Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator, is a form of
shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
previously common in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. Created c. 1817 by
Franz Xaver Gabelsberger
Franz Xaver Gabelsberger (9 February 1789, Munich - 4 January 1849, Munich) was a German stenographer; the inventor of Gabelsberger shorthand.
Biography
His father was a wind instrument manufacturer, originally from Mainburg, who died whil ...
, it was first fully described in the 1834 textbook ''Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichenkunst oder Stenographie'' and became rapidly used.
Gabelsberger shorthand has a full alphabet with signs for both consonants and vowels. The
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
signs were made by simplifying the features of
cursive
Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
letters. The vowel signs are used mainly when a vowel stands at the beginning or the end of a word. Vowels in the middle of words are represented symbolically, mainly by varying the position and the impact of the following consonant signs. Contrary to the practice in many English shorthand systems (e.g.
Pitman Shorthand
Pitman shorthand is a system of shorthand for the English language developed by Englishman Sir Isaac Pitman (1813–1897), who first presented it in 1837. Like most systems of shorthand, it is a phonetic system; the symbols do not represent lette ...
), vowels are never entirely omitted.
Most German shorthand systems published after 1834 are ultimately based on Gabelsberger's system. Modern German shorthand,
Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift
(, German Unified Shorthand) is a German stenography system.
DEK is the official shorthand system in Germany and Austria today.
It is used for word-for-word recordings of debates in the Federal Parliament of Germany.
Development
The original ...
, retains most of the consonant signs of Gabelsberger's alphabet but has a modified system of vowel representation.
Gabelsberger shorthand was adopted into many languages and was particularly successful in Scandinavia, the Slavic countries, and Italy. A host of shorthand systems has since appeared that build on the graphic principles laid down by Gabelsberger.
External links
*
''Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichenkunst oder Stenographie''at
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
.
Shorthand systems
{{Austria-hist-stub