written with fewer strokes of the pen ? tra 19 Wn pez 1g ali ov Seg Jnr yit ig ales py der SorS re cr ‘Wes? Pen-activity is reduced by almost 40 % (and further reductions follow). To save that mich in length of line would involve reduced word-separation. ‘The next example embraces every letter of the alphabet. If so advanced a passage is patiently deciphered, only reading practice remains necessary. ‘The indications of stress, not normally used, may help beginners: h ps ava cis a7 S40 baa yor Slr tv my ql I gals Air gor |og. (2 1p YR USiwedw dro AZO My. (OY UoSbal Seek rg log Donel 49d. I faa cel UnSdXGe vit. pay vy dosdlyrai, ys Mak Seay? /( wwe Ye Qral—re5IUy a a ests gis co 72, AA wl Copa raleosclie-12 CONTRACTIONS Finally we have to consider what use should be made of shortened spellings in Junior Quickscript. They are not a matter of necessity but they could be an important convenience. We write 'Mr, Mrs, Dr’, before a name. Most of us would be at a loss to write 'Mrs' otherwise in Orthodox: how many S's, what becomes of its letter R? — for we can no longer spell it 'Mistress'. These are correct standard spellings, conventional though they are; readers expect them, publishers are dropping the dot which once 1iticated abbreviation. Unless names are being listed or addresses being written, this is not done for economy but because it is the proper ‘spelling’; which is done in Quickscript without a break between letters: letters 22/25 e for Mr, 22/12 Q@ for Mrs, 4/38/25 for Dr. (Notice that it is easier to write the three letters for'Dr'than two.) Hundreds of such standard contractions are in every-day use, with meanings no less precise than in fully spelt words, provided they are read in context. We then recognize the letters MS as 'Manuscript'; we know whether M.C. means Military Cross or Master of Ceremonies; and without learning Latin we attach the intended meaning to ‘etc, i.e., e.g.' None of these contractions occurs often enough to save much writing. For any worthwhile saving, contractions must serve as words. Liable to be repeated several times in paragraph or @ page; and then the omission of even one letter will, by repetition, save far more than our shortened Mister or Doctor, handy though these may be. Here are eight words of two or three letters which even writers of Junior Quickscript should soon contract to single letters — which any reader of Quickscript will understand when written in context: the of and to it is for be (an a 1.1.2.2 -¢ These words occur so very, often that their contractions save nearly 7 % of letters required. in fully phonetic writings. It is hardly necessary to point out that Of is spoken and written with a V-sound, Is with a Z-sound; and that Tall and Short letters for To and It are quite distinct when written in context on the same writing-line. In this example, use of the eight contractions saves (abnormally) 17 letters (40 %) compared with the same sentence in Orthodox, though a full phonetic spelling saves only 6 letters (14 %): 12 lye de oMecpeal. OTHER CONVENTIONS Quickscript writers have replaced the Latin 'etc.' by 000 'and-and-and", Other Latin conventions will gradually get converted and accepted. Mean- while the accustomed Orthodox conventions suffice. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT is ENTIRELY OPTIONAL —though valuable in writing,13 SECTION II: HOW LETTERS MAY BE JOINED Letter joining is not a virtue in itself, but where it can be done without added strokes of the pen it avoids the slight but cumulative actions of lifting the pen and moving the hand to a fresh starting point. It will not have escaped notice that in the written examples one letter often ends almost where the next letter begins. They are recognizable still if they end-and-begin at the seme point without a break or penlift. Such connections may occur