Learning
These documents contain a wealth of information about Quikscript. They are intended as self-teaching guides and may be used to learn essentially all there is to know about the alphabet—besides using it on computers, which is covered on the other pages of this site.
On this page:
Reference guides
Quikscript: its Alphabet and Manual by Ronald Kingsley Read, 1966
The “Quikscript Manual” is the authoritative source of information on this alphabet. It begins with a review on the topic of spelling reform, and provides the rationale for the decisions behind Quikscript's design. It contains all the information needed for a newcomer to learn the alphabet, explaining in detail how to write the letters and defining conventions on spelling and abbreviation. Comprehensive visual examples are provided, along with several pages of text in both the basic “Junior” and advanced “Senior” forms of Quikscript for reading practice.
Second Shaw Alphabet by Cole Turnley, 1977
In Cole’s Funny Picture Book № 2 (Surprise Edition), pp. 172-197
Cole’s Funny Picture Book is a classic Australian children’s book, which was first published in the 19th century by the eccentric bookseller, E.W. Cole. In the 1970s, editor Cole Turnley added an extensive section on Quikscript in a new, “Surprise” edition of the second volume. The article is based on the Quikscript Manual, to the extent that it includes all of the most important information, but presented in a different way so as to be more accessible to a younger audience.
It contains some innovations on Turnley’s part, including: the new name Second Shaw, new letter names, a half-letter ·, deletion of · and the borrowing of Shavian letter ·𐑑 as an abbreviation for “that”. The piece is printed with side-by-side columns of Quikscript and Conventional text, providing reading material in a different style of handwriting from the Manual.
Cheat sheets
These “cheat sheets” neatly fill an A4 page with key information for quick reference. They should be useful for Quikscript users both beginning and experienced!
- Basic alphabet chart: the same as the one on the Introduction page.
- Customisable alphabet chart: choose your own Quikscript font, letter names, sound keys and more.
- Alphabet chart with usage examples: showing just some of the many traditional spelling patterns found in English. Note that the listed examples are not exhaustive1!
- Guide to the use of , , and : while we try to spell Quikscript by sound alone, sometimes we need conventional spellings as a clue. This may help to demystify these three frequently-asked-about letters2.
Remembering the vowels
Quikscript’s · and · are easy enough to remember, since they resemble the Latin letters i and o respectively. For the others, some mnemonics may help you.
· looks like a mountain peak—especially if you write it symmetrically—and is used in the word peak, .
The remaining vowels can be confusing, as many are reflected or rotated. Imagine writing those similarly-shaped letters in circles: reading clockwise, starting from the top left, you can think of these phrases:
| |
upon access |
|---|---|
| |
cowboy highway |
| |
spoonful |
| | ; cardboard; father in law |
Handwritten reading practice
Writing circle letter from Kingsley Read, dated 18th December 1969
This letter consists of four pages of Senior Quikscript, handwritten by Kingsley Read, so the style matches that of the Quikscript Manual. In it, he mainly discusses the Welsh orthography and the board game Go, amongst replies to group members on other topics; there is some spelling advice given.
I found it archived on the Quikscript Yahoo! Group, with images that were heavily affected by JPEG compression. I cleaned it up as much as possible before making it available here.
Footnotes
- Several cases have been omitted where a pronunciation applies only to certain dialects, or the spelling-sound correspondence is very rare or unique.
Furthermore, many of the listed consonant spellings have further variations ending in e; as in finesse, femme, have, cigarette, etc. Likewise, there are additional vowel spellings containing e; as in rate, yoke, site, etc. Most such cases have been omitted for brevity. I do not expect this will cause much confusion; after all, one of the first things we are told when learning to read is that e is often ‘silent’ or ‘bossy’ (i.e. affects the pronunciation of a nearby vowel letter).
As always, if the commonly accepted pronunciation is known, choosing a Quikscript spelling should be straightforward. Keep a dictionary handy and become acquainted with the IPA (or whatever sound-spelling scheme your dictionary uses; it is usually defined on one of the first pages of the book).
- There are a few exceptions and complications, but the sound-spelling correspondences shown are generally reliable.
A particular complication: modern British and Australian speakers tend to prefer for words like salt, false and Australia, even though is still suggested by many dictionaries. Conversely, many younger people use instead of the traditional in God, gone, etc. For the sake of consistency and easy communication, I have used the more conservative spellings in my e-books.
Additionally, you may be familiar with the trap-bath split, where speakers use rather than in words like bath and pass. There is a similar situation with words like cloth, cross and cough, which may be spoken with either or . In either case, you should use whichever spelling you are most comfortable with—but don’t be alarmed if you encounter one of these alternatives “in the wild”.