Quikscript/shavian

[jiraltan]

I'm just curious does anybody here use Quikscript or the Shavian alphabet?

 

I've always been interested in different writing systems and have learned, both out of necessity and curiosity, a number of scripts.

 

The one alternative writing system I've learned for English is called Quikscript, or the "Read Alphabet" and is descended from yet another alternative writing system called Shavian. Both of them were devised by the same person, Kingsley Read, after the British playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote in his will that he would award 500 pounds to someone who won a competition to create a better alphabet for the English language.

 

The alphabet that won was called Shavian and was designed to express the English language more precisely than the Roman alphabet, particularly since English has many more vowels than Latin, has consonants like "th" that don't exist in Latin, and has very irregular spelling. The shapes of the letters are very simple. One play was printed in Shavian and that's pretty much it.

 

Later, the winning contestant, Kingsley Read, revised the Shavian alphabet and called it Quikscript. This version is much more cursive and oriented towards handwriting, and borrows a few features from shorthand, like half letters and one letter abbreviations for common words.

 

Quikscript is much easier to learn than say, Gregg or Pitman shorthand. It takes about a month or so to read and write Quikscript comfortably, and once you do you can write in your journal and never have to worry about someone else reading it. It's quite fast to write so you can get some of the benefits of shorthand without the huge learning curve. One of the cool features of Quikscript is that unlike longhand cursive, where you can join letters only at the bottom, Quikscript is designed so that different letters can connect to each other at the top, middle, bottom, left, or right depending on the character. Most characters can connect in at least two places.

 

There's a very sparse manual written by Kingsley Read, which is not nearly detailed enough, and there's a site with some more how tos.

 

The Omniglot page page has images of what Quikscript looks like, as well as descriptions and images of many other writing systems.

 

Anybody else ever learned Shavian or Quikscript?

Edited March 25, 2011 by jiraltan

[texaspenman]

Fascinating concept... to think that these letter's are used to create english words is pretty cool. I might have to learn more about this!

[jiraltan]

I've used it for a few months now, and can attest that it is actually a quite viable replacement for normal English letters. I use it in my notebook, where I can write things like "Remember the Director's name is Mr. Lee: Grey hair, has a Rolex, and a bit of a paunch," right as the aforesaid person is sitting across from me at the table, and can write passwords out and put them up on my cube wall.

 

Quikscript has a few hurdles to learn because the letters are so simple and can look very similar, but in a few weeks it's about as easy as writing in ordinary Roman letters. Plus, unlike the shorthand systems I've tried to learn, which I've also liked for their cursive appearance and ability to give you privacy, Quikscript is unambiguously readable even weeks later, and is actually much more accurate than Roman letters.

 

I'll try to scan some handwriting when I get the chance.

[USMCMom]

I've used it for a few months now, and can attest that it is actually a quite viable replacement for normal English letters. I use it in my notebook, where I can write things like "Remember the Director's name is Mr. Lee: Grey hair, has a Rolex, and a bit of a paunch," right as the aforesaid person is sitting across from me at the table, and can write passwords out and put them up on my cube wall.

 

Quikscript has a few hurdles to learn because the letters are so simple and can look very similar, but in a few weeks it's about as easy as writing in ordinary Roman letters. Plus, unlike the shorthand systems I've tried to learn, which I've also liked for their cursive appearance and ability to give you privacy, Quikscript is unambiguously readable even weeks later, and is actually much more accurate than Roman letters.

 

I'll try to scan some handwriting when I get the chance.

 

Please do ... I would very much like to see that. This reminds me of shorthand class, way back in high school, which I loathed!! LOL

[bigstick]

I will explore. I never did manage to learn Pittman shorthand, but I did learn Elvish script and both Tolkein and Norse runes, so I guess there is some hope. I am puzzled that the script discriminates sounds that are the same in modern Canadian English, but apparently were once different in the elder isles.

[bbs]

Interesting - the concept seems very like the T-line shorthand method, which is also quick to learn and has been used by journalists for at least 30 years. Not as fast as Pitman shorthand, but 100wpm is easily achieved.

[jiraltan]

USMCMom I actually like shorthand, I just hate learning it and trying to retain it.

 

I actually tried to learn Teeline Shorthand once, and realized that unless I read it back again within a day or two, I would have a hard time trying to understand what I'd written. Quikscript isn't a shorthand and writes every sound so it's still readable months later. Also, unlike shorthand, it can be typed.

