{"history":[],"article":{"id":"31eb36b3-68e2-4958-9106-32c0fb0935bc","title":"Dutton Speedwords","slug":"dutton-speedwords","content":":::summary\n**Name:** Dutton Speedwords \n**Type:** shorthand \n**Shform:** printed \n**Typedesc:** and auxiliary language \n**Creator:** [Reginald J. G. Dutton](https://bliptext.com/articles/reginald-j-g-dutton) \n**Date:** 1922 \n**Published:** 1935, 1946, 1951, 1971 \n**Fam 1:** [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-script) \n**Note:** none \n:::\n\n# \n**Dutton Speedwords**, transcribed in Speedwords as **Dutton Motez**, is an [international auxiliary language](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-auxiliary-language) as well as an abbreviated writing system using the English alphabet for all the languages of the world.\nIt was devised by [Reginald J. G. Dutton](https://bliptext.com/articles/reginald-j-g-dutton) (1886–1970) who initially ran a shorthand college promoting Dutton Shorthand (a geometric script), then offered a mail order (correspondence) self-education course in Speedwords while still supporting the Dutton Shorthand.\nThe business was continued by his daughter Elizabeth after his death.\n\n# Requirements for communication\nAny transcription, note taking or correspondence system must fulfill six requirements (Oliver, 2019, Micro-intellectual capital: A case study of Dutton Speedwords):\nIdeally, these requirements should not be wholly biased toward English but consider European, Asian and Middle East languages.\nThe system of Speedwords created over 50 years by Dutton addresses all these requirements.\nOther systems have copied the solutions devised by Dutton without greatly improving his approach.\nOne major advantage of Dutton's Speedwords is that it is readily available to everyone.\nIts current competitors either require pre-payment for materials before revealing the full details of their system, or, have system that is a subset of the words necessary for a complete system.\n\n# Objectives of Speedwords\nOver time, three objectives were claimed by Dutton for Speedwords:\nInitially, Dutton proposed Speedwords as an [International Auxiliary Language](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-auxiliary-language) (often abbreviated IAL) to encourage people to communicate internationally.\nDutton wanted to provide a system that a sender could use which did not require them to learn the (foreign) language used by the recipient before establishing communication.\nSpeedwords achieves this by relying on a deliberately small vocabulary.\nFor international communication, the writer and reader are different, so, it is important that communication is unambiguous.\nThen Dutton promoted Speedwords for [high-speed writing](https://bliptext.com/articles/shorthand).\nThis used ideas and experience based on Dutton Shorthand.\nDutton developed this [stenographic](https://bliptext.com/articles/stenographic) method between 1919 and 1926.\nThis approach also assumed that the writer and reader were different.\nUp to this time, Speedwords avoided synonyms.\nSynonyms are variants of the same English word and treated them as equivalent.\nThere are two possibilities:\nLater, realising that some writing required literal transcription, Dutton expanded the vocabulary to allow words which are synonyms that were required to precisely distinguish shades of meaning.\nDutton offered two methods to distinguish these synonyms which were required for literal transcription.\nThe first was to use an initial capital letter.\nThe capital letter indicates the Speedword is being used to denote a specific word not the range of words covered by a Speedword.\nThese were officially recognised by being listed in the Speedwords Dictionary.\nThe second method was to [underline](https://bliptext.com/articles/underline) the Speedword.\nDutton does not detail how this would work so it is assumed that this was left to the discretion of the Speedwords user.\nFinally, Dutton promoted Speedwords for individual (personal) note writing and note reading.\nThis approach assumed that the writer and reader were mostly the same person.\nDutton encouraged this group of users to adopt some personal conventions to adapt it to their personal needs (e.g., underlining).\nThe widely available \"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\" ISBN 978-0340055649 (original 1951 edition and revised 1971 edition, but paragraph 4 in both editions) was focused on the note-taking and note-making objective although Dutton still claimed it could also be used to fulfill the other objectives.\nSee below for how these objectives were used to construct Speedwords.\n\n# Usage\nThere are three possible uses: writing, speaking including dictation, and, note taking.\n\n## Writing\nThis was the original use intended by Dutton.\nSpeedwords would allow peoples with different national languages to communicate using Speedwords as the medium.\nThis would be accomplished because it had a compact vocabulary and rigid meanings to avoid ambiguity.\nAll versions of Speedwords were customised for writing and minimising the number of letters that had to be written.\n\n## Speaking including dictation\nCriticisms in 1935-6 of the predecessor of Speedwords (called International 2 Letter Script which had many combinations of consonants) were focused on the difficulty in pronouncing strings of consonants.\nSpeedwords overcame this deficiency.\n\n## Note taking\n\"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\" adapted Speedwords to note taking.\nIt modified the standard Speedwords from written correspondence without any time pressure to allow taking notes at high speed.\n\n# Competitors to Speedwords\nThere are three competitors to Speedwords.\nThey are (1) shorthand as simplified letterforms, (2) shorthand as picture symbols, and (3) shorthand using non-stenographic systems (that is, alphabetic characters).\nSimplified letterforms are also called stenographic [shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/shorthand) systems.\nOne type of letterform geometric is based on circles, parts of circles, and straight lines placed strictly horizontally, vertically or diagonally.\nThe most popular example is [Pitman shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/pitman-shorthand) released 1837, and many lesser-known systems such as [Boyd's syllabic shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/boyd-s-syllabic-shorthand) originally published 1903, as well as predecessor systems such as [Duployan Shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/duployan-shorthand).\nThese use symbols which do not represent letters, but rather sounds so the words are written more or less as they are spoken.\nContrasted with geometric are script shorthands that are oriented around the movement of the hand when writing.\nThe original is [Gabelsberger shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/gabelsberger-shorthand) which began in Germany and spread through Europe.\nScript-geometric, or semi-script, shorthands are a hybrid of geometric systems and the script systems.\nThe notable example is [Gregg shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/gregg-shorthand) first published in 1888.\nOther examples include [Superwrite](https://bliptext.com/articles/superwrite), [Easyscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/easyscript), [Keyscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/keyscript), [Speedwriting](https://bliptext.com/articles/speedwriting), Quickscript, [Breviogrph](https://bliptext.com/articles/breviogrph), [Stenoscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/stenoscript) ABC, and [Teeline](https://bliptext.com/articles/teeline).\nPicture symbols were proposed by Austrian [Charles K. Bliss](https://bliptext.com/articles/charles-k-bliss) (1897–1985) who created [Blissymbolics](https://bliptext.com/articles/blissymbolics) in 1949 as a universal written language for speakers of any language to learn and communicate.\nIt avoided the problems of constructed quasi-European language like [Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto), or, natural languages such as English.\n[Blissymbolics](https://bliptext.com/articles/blissymbolics) was conceived as a purely visual, speech-less language but provided a basic vocabulary that could be spoken.\nNon-stenographic systems or alphabetic systems may also supplement the alphabetic characters by using punctuation marks as additional characters, give different meanings when letters are capitalised, or add non-alphabetic symbols.\nThe most popular of these is [Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto).\nDutton contrasted Speedwords with its major rival [Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto) by claiming correctly that Speedwords had a smaller vocabulary and did not require the extensive study that was required to converse or write [Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto).\nAnother rapid writing system with a similar name, [Speedwriting](https://bliptext.com/articles/speedwriting) (also called Brief English Systems), was invented by Emma Dearborn at Simmons College, Columbia University and published in 1925.\nHer method used letters of the alphabet and some punctuation marks to represent the sounds of English which could be reproduced on the typewriter.\nDearborn initially franchised teaching and then sold the rights which passed between various companies who made further changes and marketed it throughout the US and in various languages (e.g., Spanish).