on the writing-line; or on the upper parallel at Short letter height; or higher still by joining the tops of two Tell letters, These ere the only points at which joining is allowed, and done without meaningless and confusing link-strokes. A few examples will enable such opportunities to be foreseen and taken with many other letters but not with all. Never attempt connections midway between the parallels: breaks are less confusing. Several vowel letters join almost irresistably with a following letter No.25, which is designed to be written upwards as well downwards: 88 in merry Mery marry mire mar more moor mere murder sour Or OD DPD VWM MANDY While many connections forward from the M-letter (as well as those forwerd to it) require its normal low start, foresight will sometimes suggest writing it downwards from the top, so as to connect forward from it slong the writing line—es below in 'Marry, mire, mar’; but avoid connection where the next letter inmediately leaves the writing-line (in Moor, mere). COE EY LOY Notice the connected -der of Murder. Write ‘Dear’ connectedly: ‘Fear’ Qv2 has a penlift. ‘Career'YI42 ond 'cerrier'CO/Dhave breaks. Letter No.8 may connect on the writing~line by an allowable extension upward and forward to that level (as in Nos.10 and 12), to write: Other mother brother father rather weather whether further 7? MP PY GP YUP AP KP MIP Connections producing # right-angle or wider angle are slower than acute-angled connections. Detachnent is often better. But do not hesi-~ tate to join with acute angles or where & continuous curve is formed. Here are combinations of two consonants which should become habitual: br ar pl kl kr kt fr ts st sp sk skr PEPE EUUSIaABIARS Little practice is needed to write Tall-S upwardly (from left to right) as well as downwardly, and both ways are equally handy in making joins. As always, the secret {s a light touch,4 So far, letters have not been modified by connection: we now go further. 6 HALF LETTERS moke extremely usefyl yi fromment connections. ‘As the lower halves of letters I, |, (are alike, it is clear that the top halves suffice for spelling. To end them on the upper parallel is useful in joining them to letters which begin there. Examples are: paw: try : hey hal & ORIG SG (instinctively these connections become acute-angled ). Similar joinings are convenient on the writing-line with three Deep letters. ‘W' 4s halved to be written only below es writing Line in — won/one word work wild wise [5 = (> - pe . py » Py + dv At the end of words (or syllables) halved |, (D) and halved 2, @) are often (not always) useful they serv serve frequently for tenses, plurals, possessives: aid dead we 3 cause = say! ey yy RRS ‘In some“halved connections a tiny zig-zag or 'step' breaks confusing continuity. There is a step needed on the upper parallel in —— till pill =i: tell = pet. =— head: bye GLAS Examples of : ‘steps! —— Double halvings lid pod noise use : lids pods noised used 4 RY Ty ty Ny hy 4 ALTERNATIVE LETTER-SYMBOLS help to make connections. Of all consonants, the N-sound is most frequent. If it were possible we should give it an X-like letter with four points of connection. Our ‘normal’ N-letter has one rearward and one forward connection but none on the writing line. So where a writing-line connection is foreseen, it is usually convenient to reverse the letter upside down — the ‘alternative’. no (but) now, neck (but) knack, (k)nave (but) knife, nod — need w. wk . ar . RY . ad . HY. Uy, Any preceding letter determins the sort of N: in anon anode = angel. «send «bind «under any ounce inch W. AML. Bop. KOPF . Oy. pay. Oyo..a1./0S . ot1s There is an alternative, C (written downwards), to upwardly written (. This letter No.36 is frequently followed by consonants beginning on the writing-Line,# ,Q,Q; and J, ¢ which may also be begun at that