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| Eclectic Shorthand | |
|---|---|
| Script type | Stenography - heavy line, positionalalphabet |
| Creator | J. G. Cross |
Period | 1878 |
| Languages | English |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
Eclectic shorthand (sometimes called "Cross shorthand" or "Eclectic-Cross shorthand" after its founder, J. G. Cross) is anEnglishshorthand system of the 19th century. Although it has fallen into disuse, it is nonetheless noteworthy as one of the most compact (and complex) systems ofwriting ever devised.[citation needed]
While most later responses toPitman shorthand aimed for greater simplicity and an elimination of such characteristics as shading and positional writing (cfGregg shorthand), Cross took his system in the opposite direction. Noting that English spelling is able to express all its manyvowel sounds using only five vowel symbols, Cross adopted a five-position system for expressing vowels in his system (Pitman uses three). From there he went on to apply the five positions toconsonant symbols as well, and to eliminate perpendicular strokes to make the writing more cursive. Curiously for a symbol system, the writing is based on English spelling rather thanphonetics — there are symbols forq andc, for instance, and awh symbol which is different fromw (orh).
Many tricks are employed to make writing more compact: shading a vowel at the beginning of the stroke denotes that it is preceded by anr; shading the whole stroke denotes adiphthong, while shading the end of the stroke denotes a followingr. Anl can be indicated by making the outline of the preceding letter smaller, and a followingw by deepening the curve of the preceding stroke.
All in all, the system contains far more rules than any other widespread system of English shorthand, and the resulting notes are incredibly concise. However, the amount of practice required to make use of all these techniques without hesitation while taking dictation was undoubtedly quite burdensome. In addition, the heavy use of shading, common in nineteenth century systems whenink pens were the normal instrument of writing and the notion of thin and thick strokes was familiar to those accustomed to thecopperplate script of the time, became difficult and counterintuitive in the 20th century. In sum, the system's complexity and the great investment of time that would have been needed to master it were most likely the causes for its downfall.
An interesting experiment used by Cross was to usepaper with slightly curved lines for note-taking, on the assertion that as thehand could move more naturally in an arc across the page than in a straight line; this would improve speed.