\nOther methods included [Personal Shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/personal-shorthand) also known as [Briefscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/briefscript), and [Keyscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/keyscript).\n[Forkner Shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/forkner-shorthand) was promoted as an alternative to [Pitman shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/pitman-shorthand) from 1955–1995 but is no longer taught.\nThe benchmark for pronunciation is the [International Phonetic Alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-phonetic-alphabet) (IPA) produced by the [International Phonetic Association](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-phonetic-association).\nIt is easily printable by hand or keyboard although its conventions are often not used to depict pronunciation in dictionaries and other reference materials.\nThe major reason that Dutton Speedwords continues to receive attention is its strict alphabetical constraint that allows it to be used on a keyboard, and the breadth of practical application which Dutton embodied in his system.\n\n# Design of Speedwords\nThe design of Speedwords has four features:\n\n# Principles of Speedwords\nIn all publications, Dutton describes various principles of Speedwords but there is no consolidated list of principles.\nThey can be summarised as:\nWhile this approach is sound, it has both advantages and a few disadvantages discussed below.\nSpeedwords was meant to be written and spoken, so Dutton provided some guidelines on pronunciation which is included below.\n\n# Advantages\nIn Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords, Dutton claims at least eight benefits from Speedwords:\n\n# Disadvantages\nThe disadvantages appear to be:\nNone of these disadvantages prevent its successful use for personal note taking.\n\n# Achievements of Dutton\nDutton Speedwords continues to be used to despite its orphan status because of his useful qualities:\n\n# Evolution of speedwords\nIt appears that Speedwords developed in five main stages:\n\n# Foreign-language versions of Speedwords\nIn Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords (page 88), Dutton says that \"It is intended to publish this Speedwords course in all the major languages of both hemispheres.\"\nThis did not occur.\nIt is unclear whether the impediment was (a) problems that equivalents (including the use of suffixes) were not suitable in foreign languages, (b) authors of the foreign-language versions of Speedwords were not forthcoming, (c) lack of a publisher, or (d) anomalies and difficulties became apparent when Speedwords was translated, making the English- and foreign-language version no longer uniform.\n\n# Sources describing Dutton Speedwords\nThere are three main sources of information about Speedwords: (1) Speedwords booklets/pamphlets issued by Dutton, (2) the [Teach Yourself](https://bliptext.com/articles/teach-yourself) Dutton Speedwords book in the [Teach Yourself](https://bliptext.com/articles/teach-yourself) series and (3) third party publications, commentaries and webpages (see the references).\n\n## Dutton booklets/pamphlets\nAll the Dutton Speedwords booklets published between 1933 and 1951 are out of print.\nVery few libraries show holdings of copies.\nHelpful booklets used in preparing this page were the Speedwords dictionary.\nIt consists of 4,000 basic and with derivatives 10,000 English-Speedword and Speedword-English words.\n\n## \"Teach Yourself Speedwords\" (1951, 1962, 1971, 1973)\nA more accessible version focused on note taking and note making called Dutton Speedwords was published in 1951 in the Teach Yourself series published by English Universities Press as a hardcover.\nIt was reprinted in 1959 and 1962 (with the distinctive yellow dustjacket for both years).\nA revised edition was published in 1971.\nIt was reissued in 1973 as a paperback.\nThe only revisions made in 1971 were in Part 1 of the high-speed vocabulary appendix (pages 137–147).\nPart 2 of the High-Speed appendix which is aimed solely at English speakers was unchanged between the original 1951 and revised 1971 editions.\nCopies of the 1951 and 1971 editions are relatively easy to find second hand.\nThe 1951 edition and its 1962 reprint are printed on higher quality paper than the updated 1971/1973 edition which has yellowed pages that easily tear.\nBoth 1951 and 1971 editions have misprints.\nThis is an incomplete list:\n\n## Third party publications, commentaries, and webpages\nThe references below list some third-party publications and commentaries that are still available.\n(However, as noted below in the section on teaching/learning many prompoters of Dutton Speedwords have an incomplete understanding of its use.)\nMany authoritative webpages produced in the late 1990's and early 2000's are no longer available as the domain URL is defunct.\nThese missing webpages included:\n\n# Timeline of Speedwords & Publication dates\nDutton was assiduous in developing Speedwords and its predecessor Dutton shorthand.\nAfter developing Dutton shorthand, Dutton continued to improve it.\nBut then realising the shortcomings of using shorthand, Dutton develops Dutton Shorthand.\nDutton Shorthand was also revised many times.\nDutton never gave up refining Speedwords, advocating its merits, and offering it for sale and as a correspondence course.\nBelow is a selection of publications that Dutton produced over his lifetime.\n\n## Dutton shorthand publications\nThese publications continued to be available in the 1960s and 1970s.\n\n## Transition from Shorthand to Speedwords\nThis publication is described by Dutton in an article to the Royal Society.\nIt uses one letter of the English alphabet which was assigned to a class of meaning, apparently directly inspired by Roget's Thesaurus.\nThere was no pronunciation system and criticisms of this omission resulted in Speedwords.\n\n## Speedwords publications\n\n# Size of Speedwords vocabulary\nDutton variously suggests the size of the Speedwords vocabulary ranges from 493 to 10,000:\n\n## Method of teaching/learning\nSpeedwords was taught as a correspondence course by both Dutton and his daughter in the pre and post World War 2 period.\nTheir course was supported by an extensive array of booklets that he had developed.\nMany of the booklets are listed in the timeline section.\nThe option of enrolling in a course offered directly by Dutton's organisation or third parties is no longer available.\nSeveral system such as [Forkner shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/forkner-shorthand) emphasised replacing some longhand writing with shortcuts as soon as they begin studying the system.\nMany systems also claimed it was possible to achieve dictation rates above 50 words per minute.\nThese all have learning times of a year or more.\nLearning Dutton Speedwords takes around a week to a fortnight.\nIn TYDS (page 9) Dutton cites data from his records which show that learning the takes between 20 and 24 hours with 30 hours being the maximum.\nTo improve retention, Dutton agrees that individual Speedwords can be substituted one or two at a time.\nHowever, Dutton emphasises that the entire Speedwords system can be learnt quickly and therefore it is not necessary to learn it piecemeal.\nOccasionally, a webpage author or blogger will provide a selective summary of Speedwords (typically, the one and two-letter Speedwords) together with some illustrations or highlights of the method.\nThey are not recommended because they either mis-state Dutton or are incomplete.\nThe chief characteristic of Dutton Speedwords is its detail and the extensive guidelines Dutton provides in his booklets.\n\n## Resources for learning\nA few lucky people may be able to read some of the Speedwords booklets Dutton published between 1940–1951.\nThe booklets promote the other booklets which were available but do not explain their interrelationship.\nSo this is a brief description on how to use them.\nEssentially there are four interrelated booklets.\nAll four are required.\nThey are: (1) The \"textbook\".\n(2) The \"companion\".\nIt provides additional exercises and the answers to exercises in the textbook.\n(3) The \"supplement\".\nIt provides further exercises with answers to enhance learning through additional practice (4) The bi-lingual vocabulary.\nThis is an alphabetic list of Speedwords (between 3,00 and 10,000 depending upon the edition) with their English equivalent, as well as an English-to-Speedwords lookup list.\nThe vocabulary contains an introductory commentary by Dutton which is valuable for understanding and using the dictionary.\nDepending upon when they were published, they may be called \"Dutton Speedwords, \"Dutton Double Speedwords\", \"Duttom Youth Speedwords\" or \"Dutton World Speeedwords\". They were published at different times with different titles and contain minor differences. There is usually more than one edition of each. Later editions (1946 or preferably 1951) are the most complete and up-to-date. They usually contain an explanation of any changes made in the latest edition.\nThe most common authoritative source is \"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\".\nIt is focused on note taking (page 2, paragraph 4).\nIt contains eight lessons, an appendix and a dictionary with about 1,00 speedwords.