level. Consider where the ‘alternative’ vowel letter ¢ is the better choice. In some words the normal upward letter / ends with a penlift which is foreseeable end avoidable by substituting its alternative: ay averse us uncle among +: lull love He [email protected] gh iw. v.30 gl In these last words, a penlift is saved by using alternative C. In the next examples, either form of the vowel involves a penlift and either may be written — with slight preference for the alternative form on grounds of appearance only, despite its earlier penlift. dull gull above shovel tusk © thus just junk chunk pogo gg Legs. 1K (© -7A.7R CR Standard syllables -elly -ous -ful(as an adj.) invariably: -aA .-S Letter X, in Orthodox, is a labour-saving way of writing two sounds at once. To compete with it, Senior Quickscript substitutes a tar X for’S sounds : 0 Deep X for (>,sounds — but only where Orthodox spells these sounds with X. Correct use of these labour-saving substitutes is as follows: \X for Exeite, Extrene, Expect with an initial vowel \ easier than |. \X. for Examine, Example, Exhibit Beware of adding a superfluous S-letter for the Cin Excite, Exces it is covered already by the X-letter. Ak in next, Vex, Sex; ut LS in Necks, \ in Tax, Fix, Ox, Buxon — with various vowels: but — etc, & in macks, Licks, Locks, Bucks; and (jin Tags, Legs, Logs, Bugs. 2. 18 Xylophone, Xenophon, Xarvia; and only one X in Xerxes. Common words listed overleaf show to what advantage these various letter connections are applied in standard word-outlines.16 QONMON WORDS to be fully spelt, with their Standard word-outlines: ayan about after all always am at her/s how I it in know/n lest Jong c eR RS POSE LSRS HE MH S xs 7 gee q wl a = not now A SELES SR ERAT AM off one, once ffs or vo other/s 72, Ur our o over OP said Sy swy/s Sy, take/n 6 ea ao ‘that, spelt in full only when demonstrative; their Ce then e there wy those Ce ‘too, two h under mp unless aos use ind HS usera wa Ay Ay usea-to hil was R Rhy were 2 when fo where who h vtose Fy wy ers Ph Ply work/s XPT world/'s LP year/s f.Wn otherwise — d aaT SECTION III: Senior Quickscript's STANDARD CONTRACTIONS and AFFIXES, CONTRACTIONS, for conmon words not previously listed: also ws never ne are ? often Na os J on . be/ing/en tee ony on because & people v before perhaps but shall, should ‘ can/tt/not AU ed she cone/s/ing §— &RQL s0 could/n't &. tal then Anne do, did kh thate d don't, didn't we Ww these Ww ever,every @.4 think/ing, thought. ) 22,7] from % this é so/irgne gL time/s lek good Sy very BP have/n't @.&sl ve / he,hinhis 0h.4 what/ever Yok into vl which t its,it's S will, "11 sg Little a without A ey make/ing,made & gh & would/n't. me 6 you/r/rs te 6. 6, much (C “that, if demonstrative -— A18 It is known that our 70 conmonest words, constantly repeated, account for half the total of words in English writings as a whole, Most of these repeatable words have been simplified on pages 12 and 17, Adding the standardized full spellings on page 16, we already extend well beyond the commonest 70, These lists are arranged for reference as need arises, not to be memorized all at once. Less than half of the words to be written, though the longer ones, remain; and phonetic spelling deals with their stressed root syllables. Only a few much used affix syllables are contracted with advantage, but as their unstressed vowels may be variably pronounced, some standard usage must be established. TERMINAL -es, -ed How — or why —— should we spell any sound of € in such words as: races kisses wages loses churches‘ Jones! treated ended fitted loaded guarded seated Is it uttered like the e in ‘egg’, the i in ‘it', or the u in ‘upon’? Its sound is not spelt at all in"Jone's: in ‘joingd', its spelling is not sounded, nor is it in countless other words, It is only heard as a mere separator of consonants