Who Uses Connected Writing?

[Octo]

Cursive script seems to be disappearing in the USA in favor of italic printing. Is that true in other countries as well or just a USA phenomenon?

 

Wondering about that led me to wonder what other alphabets can be written as connected script. Kanji can't. Western European alphabets can. What about Greek? Cyrilic? Others?

[VladDracule]

I recall sometime ago a poll being up on here and it seemed like the majority of FP users prefer cursive script

[Octo]

Thank you. I am more interested in cultures and alphabets or symbols, though.

[hari317]

Cursive script seems to be disappearing in the USA in favor of italic printing. Is that true in other countries as well or just a USA phenomenon?

 

Wondering about that led me to wonder what other alphabets can be written as connected script. Kanji can't. Western European alphabets can. What about Greek? Cyrilic? Others?

cryllic yes.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

As far as I'm aware, Hebrew has block and script, but the script isn't connected, or at least the one we're usually taught isn't.

 

Dillon

[Mesu]

Telugu, main language of Andhra Pradesh, India used to be written in connected script.

 

My grandfather's letters and journals were written this way and are beautiful to look at.

[amk]

Arabic is par excellence a connected script! and very beautiful when it is well written - there is some marvellous Ottoman calligraphy on marbled paper, for instance. Calligraphy in Arabic and Persian (same letter system, different language) became very highly developed as an art form owing to the Islamic bar on representation of living beings in art; thus calligraphy has always been the main form of architectural decoration, whereas medieval cathedrals are full of carved leaves and little creatures, not to mention saints and martyrs.

 

You're slightly wrong about the kanji. Although kanji are not normally written connected in everyday handwriting, in one particular Japanese calligraphic style known as sosho, they are: there's a lovely pic on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Muso_Soseki_3.jpg.

 

Italic scripts may not generally be completely cursive but most have standard ligatures for particular groups of letters (ff, st, sc, and so on) that represent a kind of halfway house. For me, the ligatures are almost as much fun as swash capitals.

[MisterBoll]

What kind of symbols do you mean?

[jips123]

I use a combo of both cursive and blocks, whatever is convenient.

[Pterodactylus]

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/4584/gyoy.jpg

(TWSBI Mini - 1.5 CI ..... Noodler´s Navy)

[GabrielleDuVent]

Japanese has half-cursive and block, and I haven't really seen anyone write in half-cursive from anyone younger than my parents' generation.

 

Cursive has gone out of phase in the US, UK, and Japan. It's not really something you randomly pick up a book to learn most of the time - there are very few "cursive" exercise books in retailers - and so if you aren't taught by someone, it's unlikely you'd learn it naturally.

 

I personally use cursive, because it's much faster. But out of my peers, I am one of the three (out of 50+) who uses it. It appears you need to write a lot in order to be able to write in cursive without losing speed. I hear quite often "printing is faster and more legible", but the use of cursive seems directly correlated to just how much writing the person did as a young child. My year 8 English teacher, who is a published author, uses cursive the most.

[ashbridg]

I think most alphabets have a version of cursive. Greek and Latin have print and script forms. The Rosetta Stone has cursive translations of hieroglyphics.

[SharkOnWheels456]

When I was a kid (which wasn't a very long time ago, mind you), they were still teaching cursive, but they stopped enforcing its use as soon as we had finished with the writing unit. Most kids are left to choose, so they tend to gravitate back towards print.

My print is horrible now. It's not that the letters are poorly formed, but the spacing is disgusting and I write very slowly. Oh well

[akustyk]

In Poland, cursive is still taught in Polish and Russian (for those who still take it). However, unlike the Palmer-style cursive, the Polish cursive model is really bad, in my opinion. The model looks very stilted, unnatural, and, frankly, like a second-grader's writing. Most students depart from the model significantly and develop their own style, though, most of the time, it is cursive-like.

 

Nobody teaches the mechanics of cursive writing, there are no drills, no penmanship exercises. That used to be the case, but ceased when ballpoint pens became prevalent in the 1970s. Of course, these days, there are many private schools that might have their own curricula that include penmanship. There's been a lot of talk in the Polish media lately about the importance of penmanship, so perhaps things will change. Who knows?

[lsmith42]

I'll admit that while my printing isn't intended to be connected, when I am writing quickly I just can't be bothered to lift the pen from the page. Thus, my writing ends up connected. At least I can still read it!

[Randal6393]

Cursive script seems to be disappearing in the USA in favor of italic printing. Is that true in other countries as well or just a USA phenomenon?

 

Wondering about that led me to wonder what other alphabets can be written as connected script. Kanji can't. Western European alphabets can. What about Greek? Cyrilic? Others?

 

For a bit of history on this, take a look at M. Drogin's Medieval Calligraphy. He discusses cursive, daily writing versus formal writing throughout the centuries.

 

Enjoy,

[Ernst Bitterman]

My brief exposure to written Korean revealed a cursive form-- I could stumble through signs on buses, but handwritten material was a closed book to me (so to speak).

[WaskiSquirrel]

I know Chinese has a cursive script. I have a book on how to write it.

 

For me, it is currently enough struggle just to learn the language and the printed characters. I'm leaving the cursive for a future adventure after I feel like I have sufficient command of the language and the writing system. Looking back, I suppose this is how it went with my English-language cursive as well!

[rumbleroar]

I'm an American, and I've always written in cursive. I'm in the minority with that one, though. There's one or two other kids in my class of 140 who regularly write in cursive (script), but everyone knows how to write in script. For the most part.

There's this part on the SATs where you have to write out a sentence in script, and people freak out, it's pretty hilarious. And sad.

[Octo]

I had no idea that so many cursive forms exist in so many cultures!

 

FPN has so many helpful people. Thanks to those posting here.

 

I wonder what it means that cursive seems to be disappearing globally.