\n\n# International versus English/domestic use of Speedwords\nOne important factor that can affect learning is whether communication is between speakers of Indo-European languages.\nLearning Speedwords is affected by background.\nIt is oriented to the English language in its vocabulary and sentence construction.\nDutton claims (TYDS, page 90) that memorisation will be slower for non-Indo-European language speakers, they will be able to extend their vocabulary as easily once the vocabulary is mastered.\nThis means the learner must always be conscious of whether Dutton is describing Speedwords to be used in international communication or the English only use.\nThe English-only use makes concessions that are counterproductive to international communication.\nThose concessions can be summarised as:\nConsequently, the learner of Speedwords needs to be aware that some of the extensions they make and use, may inhibit rather than facilitate international communication.\n\n# Lexicon\nThe principle behind the choice of word roots of Dutton Speedwords is the maxim that frequently used words should be shorter than seldom-used words in order to speed up communication (see [information theory](https://bliptext.com/articles/information-theory)).\nThere are 493 one-, two- and three-letter roots.\nThe 46 most frequent English words are equated with 27 one-letter Speedword roots also called parent words in the Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords book:\nSome two- and three-letter words are\n(Note that all but the first of these examples are taken from [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-language) roots —sapio, amo, bellus, lingua, ludus—as are \"room\" and \"sleep\" below—camera and dormio—while \"good\" and the root for \"air\" below come from [German](https://bliptext.com/articles/german-language): gut, luft.)\nThe few hundred roots are combined through the use of affixes to expand vocabulary.\nFor example: the affix -a indicates an unfavorable connotation to the root-word; thus, bixy = kill, bixya = murder.\nSome compounds appear fanciful, or at least not immediately transparent, such as ky + luf (eat + air) to mean \"picnic\".\nGrammatical features include the use of single letters (as opposed to verb conjugations) to indicate tense; the letter r indicates future tense and y indicates past.\nThus, j sa = I know, j ysa = I knew, j r sa = I will know.\nNouns and verbs have the same form (as do many English words: the light, I light, etc.) as do adverbs and adjectives (bel = \"beautiful\" and \"beautifully\").\nCompounds follow a headnoun-modifier sequence, as in ca + dor (room + sleep) = bedroom.\n\n# Phonology and orthography\nDutton orthography is irregular.\nIt is combined with phonology below.\n\n## Stress\nStress is on the first syllable (first vowel), except that the opposite suffix -o is always stressed, and the verbal prefixes u- (present participle) and y- (past tense) are never stressed.\n\n## Vowels\nVowels are rather similar to Latin.\nWhen a vowel occurs at the end of a morpheme or before another vowel, it is long, otherwise, it is usually short (though some suffixes shorten a preceding morpheme-final vowel).\nVowel length for the most part not phonemic, but are determined by position.\nHowever, there is morphophonemic contrast in a few cases where a root word contrasts with a suffixed word, with suffixes that do not shorten the vowel.\nFor example,\nOnly au and y are diphthongs.\nOther sequences of vowels are pronounced in separate syllables, e.g. eis \"ice\" is.\nVowel sequences in roots are ei, eu, oi, oe, ui, ue, ia, io, iu.\nThe sequences ie, uo are found in written contractions, but may not be pronounced that way since all written contractions should be pronounced in full.\n\"Y\" is a consonant in ye \"yes\" and in y \"was, were\" only.\n\n## Consonants\nConsonants are mostly as in the IPA; e.g., s is always voiceless, as in \"less\", g is always hard, as in \"get\", and r is trilled, as in Scots and Italian.\nExceptions:\nWords spelled as a single consonant are usually pronounced as that consonant plus a \"very short ee\" before a vowel, and as that consonant + schwa otherwise, clearly mirroring Dutton's pronunciation of the e in \"the.\"\nThe suffixes -r (agent) and -z (plural) are pronounced with a preceding schwa when they follow a consonant.\ndo not occur in final position.\nonly occurs in final position in an unwritten affix.\nA nasal occurs (in final position only) in two affixes, but is not written in either.\n(See below.) occurs initially in just two words, ye and y; finally it arguably ends the diphthong y.\nThe letter w does not occur in final position, but arguably ends the diphthong au.\nConsonant sequences in word-initial position are bl, br, pl, pr, dr, tr, gl, gr, kl, kr, fl, fr, sl, q [kw], sp, st.\nThe only consonant sequence in root-medial position is tt in otto \"eight\".\nConsonant sequences in word-final position are nd, nt, ng, lk, rb, rd, rt, rg, rk, rm, rn, st, sk, and x [ks].\nBut aq, though written with final consonant, is pronounced ).\n\n## Unwritten consonants and vowels\nSome morphemes spelled with a single consonant have an unwritten vowel, and one prefix spelled with a single vowel has an unwritten consonant:\nIn the versions of Speedwords prior to 1951, h \"have/has\" (perfect tense auxiliary) is, as if it were written hi; however, in the 1951 Dutton Speedwords Dictionary, we find that pre-1951 hid \"hide\" has become hi.\nIt is very unlikely Dutton would have kept h and hi as homophones; but we are not told how h is now to be pronounced.\nNote: h (and its past tense hy and present participle hu) is used only as an auxiliary verb; \"have/has\" in the sense of \"have/has got\" is ha\nSome suffixes have an unwritten vowel that only occurs after certain consonants.\nThey are detailed below.\n\n## Affixes\nAs noted above, the prefixes past-tense y- and u- do not take stress, and u- is pronounced with an unwritten engma.\nMe- and my- also remain unstressed when forming comparatives and superlatives, e.g. mebel \"more beautiful\", mybel \"most beautiful\".\nSuffixed vowels are long and take an epenthetic (English y) when following a vowel.\nFor example, gree \"awfully, extremely\" (< are + e) is pronounced, mua \"too (much)\" (< mua + a) is and dau \"allow, grant\" (< da + u) is\nThe suffixes -n and -st are derived from the speedwords un \"negative\" and its \"professional\" and are always pronounced in full and take an epenthetic when following a vowel, e.g. gan \"scarcely\" (< ga + n) is and rist \"clerk\" (< ri + st) is.\nThe words co \"collect, collection\" and za \"dear, endearment, intimate\" may also be used as suffixes; if appended to a word ending in a vowel, they do not shorten that vowel, e.g. lec \"correspondence, mail\" is and perza \"dad(dy), papa\" is\nSuffixes pronounced as a single consonant after a vowel generally shorten that vowel.\nThe exceptions are -d, -z, -r, which leave the vowel long.\n(As noted above, -z and -r take an epenthetic schwa after any consonant.) Many consonants are pronounced with an unwritten vowel after certain consonants:\nIn addition, three suffixes have completely different forms after consonants and vowels:\nf ~ -y are obviously abstracted from fy \"cause, make, reason, render\"; the pairs -v ~ -i and -x ~ -o appear to be arbitrary creations.\nAlso in the pre-1951 version of Speedwords, Dutton gave the apostrophe as a possessive suffix pronounced, e.g. l mant'kap \"the boy's head\".\nBut in the 1951 Dictionary Dutton list a new root word zy \"disease\".\nIt is inconceivable that Dutton would have retained the apostrophe homophonous with zy \"disease.\"\nThe apostrophe is retained in \"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\" (1951, 1971) but there is no indication how this is to be pronounced.\n\n## Irregularities to avoid homophones\nThe only examples specifically given by Dutton are:\nFollowing 2 above, we may reasonably assume that if adding -b, -c, -g, -k, -l, -m, -n, -p, -s or -t, then the full word from which these are derived would have been written and pronounced with an epenthetic, thus *noib \"noticeable\" to avoid confusion with nob \"celebrated, honour, note, repute\".\nFollowing 1 above, we may reasonably assume that this would always be the case if by adding -x a homophone would have been created.\nWe may also assume that the same would apply to the -v ~ -i pair, i.e. if by adding -v we had a homophone, we must add -i instead; the same well have applied to the -f ~ y pair, i.e. if by adding -f we had a homophone, we must add -y instead; but as these suffixes derive from the word fy, it may be that Dutton, following 1 above, would have added -fy.\n\n## Compound words\nWhen two roots form a compound, the unwritten affix is placed after the first root.\nWhen three roots form a compound, the unwritten affix is placed after the first root.\nEither affix takes an epenthetic after a consonant.\nExamples:\n\n# Morphology and syntax\nRoot words may function as adjectives, nouns, verb or adverbs.\nIn \"Dutton Speedwords Dictionary\" (1951, London, Dutton Publications) we read:\n\"The English language, like most other natural languages, is inconsistent in having separate words for the adjective 'hot' and the noun 'heat' whereas the same word 'cold' can function as either a noun or an adjective according to its context. What applies to 'cold' can logically apply also to 'hot'; consequently the Speedword he denotes either 'heat' or 'hot', according to circumstance. ...