which cannot be pronounced together. Between these — $Z,ShZ, ChZ, JZ, ZZ, DD, TD -- some kind of vowel has to be uttered. But what is its sound to be? And who will miss it if it is omitted in spelling? It is a frequent and profitable omission: kisses dishes switches bridges pleases added fitted Notice that the -Z ending of plurals and tenses becomes an -S sound where it follows certain consonants: cubs, (but) cups, maids (but) mates, rags --- racks, sheaths After seven consonants, the -d tense ending changes to a T sound: wy - Sy, . el .wy.wW wy, as in — tipped, licked, frothed, roughed, fussed, rushed, clutched. ALL these D's are pronounced as T, and they will be spelt with a T-letter. “© JY, clearly means "Mr Jones's": with one name-dot,no apostrophe. ‘TERMINAL -ing Provided it is an.affix and not a root, omit vowel-i. See examples: calljng writings lovingly bringing wing things Epping awh wh JQ)A pr pp My ok Root Contractions plus Affix allow: te veing, l= doing, 2k = eninking, Dut spell the root fully after a prefix or with t changed meaning: e.g, in — beings, undoing, unthinkingly, willingness, canning. Spell -ing in full after roots ending in -y:CDI = carrying,a9 ‘TERMINAL ~al, -el, -le, -il. Where an L-sound is final, the general rule is to omit any unstressed vowel sound between L and the preceding consonant: examples will explain. Omit the vowel struck out in: Tribdl, Fingl, Ordl, Animgl, Initf#l, OfficfAl, Miss@l, Rival, Lev¢l, Bevél, Rifl¢, Coupl¢, Eagl¢, Eas¢l, DevZl,Civil, Cavil. Where another syllable is added, the vowel sound before this L mist be clearly pronounced and spelt in most cases: as it must be in —— Finally, Orally, Animality, Initially, Officially, Levelling,Devilry, Caviller, Rif(u)i¢man, (Couplet and Coupling lose all trace of the diminished and negligible vowel-sound which may precede L in Couple: it certainly does not follow the L-sound.) While L needs no preceding vowel in Spaniel =S/yfy , one is clearly needed wherever ~al follows on a vowel-sound (phonetically), as in —~ burial = YUIG, visual = ere, loyal = JAG. TERMINALS -ally, ~able, -ab! le, ~tbly. ‘These terminals should always be written as shown, even if a preceding penlift results. Notice the choice for first letters: wally able & -ible (alike) ably & ibly (alike) aw eas TERMINALS -tion, -ssion, ~shion, ~cean, sion, -gion, -ation,<-asions Alternative’ N-letter is joined to preceding consonant, omitting vowel. action mission fashion ocean vision region vocation occasion [email protected]. -@ . -@. za. 2. el. -e72 TERMINAL -en, ~tn. Written invariably as -/8; no contraction, no alternatives. Note convenient acute angle or continuous line which results in most c Pepoen ribbon eaten wooden taken waggon python heathen heaven Ae -h. -. -¥0. -970 «Ye YE eft ee oe Ge an (Note the Listed contraction, YOY = often, as an exception). ‘TERMINALS -ent, -ant, cence, -ance. Written invariably with - 7 followed by a penlift: present, distant (alike) with ... presence, distance . as .20 TERMINAL land, -ment, -man, -men. The unstressed vowel is omitted for convenient joining except in -men. England highland; settlement payment; seaman, (but) seamen. hom. om, gl. gl. ae Stressed vowels will be appropriately written: Overland, .cemént, urmin. TERMINAL -us, ous, ~cious, ~scious, -tious. ‘The ‘alternative’ vowel-letter joined to 8. invariably: circus, discus, chorus, porous, various, serious ---- with be eC precious, conscious, contentious —-- ---- TERMINALS -ess, ~est, -less, -ness. Distinguished from the -us, -ous terminal by writing vowel No.28 \. hostess highest hopeless —_ goodness TERMINAL -er (etc. ‘Always - 7) ; plural always -/"Y7, with a penlift. Neither the vowel nor the consonant-R can ever be omitted (sounded or not). Orthodox spel- lings of this terminal vary greatly, including: pillar, maker, weaker, Kaffir, author, licquor, colour, martyr,mitre. TERMINAL ~ier, ~sor. (etc. - If unstressed, -V2 : if stressed, -4> . Examples illustrate: happier, carrier, furrier, senior, junior (unstressed)...V2 appéar, carger, fusiller, pler, déar, hére, (stressed).... 