Of painting speech and speaking to the eyes,
That we, by tracing magic lines, are taught
How both to color and embody thought?
When
did shorthand originate? The name implies that it was created
after longhand, for if longhand were sufficient the need for shorthand
would be obviated. Indeed, shorthand is defined as "1. method
of rapid writing in abbreviations and symbols, esp. for taking dictation
2. abbreviated mode of expression." So at some point the idea
was born that the long process of writing needed to be shortened.
Why? One reason, of course, was the desire to capture language
as it is spoken; for indeed, speech is very different from written composition.
An oral performance possesses spontaneity, as it is more susceptible
to human inflection, error, and perhaps a shared inspiration between
the orator and listener; whereas, writing requires more time and deliberation,
both in the act of composition and in the marking of the page.
Therefore, someone saw a need to capture the spoken word, to perhaps
preserve the magic of the performance. It was necessary, then,
to create a technology of elision.
But couldn't it be
said that longhand actually arose out of shorthand? Cave paintings,
cuneiform, and hieroglyphics are a form of shorthand; aren't they?
A cave painting is surely an abstraction, an "abbreviated mode of expression,"
of an oral performance. These earliest forms of writing are not
verbatim transcriptions of oral performance but abstracts and thus shortened
versions of them. So perhaps at one point it was decided that
these short abstractions of orality should be fleshed out, lengthened,
to represent the act of speech more realistically. Longhand, then,
out of a desire for realism, would have arisen from shorthand.
This space is dedicated
to the concept, history, and technology of shorthand in all its forms:
stenography, tachygraphy, brachygraphy, speed-writing, phonography,
stenotypy, computer voice and speech recognition, and beyond.
It explores the link between two traditions, oral and written.
The image is the hieroglyph for "scribe" and "writing." The definition of "shorthand" was taken from the Oxford Desk Dictionary. The verse is taken from N. P. Heffley's Biography of the Father of Stenography, Marcus Tullius Tiro.