\n\"Just as there is no distinction in English between the noun 'cold' and the adjective 'cold', so there is none between the adjective 'fast' and the adverb 'fast' (there being no English word 'fastly' corresponding to 'slowly'). What applies to the adjective 'fast' can logically apply also to other qualifiers, and consequently, there is no necessity to differentiate between, say, 'beautiful' and 'beautifully'. This means that, in international correspondence, the Speedword bel can convey not only 'beauty' and 'beautiful' ... but 'beautifully' as well ...\n\"Verbs and nouns are similarly interchangeable, for in the same way that each of the English words 'work', 'answer' and '**p**raise' can function either as a verb or noun according to its environment, so can any other word have a dual role. In English the noun form of the verb 'fail' is 'failure', and of '**p**ay' '**p**ayment'; but in everyday ex**p**ressions such as 'without fail' and 'in his **p**ay' the unnecessary distinction has been eliminated ... the S**p**eedword [[sic](https://bliptext.com/articles/sic)? or s**p**eeedwords] **p**olicy is to cut the Gordian knot and make **p**a mean either '**p**ay' or '**p**ayment', **p**re either '**p**re**p**are' or '**p**re**p**aration', kok 'cook' or 'cookery', men 'remember' to 'memory', and so on throughout.\"\nThere are, however, grammatical affixes pertinent to particular parts of speech.\n\n## Verb affixes\nThe present tense is unmarked, e.g. j spe \"I speak\".\nThe past is marked by the unstressed prefix y-, e.g. j yspe \"I spoke\".\nTwo verbs are irregular:\nThe unmarked form also serves as the infinitive, e.g.sh am spe \"she loves to speak\"\nThere are two participles:\nOnly one irregular verb: the present participle of the auxiliary h is hu\nNote: Dutton is quite clear that the prefix u forms a **participle**, i.e. a verbal adjective, e.g. u uspe tem 'a speaking clock', l ura on \"the working man.\"\nIndeed, he devotes five paragraphs to hammer this point home.\nDutton devotes six paragraphs to hammer home the difference between the English gerund (verbal noun) and the present participle.\nHe is adamant that forms prefixed with u- may be used only as a present participle.\nIn Speedwords the gerund must be expressed by the same form as the infinitive, i.e. the unmarked verb, e.g. g amt spe \"they like speaking\", gi ko & go \"their coming and going\"\nFurthermore\n\n## Noun affixes\nThe plural, where necessary, is shown by the suffix -z, e.g. femz \"women\".\nDutton is emphatic that if it is clear from context that the noun must be plural, the ending -z is not used, e.g. ud fem \"many women\"; cz on\nIn the pre-1951 version of Speedwords, the possessive of nouns is, and written with an apostrophe, e.g. l fem' ryg \"the woman's house\"; but in 1951, Dutton introduced a new root word zy meaning \"disease\".\nIt is very unlikely that Dutton would have retained the apostrophe with the same sound.\nBut we do not know what he subsequently did.\n\n## Adjective/ Adverb affixes\n\n## Word Formative Suffixes\nIn \"Dutton World Speedwords\" we are given on page 64, §328, the 'indefinite preposition' iv.\nBut it is clear from Dutton's entry that the affixes -i and -v are **not** derived from this preposition but rather that the preposition is a backformation from the affixes.\nDutton says [words in italics were written as italicized speedwords in the original]: \"The prepositions 'at', 'on', 'by', 'under', etc. are sometimes used to convey a somewhat loose idea of association without any definite idea of position, as in 'at the most', 'by the way', 'on business', 'under difficulties', etc. When, therefore, any preposition is not literally applicable, the Speedword 'iv' is used. This Speedword consists of the two association suffixes 'i-' and '-v' and hence appropriately conveys the idea of association without definite sense of place.\"\n\n## Interfixes (not written)\nFor examples see **Compound words** in the 'Phonology and orthography' section above.\n\n# Potential improvements to Speedwords\nThere are three potential improvements to Speedwords which would overcoming ambiguities, remove omissions or deficiencies, and overcome confusion.\nThese were discussed.\nA major ambiguity is terminological.\nDutton uses three terms interchangeably in TYDS.\nThey are 'parent word' (page 9, 88), 'radical' (page 88) 'word-root' (page 51, 52), and 'word family' (page 89).\nHe sometimes uses them identically, to mean the stem, that is an indivisible element TYS page 88). At other times he means the indivisible element plus prefix or suffix or the compounds of indivisible elements (TYDS, page 158). By doing so he lacks the ability to distinguish between them. It would be much simpler to reserve the three terms for the indivisible element and then use the term \"extension\" for the addition of prefix or suffix. \"Compound\" would retain its existing usage. Even more confusingly he adds another term 'word familities' (TYDS, page 89). It is not clear whether this refers to the indivisible element plus all its prefixes and suffixes. Dutton also refers to \"keywords\" meaning the basic or essential stem words to which prefixes and suffixes are added. So, this means there is ambiguity for the learner on what is the basic vocabulary of Speedwords. Some further research is underway to see if this can be clarified.\nThere is an obvious omission and deficiency.\nThese could have easily been rectified by Dutton using his personal knowledge and included in an expanded TYDS edition.\nThe major omission is a description of his rationale behind formulating the Speedwords he has chosen.\nIn his opening chapter of all editions of Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords titled \"Dutton Speedwords Analysed\" (TYDS, pages 7–9) he describes some of the principles he used.\nFor example, using Horn's analysis of frequently used words to determine how much to abbreviate or truncate his Speedword vocabulary, and, drawing on words common to several European languages.\nBut this does not equate to a systematic account of how new technical words and expressions could be added to the Speedword vocabulary.\nNor does it show that the existing Speedwords were wisely chosen.\nThe major deficiencies arise from overcoming confusion caused by apparent inconsistencies in understanding what is meant by particular Speedwords given the variety of Speedword formation methods available.\nThere are four possible areas of confusion.\nFirst, deciphering the meaning of a Speedword can produce several possible candidate meanings.\nThere are 20 suffixes (TYDS, page 90).\nThe practice of incorporating a Speedword suffix into the Speedword meakes it difficult to decide whether a Speedword is either a Speedword stem (that is, an indivisible element) or a Speedword and a suffix.\nFor example, the Speedword 'de' is day, 'deb' is debt but 'debe' is yesterday.\nThe suffix 'e' is an augmentive (TYDS, page 37) signalling a comparative increase.\nSo, an untutored interpretation would suggest that 'debe' is a large debt.\nDutton's answer to this objection is that they need to be learnt.\nSecond, contractions of frequently used Speedwords actually multiply the vocabulary by creating new Speedwords.\nFor example, 'debe' yesterday is shortened to 'db', and 'jecen' percent is shortened to 'jc'.\nAgain, Dutton's answer to this objection is that they need to be learnt.\nThird, there are some puzzling inconsistencies.\nFor example, 'La' is great, 'Mla' is greater.\n'M' is also used as an abbreviation for 'Mr'.\nIt is unclear whether this is a misprint with the L in lower case and what the 'm' signifies.\nFinally, Dutton encourages joining Speedwords together as compounds except where they are equivalent to an existing Speedword.\nThis creates new Speedwords which become unrecognisable because they are not in the dictionary, Again, Dutton's answer to this objection is that they need to be learnt.\nThe disadvantage is it increases the vocabulary reducing the benefit from keeping the vocabulary small.\nIn summary, these shortcomings are resolvable.\nAmbiguity could be resolved by obtaining a copy of the Speedwords publication which lists the 493 elementary Speedwords but this is unobtainable.\nIt may also contain the rationale for formulating Speedwords.\nThe deficiencies should be addressed differently.\nInstead of immediately changing some Speedwords, the system of affixes (prefix, suffix) need to be re-examined.\nThe number of prefixes should be reduced.\nSome overlap (e.g., augmentation, and favourable, TYDS, pages 37–38, 34 respectively).\nThe complement suffix denote an incorrect pair or is out of sequence TYDS, pages 50–51) for example, 'ze' means send but 'zes' is bring. The diminutive suffix does not convey magnitude (TYDS, page 51), for example, 'do' for live, while 'dot' is visit).\nThe use of a prefix conceals the Speedword because the first letter cannot be immediately recognised.\nThese proposals would make Speedwords more easily recognisable because the elementary stem would be reliably recognisable.\nApparently in the 1980s and 1990s some attempts were made to amend Speedword shortcomings but they are no longer available for inspection and evaluation.\nImprovements depend upon reading Dutton publications from 1933 and 1951 which may disclose method and rationale.