7 ‘Though these are not all affixes, the distinction needs pointing out. TERMINAL -ia, -ea, -ian, -ean, ion, Austria, India, Virginia, area (unstressed) ...; Indian ...-VO - Korga, Judéa, Caesarda, idéa (stressed) ... M ; Koréan, Jan. onion, minion, pillion, million (with a Y-sound) «++ TERMINAL -y, -ey, -ie, -e, -ily, ~ity. ‘Though the actual sound of terminal -y varies in pronunciation, it certsinly must be constant in spelling. The dictionary suggests letter-! No.26, and leaves A No.27 for distinction where the terminal is stressed. happy, carry, money, lassie, simile, coffee (unstressed) with 1 legatée, lessée, payée see see (stressed) ... with -A heppily, merrily ... with Ll: senctity, crudity ... with -Ih (city, pity, comittee ... also with-th).aL TERMINAL ~ain. Certain, curtain, mountain, fountain, captain (unstressed) ... -/0. Maintdin, obtdin, attdin, retdin, detdin (stressed) . - WW. ‘TERMINAL -age. manage, baggage, wattage, villege, tonage, cabbage But distinguish the terminal after marriage, carriage y i.e., after root words ending in -y. -4Q- TERMINAL -ward, ~ward: ““"Contracted: Eastward =o forvard =Q0j,, onwards =\2jcy (the stressed syllables 'for—, on-—-," should not be contracted). TERMINAL -ful, -fully. care’ eartul, (adj.) ... with -O@; carefully (adv.) .. But: spoonful, mouthful (n.) ... with -OU, mA. PREFIXES Con-, Com-, A valuable distinction is made (whatever their peceanesatien) between cpntént (adj), contents (noun): cgntrast (verb), contrast {noun) te . we - cénvéntion, convent: cgnfér, conference: cénférm, conformation, etc. Similarly, distinction is made between: cAémpdsed, cémpréss, cémpdunded, cémménd ... all with & . cémpost, cémpress (n.), compound (n.), comment ... with -% . No other contracted prefixes are used, because a word's first syllable is less automatically read than the last syllable. But it is necessary to standardize their spelling and form, PREFIX Un~ unless, until, under, untried,unfortunate etc ... always with (0 - . An initial N-sound in the root word following ‘un-' (meaning ‘not') brings two N-sounds together. Both are spelt in: unnecessary, unknown .../O0-- PREFIXES An-, Al-, In effect only the vowel-sound is the prefix to a root word in: announce, annul, annuity: allot, allure, alike: arrive, arrange, around with (O— wee te with C- with (J- oe. Note, where the initial sound is stressed,... annual, allocate, drrows — spelling changes with changed sound... YU- « Z- —. JD22 PREFIXES Ob-, Of- gbjéct, obtdin,obsérve,obscire (unstressed prefix) ... with - dpject (noun), Sbstacle, dbviate (stressed prefix) ... with YY - official, offend ... with D-: sffice, Sffer ... with W-. PREFIXES Be-, De-, Re- begin, behind, behead ... eo decide, defend, desertion ... y -: receive, refuse, result ... J/- . But there is a vowel change in stressed prefixes: définite, déference, défile (n.), résonance, rébuild. PREFIXES Pre-, Pro preserve, prevent, precluded, present (verb)...(unstressed) with I~. Compare stressed prefix in: préservation, prélude, présoppose, présent(n) produce {v.), protest (v.), pronounce.... (unstressed) with lon Compare stressed prefix vowels in: préduce (n), protest (n), prénoun. PREFIXES Per-, Pur- persuade, perfume, pursue, purchase (stressed or not) with... - PREFIXES In-, En- (alike unless stressed) inquire, enquiry, inform, enlarge, enrage, enclose, endeavour ~R-. NOTE Examples of Junior Quickscript on page 26 are in separated letters fs they would be in type. Of the time required to write in that manner, as much as @ quarter mey be saved by the writing end spelling facilities