 

Kingsley Read was British so Quikscript discriminates sounds that British people are apparently able to distinguish but I, and most North Americans, cannot. One of its peculiarities is that it's precise enough to spell things differently depending on what accent you have.

 

Quikscript comes in "Junior" and "Senior" versions, with different levels of difficulty. Junior Quikscript does not connect the letters and doesn't use half-letters or abbreviations. Senior Quikscript uses both. Since my handwriting isn't that pretty, I've attached typed samples of the script (from the first page of Pride and Prejudice) in Junior and Senior versions.

[kushbaby]

This is really cool!!!! I'm going to try this!

[DuckFiasco]

I also find Shavian and Quikscript intriguing, but I love writing systems of all kinds!

 

Just a quick note about shorthand, I'm a Gregg shorthand enthusiast, and contrary to popular belief, shorthand is perfectly legible weeks and even decades later. I can read Gregg notes that were published over a century ago. Now, if your proportions or penmanship are wanting, later legibility might be a concern Likewise if you fall out of practice.

 

I imagine there are lots of other folks on here with an interest in writing systems, too! Omniglot is one of my favorite sites because of all the info it has on natural and invented scripts, just in case anyone is getting their feet wet in the wonderful world of writing systems

Edited March 27, 2011 by DuckFiasco

[jiraltan]

These are handwritten images of the first sentence of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.

[USMCMom]

Fascinating ... just fascinating!!!!

[Gartherio]

Quickscript really is a very beautiful alphabet. I've taken to using it in nearly all my written work and introduced a few friends to it. I like it so much I even run a blog written nearly exclusively in Shavian and Quickscript. (http://shavian.wordpress.com/) if anyone is curious.

[Chevalier]

I always wondered why the letter thorn (or the letter that looks like a y with a mark between the fork) aren't used in modern english.

[GhostShip Blue]

@ Chevalier: For what would thorn be used (no, I did not do any research on the topic before I asked - I already have two tabs open to Quickscript links) but I am interested.

 

This whole Quickscript thing is news to me - fascinating news. Not sure how likely I am to use it (or, more accurately, dedicate myself to learning to use it)

[jiraltan]

For "th" apparently. The sound the Greeks use theta (θ) for. It's common in English but uncommon in other languages.

 

English really has two "th" sounds so Quikscript has two letters, one for "that" and one for "think."

Edited July 26, 2011 by jiraltan

[GhostShip Blue]

Thanks for the info.

 

I'm a little unclear on the letter-form Chevalier is describing though - according to the wiki (which is an imperfect beast) which is supported by the letter-forms found in both True Type and Postscript fonts (where the character is present) thorn looks like Þ or þ

 

Þ

Not what I was looking for.

 

hmm... anyway to include HTML code blocks so I can use the html codes to increase the portability of those characters. I doubt they'll turn up correctly on all browsers and OS's

[USMCMom]

I don't how to begin learning and I'm also wondering if it's really possible to teach an old dog new tricks. LOL

[Gartherio]

The Quickscript manual is also hosted on the blog, it has everything and more you'll want to know about QS.

[GhostShip Blue]

I don't how to begin learning and I'm also wondering if it's really possible to teach an old dog new tricks. LOL

 

Languages are terribly difficult for me - but where I've had luck is simply digging in and doing it. As a former Devil Dog in his mid 40's who has learned a few new tricks over the years, it is possible - you just have to beat him a bit more frequently and fervently.

 

And therein lies the rub - no-one left to beat this old dog into compliance so the long hard work of learning a new way (and arguably a better way) to write in English is unlikely to get done.

 

Journalling with the character map at hand seems a likely way to start. It's not a new language so much as a new alphabet which SHOULD make it somewhat easier. The notion of moving from spelling rules to phonetic spelling is the hard thing for me to wrap my head around.

[altair]

This is fascinating. I can immediately see a bit of the internal design. Voiced and unvoiced consonants have similar shapes but the unvoiced consonant has an ascender and the voiced a descender. In Pitman they have an identical stroke (straight for plosives, curved for fricatives) but the voiced consonant is written with a thick line. It seems to have the same basic set of sounds as Pitman too. I'm sure there is an underlying structure to the vowels as well but it hasn't jumped out at me yet.

 

This ought to make Quickscript easier to learn. The symbols should start to fall naturally to hand because the brain grasps the underlying patterns, even if we're not conscious of them. At least that's been my experience with Pitman.

Edited July 29, 2011 by altair