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T19:13:39.081Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T19:13:39.081Z","search_vector":"'dutton':1 'speedword':2","search_content":" \n**Name:** Dutton Speedwords \n**Type:** shorthand \n**Shform:** printed \n**Typedesc:** and auxiliary language \n**Creator:** [Reginald J. G. Dutton](https://bliptext.com/articles/reginald-j-g-dutton) \n**Date:** 1922 \n**Published:** 1935, 1946, 1951, 1971 \n**Fam 1:** [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-script) \n**Note:** none \n \n\n# \n**Dutton Speedwords**, transcribed in Speedwords as **Dutton Motez**, is an [international auxiliary language](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-auxiliary-language) as well as an abbreviated writing system using the English alphabet for all the languages of the world.\nIt was devised by [Reginald J. G. Dutton](https://bliptext.com/articles/reginald-j-g-dutton) (1886–1970) who initially ran a shorthand college promoting Dutton Shorthand (a geometric script), then offered a mail order (correspondence) self-education course in Speedwords while still supporting the Dutton Shorthand.\nThe business was continued by his daughter Elizabeth after his death.\n\n# Requirements for communication\nAny transcription, note taking or correspondence system must fulfill six requirements (Oliver, 2019, Micro-intellectual capital: A case study of Dutton Speedwords):\nIdeally, these requirements should not be wholly biased toward English but consider European, Asian and Middle East languages.\nThe system of Speedwords created over 50 years by Dutton addresses all these requirements.\nOther systems have copied the solutions devised by Dutton without greatly improving his approach.\nOne major advantage of Dutton's Speedwords is that it is readily available to everyone.\nIts current competitors either require pre-payment for materials before revealing the full details of their system, or, have system that is a subset of the words necessary for a complete system.\n\n# Objectives of Speedwords\nOver time, three objectives were claimed by Dutton for Speedwords:\nInitially, Dutton proposed Speedwords as an [International Auxiliary Language](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-auxiliary-language) (often abbreviated IAL) to encourage people to communicate internationally.\nDutton wanted to provide a system that a sender could use which did not require them to learn the (foreign) language used by the recipient before establishing communication.\nSpeedwords achieves this by relying on a deliberately small vocabulary.\nFor international communication, the writer and reader are different, so, it is important that communication is unambiguous.\nThen Dutton promoted Speedwords for [high-speed writing](https://bliptext.com/articles/shorthand).\nThis used ideas and experience based on Dutton Shorthand.\nDutton developed this [stenographic](https://bliptext.com/articles/stenographic) method between 1919 and 1926.\nThis approach also assumed that the writer and reader were different.\nUp to this time, Speedwords avoided synonyms.\nSynonyms are variants of the same English word and treated them as equivalent.\nThere are two possibilities:\nLater, realising that some writing required literal transcription, Dutton expanded the vocabulary to allow words which are synonyms that were required to precisely distinguish shades of meaning.\nDutton offered two methods to distinguish these synonyms which were required for literal transcription.\nThe first was to use an initial capital letter.\nThe capital letter indicates the Speedword is being used to denote a specific word not the range of words covered by a Speedword.\nThese were officially recognised by being listed in the Speedwords Dictionary.\nThe second method was to [underline](https://bliptext.com/articles/underline) the Speedword.\nDutton does not detail how this would work so it is assumed that this was left to the discretion of the Speedwords user.\nFinally, Dutton promoted Speedwords for individual (personal) note writing and note reading.\nThis approach assumed that the writer and reader were mostly the same person.\nDutton encouraged this group of users to adopt some personal conventions to adapt it to their personal needs (e.g., underlining).\nThe widely available \"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\" ISBN 978-0340055649 (original 1951 edition and revised 1971 edition, but paragraph 4 in both editions) was focused on the note-taking and note-making objective although Dutton still claimed it could also be used to fulfill the other objectives.\nSee below for how these objectives were used to construct Speedwords.\n\n# Usage\nThere are three possible uses: writing, speaking including dictation, and, note taking.\n\n## Writing\nThis was the original use intended by Dutton.\nSpeedwords would allow peoples with different national languages to communicate using Speedwords as the medium.\nThis would be accomplished because it had a compact vocabulary and rigid meanings to avoid ambiguity.\nAll versions of Speedwords were customised for writing and minimising the number of letters that had to be written.\n\n## Speaking including dictation\nCriticisms in 1935-6 of the predecessor of Speedwords (called International 2 Letter Script which had many combinations of consonants) were focused on the difficulty in pronouncing strings of consonants.\nSpeedwords overcame this deficiency.\n\n## Note taking\n\"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\" adapted Speedwords to note taking.\nIt modified the standard Speedwords from written correspondence without any time pressure to allow taking notes at high speed.\n\n# Competitors to Speedwords\nThere are three competitors to Speedwords.\nThey are (1) shorthand as simplified letterforms, (2) shorthand as picture symbols, and (3) shorthand using non-stenographic systems (that is, alphabetic characters).\nSimplified letterforms are also called stenographic [shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/shorthand) systems.\nOne type of letterform geometric is based on circles, parts of circles, and straight lines placed strictly horizontally, vertically or diagonally.\nThe most popular example is [Pitman shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/pitman-shorthand) released 1837, and many lesser-known systems such as [Boyd's syllabic shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/boyd-s-syllabic-shorthand) originally published 1903, as well as predecessor systems such as [Duployan Shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/duployan-shorthand).\nThese use symbols which do not represent letters, but rather sounds so the words are written more or less as they are spoken.\nContrasted with geometric are script shorthands that are oriented around the movement of the hand when writing.\nThe original is [Gabelsberger shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/gabelsberger-shorthand) which began in Germany and spread through Europe.\nScript-geometric, or semi-script, shorthands are a hybrid of geometric systems and the script systems.\nThe notable example is [Gregg shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/gregg-shorthand) first published in 1888.\nOther examples include [Superwrite](https://bliptext.com/articles/superwrite), [Easyscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/easyscript), [Keyscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/keyscript), [Speedwriting](https://bliptext.com/articles/speedwriting), Quickscript, [Breviogrph](https://bliptext.com/articles/breviogrph), [Stenoscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/stenoscript) ABC, and [Teeline](https://bliptext.com/articles/teeline).\nPicture symbols were proposed by Austrian [Charles K. Bliss](https://bliptext.com/articles/charles-k-bliss) (1897–1985) who created [Blissymbolics](https://bliptext.com/articles/blissymbolics) in 1949 as a universal written language for speakers of any language to learn and communicate.\nIt avoided the problems of constructed quasi-European language like [Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto), or, natural languages such as English.\n[Blissymbolics](https://bliptext.com/articles/blissymbolics) was conceived as a purely visual, speech-less language but provided a basic vocabulary that could be spoken.\nNon-stenographic systems or alphabetic systems may also supplement the alphabetic characters by using punctuation marks as additional characters, give different meanings when letters are capitalised, or add non-alphabetic symbols.\nThe most popular of these is [Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto).\nDutton contrasted Speedwords with its major rival [[Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto)](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto) by claiming correctly that Speedwords had a smaller vocabulary and did not require the extensive study that was required to converse or write [[Esperanto](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto)](https://bliptext.com/articles/esperanto).\nAnother rapid writing system with a similar name, [Speedwriting](https://bliptext.com/articles/speedwriting) (also called Brief English Systems), was invented by Emma Dearborn at Simmons College, Columbia University and published in 1925.\nHer method used letters of the alphabet and some punctuation marks to represent the sounds of English which could be reproduced on the typewriter.\nDearborn initially franchised teaching and then sold the rights which passed between various companies who made further changes and marketed it throughout the US and in various languages (e.g., Spanish).