Taylor shorthand
The system of geometric shorthand published in Britain by Samuel Taylor in 1786, under the title An essay intended to establish a standard for an universal system of Stenography, or Short-hand writing, was the first shorthand system to be used across the English-speaking world. Taylor shorthand uses an alphabet of 19 letters of simplified shape. His book was translated and published in France by Théodore-Pierre Bertin in 1792 under the title Système universel et complet de Stenographie ou Manière abrégée d'écrire applicable à tous les idiomes.
Principles
Vowels are omitted except at the beginning and end of a word, where all vowels and diphthongs are written as a single dot. A single letter stands for both f and v, one for s and z, and another for g and j, as well as additional letters for ch, sh, th. The consonants are joined together, as in cursive Latin script, apart from a couple of suffixes; when two of the same consonant come together, they are written with a single letter of larger size.Taylor shorthand is written partially phonetically, so that, for example, an English word containing ph is written with the letter for f, and c is written as k or s. However, silent e is written with a dot, so that rear is, but rare is. H tends to be omitted medially and even initially, a vowel dot written instead, presumably reflecting Taylor's pronunciation.
In addition to sounds, each letter stands for several common short words. There is a special letter for suffixes pronounced like -ious and the abbreviation viz..
The shapes of the letters are as follows. Because they are not supported by computer fonts, Canadian syllabics have been substituted where these have approximately the same shape ; where a symbol is not available, a description is given. L and r are written upwards; all other vertical and diagonal letters are written downwards.
| Sound | Shape of letter | Abbreviation for |
| vowel | · | |
| b | \ with a loop at top, in the direction of a ϱ, like a ᑭ tipped back The loop switches to the left side after a vertical letter | be, been, by |
| d | / | do, did |
| f, v | \ | of, off, if |
| g, j | ᑐ | go, give, God, judge |
| h | / with a loop at top, in the direction of a ρ, like a ᑭ tipped forward | have, he |
| k | ᑎ | know, no |
| l | / with a loop at bottom, in the direction of a 6, like a ᑲ tipped forward Written upwards; the loop switches to the left side after an n | all, lord |
| m | ᓂ The loop switches to the top, ᓇ, after an upward or straight horizontal stroke | me, my, many |
| n | ᑌ | in, on, an, and, many |
| p | ᑭ The loop faces the other way, ᑫ, after a stroke to the lower left | piece, peace, person |
| r | r when not joining another consonant; otherwise as d but upwards* | or, are, our, her, air |
| s, z | — | is, as, has, his, us |
| t | that, time | |
| w | ᕠ It flips upside-down, ᕞ, after an upward or straight horizontal stroke | with, which, who |
| x | ᓚ | example, except |
| y | / with a hook at bottom left, like a ᓚ tipped upwards | you, year |
| ch | ᑕ | such, chance, church |
| sh | ᓕ | shall, she |
| th | ᒋ | the, they |
| -ious | ᓗ | conscious, judicious |
| &c. | o | so forth, the world |
| viz. | ᒥ | namely, as follows |
Various suffixes are plural -s, -ly, -ing, -tion, -tions, -ble, -ment, -ject, -ward, -ship.