of Sections II and III. These Senior facilities are of course impossible as a first stage in children's writing. Once Junior script is mastered, At becomes quite easy to introduce the stenderd practices of Senior script gradually, taking two or three of them at a time. They quickly become habitual. Their proper use should be studied in Senior examples on pages 25 to 25. Only contractions listed as standard should be used in communication, and even for personal use little further economy can be made in this way. It will be found that standard usnges of Senior Quickscript reduce any divergent spellings to two or three letters (average) in 8 hundred, This causes no hesitation in reading. Quickscript spelling should be regarded as ® convenience, not as a cultural fetish. The choice of standard spellings is convenient for writing and reading. Jt implies no preference in pronunciation. Various styles of script are shown in following pages. ‘The last three pages were kindly written by Mr James MacCormaic.23 Compare these 44 lines in Senior script with the 6 line Junior version of the seme words on page 11. Connections and contractions account for this considerable further seving: fa aay J 270 Lod po Salt | ay, gyro w kk- 7 RRM Use. Jaz . 1 dota Sele kg ok 20. 1 fy, (A Uda C gnh Iw ewalpd, PMA Say A roe p Bal—wdy, @ Wi 6 Relay as 5,4 apo vlawly. In such colloquial passages as these, half of the words are listed contractions, for such is the prevalence of a few common words in subject matter of this kind. Test the remarkable saving of pen move- ments by writing one of these sentences equally lerge in Orthodox and in Quickscript: wR 7 S God ns. gl cbP ern frov l pe Leh LI MOE ES pe. JERVG RMS Cpr heekes Parental advice CLS 0b os Yoh, I aor wp ( ”D : Abbie ye tlol ints eS By Mee TOS we fo Tear py, gy ba, 2 pol dog ety got! EMC C46 fat Sp p TOMI WPAPWS. & S 40. ~sy SS oh M wu be. Ghia og day: G by ph Aligrye wv?24 As written in Orthodox script: 3 lines. This is one of the w in hich we do cur writing and all be compane it with any other kind of scrpt to see what you think it ib worth. As written in Junior Quickscript: 2 lines. (82 WO (0128 IE [AP wil AL A pe PY lv Sete Il pC a1 (2 Pa VE Seal 1 A ypl A WE 1 2 pad. As written in Senior Quickscript: ls lines. bere netsprwmerteg yl Yorswa~p oye RN 1S y 1712 p?. Passage from 'Rip van Winkle’ fy ear 7 ar Wr Lenn dm9 yy, bah don Me rica fees yo pen | Cr th Ryan 3 pry ”m- fy we aah, | Sr xp, nye (2 Ax rfp ¢ dg es Aw wd mn 2 UM wre due» pl Slor ae; CA e cen h hI 1 Yin & low vp, oh, Hw yre7 ce ws ane Rye MI} (6 er Pp, 21 2 > | rhe, Jape pw J 200; ol ham pay, 5 Who dry we pr. f dry | pyExamples of Senior Quickscript, from J. A. Froude and R, L, Stevenson. ye pe SH (se Ves, 6K 40) 04,3 er (1 fy ke Ge (Tire; po f dy A Aa 2 e hor py dgo, 5g. § © ogo ¢ Suaegesl Ape (4: yo f Roy, ¢ 0 oy ( 9 AD Rar, 5 WA, ( NP © ¢4rrD € ( io, # (YK (E078 yas (2 ap o %y EY wre Ae ret top € dol 9d 5 hag, v Shad dil, s go4- Folk. (2 oR Segah wz Ow, 18/171 Ale 9 Yaw; 4129 0,N5 pC, pray f eyt yp, dy ieee [e&ny,> Pay ago 4g Ral, wl pr (dae paarte Gs, N CEP ar ps, (rer Gdpcrvan7® rc phe, ABP. /N SR aul bepne Raid Maga, qt (205 (1 il g dhs (SN. 1 neh ¢ Yh, po Cy Ab eqn 7 Kl Xe b Wim». 7 Ah agp pl & og by wl (0; ry opal e daa yo | 2 2 Wav mq, ¥ ( Whig 2 pRebehy 2% ry e Sows... ArDl US al ¢ Seis 3 Wyre Q Sikdeye DAMS wr ph @ py. [Siepohe:verg pc RR]26 EXAMPLES OF JUNIOR QUICKSCRIPT sily yo-M4 aly 9% Rowe by ASI fr GI Sa) wr R879 a pryrol so ye | dvs, (we ald fig ifs Vx MQ (M708 th Wl ww fig I ar & fog a hy ole Km put ce ley (so, (MG 8 Sy, Wepre we wy 28 hos ee hy ralr %, | payor vs IS da pp ysl 2 Sao, [Src doe ey 5 Leuye cl gor ral Ane ¢ ysl fof. fr %% pp (ne | go. aiky \ I> akeray 1 voy, (>! Snz ro je B 4X2. w [> lop, Wy gC Grol (204 GO Ls Vg chor 16 (Grp vd ave, yours Gi 502. VS rg A SWr>.