\nOther methods included [Personal Shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/personal-shorthand) also known as [Briefscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/briefscript), and [Keyscript](https://bliptext.com/articles/keyscript).\n[Forkner Shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/forkner-shorthand) was promoted as an alternative to [Pitman shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/pitman-shorthand) from 1955–1995 but is no longer taught.\nThe benchmark for pronunciation is the [International Phonetic Alphabet](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-phonetic-alphabet) (IPA) produced by the [International Phonetic Association](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-phonetic-association).\nIt is easily printable by hand or keyboard although its conventions are often not used to depict pronunciation in dictionaries and other reference materials.\nThe major reason that Dutton Speedwords continues to receive attention is its strict alphabetical constraint that allows it to be used on a keyboard, and the breadth of practical application which Dutton embodied in his system.\n\n# Design of Speedwords\nThe design of Speedwords has four features:\n\n# Principles of Speedwords\nIn all publications, Dutton describes various principles of Speedwords but there is no consolidated list of principles.\nThey can be summarised as:\nWhile this approach is sound, it has both advantages and a few disadvantages discussed below.\nSpeedwords was meant to be written and spoken, so Dutton provided some guidelines on pronunciation which is included below.\n\n# Advantages\nIn Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords, Dutton claims at least eight benefits from Speedwords:\n\n# Disadvantages\nThe disadvantages appear to be:\nNone of these disadvantages prevent its successful use for personal note taking.\n\n# Achievements of Dutton\nDutton Speedwords continues to be used to despite its orphan status because of his useful qualities:\n\n# Evolution of speedwords\nIt appears that Speedwords developed in five main stages:\n\n# Foreign-language versions of Speedwords\nIn Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords (page 88), Dutton says that \"It is intended to publish this Speedwords course in all the major languages of both hemispheres.\"\nThis did not occur.\nIt is unclear whether the impediment was (a) problems that equivalents (including the use of suffixes) were not suitable in foreign languages, (b) authors of the foreign-language versions of Speedwords were not forthcoming, (c) lack of a publisher, or (d) anomalies and difficulties became apparent when Speedwords was translated, making the English- and foreign-language version no longer uniform.\n\n# Sources describing Dutton Speedwords\nThere are three main sources of information about Speedwords: (1) Speedwords booklets/pamphlets issued by Dutton, (2) the [Teach Yourself](https://bliptext.com/articles/teach-yourself) Dutton Speedwords book in the [Teach Yourself](https://bliptext.com/articles/teach-yourself) series and (3) third party publications, commentaries and webpages (see the references).\n\n## Dutton booklets/pamphlets\nAll the Dutton Speedwords booklets published between 1933 and 1951 are out of print.\nVery few libraries show holdings of copies.\nHelpful booklets used in preparing this page were the Speedwords dictionary.\nIt consists of 4,000 basic and with derivatives 10,000 English-Speedword and Speedword-English words.\n\n## \"Teach Yourself Speedwords\" (1951, 1962, 1971, 1973)\nA more accessible version focused on note taking and note making called Dutton Speedwords was published in 1951 in the Teach Yourself series published by English Universities Press as a hardcover.\nIt was reprinted in 1959 and 1962 (with the distinctive yellow dustjacket for both years).\nA revised edition was published in 1971.\nIt was reissued in 1973 as a paperback.\nThe only revisions made in 1971 were in Part 1 of the high-speed vocabulary appendix (pages 137–147).\nPart 2 of the High-Speed appendix which is aimed solely at English speakers was unchanged between the original 1951 and revised 1971 editions.\nCopies of the 1951 and 1971 editions are relatively easy to find second hand.\nThe 1951 edition and its 1962 reprint are printed on higher quality paper than the updated 1971/1973 edition which has yellowed pages that easily tear.\nBoth 1951 and 1971 editions have misprints.\nThis is an incomplete list:\n\n## Third party publications, commentaries, and webpages\nThe references below list some third-party publications and commentaries that are still available.\n(However, as noted below in the section on teaching/learning many prompoters of Dutton Speedwords have an incomplete understanding of its use.)\nMany authoritative webpages produced in the late 1990's and early 2000's are no longer available as the domain URL is defunct.\nThese missing webpages included:\n\n# Timeline of Speedwords & Publication dates\nDutton was assiduous in developing Speedwords and its predecessor Dutton shorthand.\nAfter developing Dutton shorthand, Dutton continued to improve it.\nBut then realising the shortcomings of using shorthand, Dutton develops Dutton Shorthand.\nDutton Shorthand was also revised many times.\nDutton never gave up refining Speedwords, advocating its merits, and offering it for sale and as a correspondence course.\nBelow is a selection of publications that Dutton produced over his lifetime.\n\n## Dutton shorthand publications\nThese publications continued to be available in the 1960s and 1970s.\n\n## Transition from Shorthand to Speedwords\nThis publication is described by Dutton in an article to the Royal Society.\nIt uses one letter of the English alphabet which was assigned to a class of meaning, apparently directly inspired by Roget's Thesaurus.\nThere was no pronunciation system and criticisms of this omission resulted in Speedwords.\n\n## Speedwords publications\n\n# Size of Speedwords vocabulary\nDutton variously suggests the size of the Speedwords vocabulary ranges from 493 to 10,000:\n\n## Method of teaching/learning\nSpeedwords was taught as a correspondence course by both Dutton and his daughter in the pre and post World War 2 period.\nTheir course was supported by an extensive array of booklets that he had developed.\nMany of the booklets are listed in the timeline section.\nThe option of enrolling in a course offered directly by Dutton's organisation or third parties is no longer available.\nSeveral system such as [Forkner shorthand](https://bliptext.com/articles/forkner-shorthand) emphasised replacing some longhand writing with shortcuts as soon as they begin studying the system.\nMany systems also claimed it was possible to achieve dictation rates above 50 words per minute.\nThese all have learning times of a year or more.\nLearning Dutton Speedwords takes around a week to a fortnight.\nIn TYDS (page 9) Dutton cites data from his records which show that learning the takes between 20 and 24 hours with 30 hours being the maximum.\nTo improve retention, Dutton agrees that individual Speedwords can be substituted one or two at a time.\nHowever, Dutton emphasises that the entire Speedwords system can be learnt quickly and therefore it is not necessary to learn it piecemeal.\nOccasionally, a webpage author or blogger will provide a selective summary of Speedwords (typically, the one and two-letter Speedwords) together with some illustrations or highlights of the method.\nThey are not recommended because they either mis-state Dutton or are incomplete.\nThe chief characteristic of Dutton Speedwords is its detail and the extensive guidelines Dutton provides in his booklets.\n\n## Resources for learning\nA few lucky people may be able to read some of the Speedwords booklets Dutton published between 1940–1951.\nThe booklets promote the other booklets which were available but do not explain their interrelationship.\nSo this is a brief description on how to use them.\nEssentially there are four interrelated booklets.\nAll four are required.\nThey are: (1) The \"textbook\".\n(2) The \"companion\".\nIt provides additional exercises and the answers to exercises in the textbook.\n(3) The \"supplement\".\nIt provides further exercises with answers to enhance learning through additional practice (4) The bi-lingual vocabulary.\nThis is an alphabetic list of Speedwords (between 3,00 and 10,000 depending upon the edition) with their English equivalent, as well as an English-to-Speedwords lookup list.\nThe vocabulary contains an introductory commentary by Dutton which is valuable for understanding and using the dictionary.\nDepending upon when they were published, they may be called \"Dutton Speedwords, \"Dutton Double Speedwords\", \"Duttom Youth Speedwords\" or \"Dutton World Speeedwords\". They were published at different times with different titles and contain minor differences. There is usually more than one edition of each. Later editions (1946 or preferably 1951) are the most complete and up-to-date. They usually contain an explanation of any changes made in the latest edition.\nThe most common authoritative source is \"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\".\nIt is focused on note taking (page 2, paragraph 4).\nIt contains eight lessons, an appendix and a dictionary with about 1,00 speedwords.