Stenographic script

[Misolrela]

Travis Mckenzie
From: Travis Mckenzie <teachertra...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 17:32:21 +1000
Subject: Stenographic script

I thought I'd start a discussion dedicated to Gajewski's stenographic
script.
Obviously, I am interested due to my plan to use the symbolic form of
solresol in my novel. I am interested in the way it is written, and the
limitations of its structure, but I hope others will be interested too for
its own sake, as it is a very interesting form of written language.
My first question is pretty simple: what are the rules?
Is the only information here: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/solresol.htm
And if so, is that enough to extrapolate everything from?
Essentially, I really want to know how to combine the 4 syllable words. Do
you shorten the glyphs to keep everything on one line, or do you let the
symbols go down the page a little?
Example:

falamisol.png (37.28KiB)Viewed 12038 times

That is the word for fisherman, and there are 3 different ways I can see to
write it. I like version 1 the best, but is there anything I'm missing?
Can I assume that there are 2 "lines" essentially that the letters must go
into -- kind of like lower and upper case lines for english?
Also, I was wondering, one of the rules say that any double syllable is
struck through. What then is the difference between rere and solsol? Both
would look like a simple cross, or do you make the strike through mark much
smaller?
And is there any way to add accents to the script as in the
original Falâmisol? Or do I just put the accents mark above the
first crescent? that seems messy.
Okay, thats enough to start with.
Travis.

[Misolrela]

Dan Parson
From: Dan Parson <mu...@danielparson.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 14:47:12 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

The page that you link to appears to summarize the part of the English
translation of Sudre's "Grammar of Solresol" found here:
http://mozai.com/writing/not_mine/solresol/#ecrit
According to the grammar, the signs must be connected, with spaces
only between words. There's no rule stated on how to connect them, but
to me, words appear to build rightward and downward (meaning you
connect the bottom or right end of the first sign to the top or left
end of the second sign). Therefore, in my opinion, the leftmost (and
middle) version in your image is correct. However, limiting words to
two lines wouldn't work with this method, since multiple "la"s would
push a word beyond two lines.
As far as the striking through for a double syllable, again this is my
opinion, but the examples given appear to make the strikethrough
smaller than the strokes used for the actual syllables in the word.
The actual size of the strokes is varied between the examples, but I
think a smaller stroke for double syllable is a safe bet.
There doesn't appear to be any defined handling of accents, so perhaps
that's where we come in. Maybe a circle, square, triangle, or half-
shape in the middle of a stroke could be candidates for accents.
In any case, I suppose the "correct" answers depend on whether we want
to stay true to the creator's words, agree on one interpretation of
ambiguous parts, or outright change some aspects of the language.

[Misolrela]

Garrison
From: Garrison <garost...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 15:36:27 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

I think everything that's been said basically covers all the rules we know
of (and I think that's all we really need, with the exception of accents).
Also, it seems that there are often multiple ways of writing words. Take the
example of Sisol, which our examples show with the primary direction going
down (Si on top, Sol on bottom), but if I were to write the word, my
instinct would be to go primarily from left to right, as it's written in the
middle of "misisoldo". The point being that I think both of these are valid
ways to write the same word.
I uploaded an image that is the most Solresol text I've ever seen in one
place, mostly written with the stenographic script... Unfortunately whoever
wrote it doesn't seem to be using the definitions of either Sudre or
Gajewski... I've been working a bit on translating it, and it's not working
out too well. Evidence from where I got it suggests it should be a
translation of Ithaca by Kavafis.
As far as accents - I would just write them above, beside, or below the
syllable, and try to make it clear which syllable it's referring to.
Otherwise, I think the language can often be fairly clear without accents.
(as it would be with colors, numbers, hand signals... i.e. many of the ways
it's meant to be expressed).

[Misolrela]

McFrenzy
From: McFrenzy <teachertra...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 16:33:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

Thanks.
That makes things much clearer. I agree that we should forget about
accents, as it messes up what is otherwise a clean script. That last
page of translation is great, as it gives lots of examples and shows
how solresol looks on mass. I can envisage a scroll of spells now!
Travis.

[Misolrela]

M O
From: M O <obr...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 21:10:15 -0400
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

OMG! Gar, where’d you find this text? I’m loving just looking at the color
“text”! This rocks!

[Misolrela]

Garrison
From: Garrison <garost...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 18:19:13 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

Haha! I like it too
I found it a long time ago, and it was on the website of whoever made it,
but it seems to have disappeared there. I can only find it in other people's
references to it.
If anyone can make sense of it, that'd be cool It might not be possible
though.

[Misolrela]

Travis Mckenzie
From: Travis Mckenzie <teachertra...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 20:24:19 +1000
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

Okay, so I had a little go trying to stylise the script... what do you guys
think?

[Misolrela]

Travis Mckenzie
From: Travis Mckenzie <teachertra...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 20:32:48 +1000
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

Also, just a thought, but the one symbol that really sucks is Do. The circle
is impossible to connect neatly with anything as it ends where it starts.
What does everyone think about a small spiral instead?

[Misolrela]

Garrison Osteen
From: Garrison Osteen <garost...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 11:25:01 -0600
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

Wow, that looks amazing! I love it.
I like 'Do' well enough, I think you're allowed to connect the other lines
pretty much anywhere you want to on it (Dodore could just as easily have
're' coming out of the bottom). But what do you mean by a small spiral? If
it was recognizable as 'Do' and didn't look like other symbols were
connecting to it, I think it would probably be fine.

[Misolrela]

Garrison Osteen
From: Garrison Osteen <garost...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 11:27:44 -0600
Subject: Re: Stenographic script

Also, just a comment, but I think the last "Famimifa" would look more
natural with the strike-through going either vertically or at an angle.