\n\n# International versus English/domestic use of Speedwords\nOne important factor that can affect learning is whether communication is between speakers of Indo-European languages.\nLearning Speedwords is affected by background.\nIt is oriented to the English language in its vocabulary and sentence construction.\nDutton claims (TYDS, page 90) that memorisation will be slower for non-Indo-European language speakers, they will be able to extend their vocabulary as easily once the vocabulary is mastered.\nThis means the learner must always be conscious of whether Dutton is describing Speedwords to be used in international communication or the English only use.\nThe English-only use makes concessions that are counterproductive to international communication.\nThose concessions can be summarised as:\nConsequently, the learner of Speedwords needs to be aware that some of the extensions they make and use, may inhibit rather than facilitate international communication.\n\n# Lexicon\nThe principle behind the choice of word roots of Dutton Speedwords is the maxim that frequently used words should be shorter than seldom-used words in order to speed up communication (see [information theory](https://bliptext.com/articles/information-theory)).\nThere are 493 one-, two- and three-letter roots.\nThe 46 most frequent English words are equated with 27 one-letter Speedword roots also called parent words in the Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords book:\nSome two- and three-letter words are\n(Note that all but the first of these examples are taken from [Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/latin-language) roots —sapio, amo, bellus, lingua, ludus—as are \"room\" and \"sleep\" below—camera and dormio—while \"good\" and the root for \"air\" below come from [German](https://bliptext.com/articles/german-language): gut, luft.)\nThe few hundred roots are combined through the use of affixes to expand vocabulary.\nFor example: the affix -a indicates an unfavorable connotation to the root-word; thus, bixy = kill, bixya = murder.\nSome compounds appear fanciful, or at least not immediately transparent, such as ky + luf (eat + air) to mean \"picnic\".\nGrammatical features include the use of single letters (as opposed to verb conjugations) to indicate tense; the letter r indicates future tense and y indicates past.\nThus, j sa = I know, j ysa = I knew, j r sa = I will know.\nNouns and verbs have the same form (as do many English words: the light, I light, etc.) as do adverbs and adjectives (bel = \"beautiful\" and \"beautifully\").\nCompounds follow a headnoun-modifier sequence, as in ca + dor (room + sleep) = bedroom.\n\n# Phonology and orthography\nDutton orthography is irregular.\nIt is combined with phonology below.\n\n## Stress\nStress is on the first syllable (first vowel), except that the opposite suffix -o is always stressed, and the verbal prefixes u- (present participle) and y- (past tense) are never stressed.\n\n## Vowels\nVowels are rather similar to Latin.\nWhen a vowel occurs at the end of a morpheme or before another vowel, it is long, otherwise, it is usually short (though some suffixes shorten a preceding morpheme-final vowel).\nVowel length for the most part not phonemic, but are determined by position.\nHowever, there is morphophonemic contrast in a few cases where a root word contrasts with a suffixed word, with suffixes that do not shorten the vowel.\nFor example,\nOnly au and y are diphthongs.\nOther sequences of vowels are pronounced in separate syllables, e.g. eis \"ice\" is.\nVowel sequences in roots are ei, eu, oi, oe, ui, ue, ia, io, iu.\nThe sequences ie, uo are found in written contractions, but may not be pronounced that way since all written contractions should be pronounced in full.\n\"Y\" is a consonant in ye \"yes\" and in y \"was, were\" only.\n\n## Consonants\nConsonants are mostly as in the IPA; e.g., s is always voiceless, as in \"less\", g is always hard, as in \"get\", and r is trilled, as in Scots and Italian.\nExceptions:\nWords spelled as a single consonant are usually pronounced as that consonant plus a \"very short ee\" before a vowel, and as that consonant + schwa otherwise, clearly mirroring Dutton's pronunciation of the e in \"the.\"\nThe suffixes -r (agent) and -z (plural) are pronounced with a preceding schwa when they follow a consonant.\ndo not occur in final position.\nonly occurs in final position in an unwritten affix.\nA nasal occurs (in final position only) in two affixes, but is not written in either.\n(See below.) occurs initially in just two words, ye and y; finally it arguably ends the diphthong y.\nThe letter w does not occur in final position, but arguably ends the diphthong au.\nConsonant sequences in word-initial position are bl, br, pl, pr, dr, tr, gl, gr, kl, kr, fl, fr, sl, q [kw], sp, st.\nThe only consonant sequence in root-medial position is tt in otto \"eight\".\nConsonant sequences in word-final position are nd, nt, ng, lk, rb, rd, rt, rg, rk, rm, rn, st, sk, and x [ks].\nBut aq, though written with final consonant, is pronounced ).\n\n## Unwritten consonants and vowels\nSome morphemes spelled with a single consonant have an unwritten vowel, and one prefix spelled with a single vowel has an unwritten consonant:\nIn the versions of Speedwords prior to 1951, h \"have/has\" (perfect tense auxiliary) is, as if it were written hi; however, in the 1951 Dutton Speedwords Dictionary, we find that pre-1951 hid \"hide\" has become hi.\nIt is very unlikely Dutton would have kept h and hi as homophones; but we are not told how h is now to be pronounced.\nNote: h (and its past tense hy and present participle hu) is used only as an auxiliary verb; \"have/has\" in the sense of \"have/has got\" is ha\nSome suffixes have an unwritten vowel that only occurs after certain consonants.\nThey are detailed below.\n\n## Affixes\nAs noted above, the prefixes past-tense y- and u- do not take stress, and u- is pronounced with an unwritten engma.\nMe- and my- also remain unstressed when forming comparatives and superlatives, e.g. mebel \"more beautiful\", mybel \"most beautiful\".\nSuffixed vowels are long and take an epenthetic (English y) when following a vowel.\nFor example, gree \"awfully, extremely\" (< are + e) is pronounced, mua \"too (much)\" (< mua + a) is and dau \"allow, grant\" (< da + u) is\nThe suffixes -n and -st are derived from the speedwords un \"negative\" and its \"professional\" and are always pronounced in full and take an epenthetic when following a vowel, e.g. gan \"scarcely\" (< ga + n) is and rist \"clerk\" (< ri + st) is.\nThe words co \"collect, collection\" and za \"dear, endearment, intimate\" may also be used as suffixes; if appended to a word ending in a vowel, they do not shorten that vowel, e.g. lec \"correspondence, mail\" is and perza \"dad(dy), papa\" is\nSuffixes pronounced as a single consonant after a vowel generally shorten that vowel.\nThe exceptions are -d, -z, -r, which leave the vowel long.\n(As noted above, -z and -r take an epenthetic schwa after any consonant.) Many consonants are pronounced with an unwritten vowel after certain consonants:\nIn addition, three suffixes have completely different forms after consonants and vowels:\nf ~ -y are obviously abstracted from fy \"cause, make, reason, render\"; the pairs -v ~ -i and -x ~ -o appear to be arbitrary creations.\nAlso in the pre-1951 version of Speedwords, Dutton gave the apostrophe as a possessive suffix pronounced, e.g. l mant'kap \"the boy's head\".\nBut in the 1951 Dictionary Dutton list a new root word zy \"disease\".\nIt is inconceivable that Dutton would have retained the apostrophe homophonous with zy \"disease.\"\nThe apostrophe is retained in \"Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords\" (1951, 1971) but there is no indication how this is to be pronounced.\n\n## Irregularities to avoid homophones\nThe only examples specifically given by Dutton are:\nFollowing 2 above, we may reasonably assume that if adding -b, -c, -g, -k, -l, -m, -n, -p, -s or -t, then the full word from which these are derived would have been written and pronounced with an epenthetic, thus *noib \"noticeable\" to avoid confusion with nob \"celebrated, honour, note, repute\".\nFollowing 1 above, we may reasonably assume that this would always be the case if by adding -x a homophone would have been created.\nWe may also assume that the same would apply to the -v ~ -i pair, i.e. if by adding -v we had a homophone, we must add -i instead; the same well have applied to the -f ~ y pair, i.e. if by adding -f we had a homophone, we must add -y instead; but as these suffixes derive from the word fy, it may be that Dutton, following 1 above, would have added -fy.\n\n## Compound words\nWhen two roots form a compound, the unwritten affix is placed after the first root.\nWhen three roots form a compound, the unwritten affix is placed after the first root.\nEither affix takes an epenthetic after a consonant.\nExamples:\n\n# Morphology and syntax\nRoot words may function as adjectives, nouns, verb or adverbs.\nIn \"Dutton Speedwords Dictionary\" (1951, London, Dutton Publications) we read:\n\"The English language, like most other natural languages, is inconsistent in having separate words for the adjective 'hot' and the noun 'heat' whereas the same word 'cold' can function as either a noun or an adjective according to its context. What applies to 'cold' can logically apply also to 'hot'; consequently the Speedword he denotes either 'heat' or 'hot', according to circumstance. ...\n\"Just as there is no distinction in English between the noun 'cold' and the adjective 'cold', so there is none between the adjective 'fast' and the adverb 'fast' (there being no English word 'fastly' corresponding to 'slowly'). What applies to the adjective 'fast' can logically apply also to other qualifiers, and consequently, there is no necessity to differentiate between, say, 'beautiful' and 'beautifully'. This means that, in international correspondence, the Speedword bel can convey not only 'beauty' and 'beautiful' ... but 'beautifully' as well ...\n\"Verbs and nouns are similarly interchangeable, for in the same way that each of the English words 'work', 'answer' and '**p**raise' can function either as a verb or noun according to its environment, so can any other word have a dual role. In English the noun form of the verb 'fail' is 'failure', and of '**p**ay' '**p**ayment'; but in everyday ex**p**ressions such as 'without fail' and 'in his **p**ay' the unnecessary distinction has been eliminated ... the S**p**eedword [[sic](https://bliptext.com/articles/sic)? or s**p**eeedwords] **p**olicy is to cut the Gordian knot and make **p**a mean either '**p**ay' or '**p**ayment', **p**re either '**p**re**p**are' or '**p**re**p**aration', kok 'cook' or 'cookery', men 'remember' to 'memory', and so on throughout.\"\nThere are, however, grammatical affixes pertinent to particular parts of speech.\n\n## Verb affixes\nThe present tense is unmarked, e.g. j spe \"I speak\".\nThe past is marked by the unstressed prefix y-, e.g. j yspe \"I spoke\".\nTwo verbs are irregular:\nThe unmarked form also serves as the infinitive, e.g.sh am spe \"she loves to speak\"\nThere are two participles:\nOnly one irregular verb: the present participle of the auxiliary h is hu\nNote: Dutton is quite clear that the prefix u forms a **participle**, i.e. a verbal adjective, e.g. u uspe tem 'a speaking clock', l ura on \"the working man.\"\nIndeed, he devotes five paragraphs to hammer this point home.\nDutton devotes six paragraphs to hammer home the difference between the English gerund (verbal noun) and the present participle.\nHe is adamant that forms prefixed with u- may be used only as a present participle.\nIn Speedwords the gerund must be expressed by the same form as the infinitive, i.e. the unmarked verb, e.g. g amt spe \"they like speaking\", gi ko & go \"their coming and going\"\nFurthermore\n\n## Noun affixes\nThe plural, where necessary, is shown by the suffix -z, e.g. femz \"women\".\nDutton is emphatic that if it is clear from context that the noun must be plural, the ending -z is not used, e.g. ud fem \"many women\"; cz on\nIn the pre-1951 version of Speedwords, the possessive of nouns is, and written with an apostrophe, e.g. l fem' ryg \"the woman's house\"; but in 1951, Dutton introduced a new root word zy meaning \"disease\".\nIt is very unlikely that Dutton would have retained the apostrophe with the same sound.\nBut we do not know what he subsequently did.\n\n## Adjective/ Adverb affixes\n\n## Word Formative Suffixes\nIn \"Dutton World Speedwords\" we are given on page 64, §328, the 'indefinite preposition' iv.\nBut it is clear from Dutton's entry that the affixes -i and -v are **not** derived from this preposition but rather that the preposition is a backformation from the affixes.\nDutton says [words in italics were written as italicized speedwords in the original]: \"The prepositions 'at', 'on', 'by', 'under', etc. are sometimes used to convey a somewhat loose idea of association without any definite idea of position, as in 'at the most', 'by the way', 'on business', 'under difficulties', etc. When, therefore, any preposition is not literally applicable, the Speedword 'iv' is used. This Speedword consists of the two association suffixes 'i-' and '-v' and hence appropriately conveys the idea of association without definite sense of place.\"\n\n## Interfixes (not written)\nFor examples see **Compound words** in the 'Phonology and orthography' section above.\n\n# Potential improvements to Speedwords\nThere are three potential improvements to Speedwords which would overcoming ambiguities, remove omissions or deficiencies, and overcome confusion.\nThese were discussed.\nA major ambiguity is terminological.\nDutton uses three terms interchangeably in TYDS.\nThey are 'parent word' (page 9, 88), 'radical' (page 88) 'word-root' (page 51, 52), and 'word family' (page 89).\nHe sometimes uses them identically, to mean the stem, that is an indivisible element TYS page 88). At other times he means the indivisible element plus prefix or suffix or the compounds of indivisible elements (TYDS, page 158). By doing so he lacks the ability to distinguish between them. It would be much simpler to reserve the three terms for the indivisible element and then use the term \"extension\" for the addition of prefix or suffix. \"Compound\" would retain its existing usage. Even more confusingly he adds another term 'word familities' (TYDS, page 89). It is not clear whether this refers to the indivisible element plus all its prefixes and suffixes. Dutton also refers to \"keywords\" meaning the basic or essential stem words to which prefixes and suffixes are added. So, this means there is ambiguity for the learner on what is the basic vocabulary of Speedwords. Some further research is underway to see if this can be clarified.\nThere is an obvious omission and deficiency.\nThese could have easily been rectified by Dutton using his personal knowledge and included in an expanded TYDS edition.\nThe major omission is a description of his rationale behind formulating the Speedwords he has chosen.\nIn his opening chapter of all editions of Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords titled \"Dutton Speedwords Analysed\" (TYDS, pages 7–9) he describes some of the principles he used.\nFor example, using Horn's analysis of frequently used words to determine how much to abbreviate or truncate his Speedword vocabulary, and, drawing on words common to several European languages.\nBut this does not equate to a systematic account of how new technical words and expressions could be added to the Speedword vocabulary.\nNor does it show that the existing Speedwords were wisely chosen.\nThe major deficiencies arise from overcoming confusion caused by apparent inconsistencies in understanding what is meant by particular Speedwords given the variety of Speedword formation methods available.\nThere are four possible areas of confusion.\nFirst, deciphering the meaning of a Speedword can produce several possible candidate meanings.\nThere are 20 suffixes (TYDS, page 90).\nThe practice of incorporating a Speedword suffix into the Speedword meakes it difficult to decide whether a Speedword is either a Speedword stem (that is, an indivisible element) or a Speedword and a suffix.\nFor example, the Speedword 'de' is day, 'deb' is debt but 'debe' is yesterday.\nThe suffix 'e' is an augmentive (TYDS, page 37) signalling a comparative increase.\nSo, an untutored interpretation would suggest that 'debe' is a large debt.\nDutton's answer to this objection is that they need to be learnt.\nSecond, contractions of frequently used Speedwords actually multiply the vocabulary by creating new Speedwords.\nFor example, 'debe' yesterday is shortened to 'db', and 'jecen' percent is shortened to 'jc'.\nAgain, Dutton's answer to this objection is that they need to be learnt.\nThird, there are some puzzling inconsistencies.\nFor example, 'La' is great, 'Mla' is greater.\n'M' is also used as an abbreviation for 'Mr'.\nIt is unclear whether this is a misprint with the L in lower case and what the 'm' signifies.\nFinally, Dutton encourages joining Speedwords together as compounds except where they are equivalent to an existing Speedword.\nThis creates new Speedwords which become unrecognisable because they are not in the dictionary, Again, Dutton's answer to this objection is that they need to be learnt.\nThe disadvantage is it increases the vocabulary reducing the benefit from keeping the vocabulary small.\nIn summary, these shortcomings are resolvable.\nAmbiguity could be resolved by obtaining a copy of the Speedwords publication which lists the 493 elementary Speedwords but this is unobtainable.\nIt may also contain the rationale for formulating Speedwords.\nThe deficiencies should be addressed differently.\nInstead of immediately changing some Speedwords, the system of affixes (prefix, suffix) need to be re-examined.\nThe number of prefixes should be reduced.\nSome overlap (e.g., augmentation, and favourable, TYDS, pages 37–38, 34 respectively).\nThe complement suffix denote an incorrect pair or is out of sequence TYDS, pages 50–51) for example, 'ze' means send but 'zes' is bring. The diminutive suffix does not convey magnitude (TYDS, page 51), for example, 'do' for live, while 'dot' is visit).\nThe use of a prefix conceals the Speedword because the first letter cannot be immediately recognised.\nThese proposals would make Speedwords more easily recognisable because the elementary stem would be reliably recognisable.\nApparently in the 1980s and 1990s some attempts were made to amend Speedword shortcomings but they are no longer available for inspection and evaluation.\nImprovements depend upon reading Dutton publications from 1933 and 1951 which may disclose method and rationale.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

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