F25f 1 A 1 1 1 5 7 i i 4 = ~^ u "*rench phonography. / 1 2 gSr b?r 1 1 nomas Allen Reed THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Q FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY: AN ADAPTATION OF ITMAN'S PHONETIC SHORTHAND TO THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. THOMAS ALLEN REED. LONDON : F. PITMAN, PHONETIC DEPOT, 20 PATERNOSTER ROW, B.C. BATH: k ISAAC PITMAN, PHONETIC INSTITUTE. hue Shilling. .uvn UA FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY: AN ADAPTATION OF PITMAN'S PHONETIC SHORTHAND TO THE TRENCH LANGUAGE. BY THOMAS ALLEN REED. LONDON: F. PITMAN, PHONETIC DEPOT, 20 PATERNOSTER ROW, B.C. BATH: ISAAC PITMAN, PHONETIC INSTITUTE. 1882 ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL. zL2 R£5 FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. In offering some suggestions for the adaptation of Phono- graphy to the representation of French, I wish it to be under- stood at the outset that I am not proposing a method for the use of Frenchmen, who have systems of their own from which to make a selection, but that my desire is simply to show English phonographers how, by some slight modification of the method they employ, they may write French, with reasonable exactitude, and with all the expedition required for the purposes of office dictation or ordinary reporting. I assume, of course, the possession of a fair knowledge of French on the part of the writer. Without this, any attempt to report a speech, or even to write from dictation, can only result in a miserable failure. For experimental purposes, indeed, foreign languages may be written in Phonography by persons altogether unacquainted with them, but this can only be done by very slow dictation, one or two words at a time, the writer (who must have a quick ear) being quite close to the speaker or reader, so that each sound may be separately and clearly distin- guished ; under circumstances, in short, which never present themselves in actual work. And even in such cases the writer, ignorant of the language he has taken down, though he may reproduce the sounds with his vocal organs, will of course be , unable to write them in the ordinary orthography ; so that he cannot turn his talent to account for professional purposes. If then, a phonographer desires to employ his shorthand in French work, he must, if not already a French scholar, set himself to acquire a good knowledge of the language. I do not mean the knowledge of a specialist, but the ability to read an ordinary French book with ease, and to understand the language when spoken. It will, no doubt, happen that in the course of his pro- I fessional work, he will meet with unfamiliar words much more ! frequently than when writing his own language, but a good • dictionary will give him the necessary assistance in such cases. Of course the structure of the language must be well learned, in order that grammatical errors may be avoided. Ordinarily when a speech is delivered in French, the reporter, if he understands the language, will take down, in shorthand, a rough translation of as much as he can secure, giving it the necessary re-arrangement and polish when he comes to transcribe 449439 4 FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. his notes. Now and then, however, it would be an advantage to the reporter, and a feather in his cap, to report the speech as uttered ; and to be able to accomplish this task the young reporter should not begrudge some extra study and practice. It is to assist such students that I offer these suggestions, the result of my own practice. To learn a new French system would necessarily involve great labor, and some practical inconveniences might arise from the different values assigned to the same shorthand characters in the two languages. Accordingly, my object has been to save this labor and inconvenience to the English phonographer, by enabling him to utilize the knowledge and skill he has already acquired, which may be done without the drudgery attendant upon the acquisition of a new system, and with but few devia- tions from his accustomed method of writing. I am quite aware that in order to secure the greatest brevity and legibility each language should have a system of its own, especially adapted to its peculiarities, the easiest signs representing the most frequently recurring sounds ; and I do not therefore suppose that the method here presented, which adopts the phonographic alphabet almost in its entirety, is the best flossiMe system of writing French in shorthand : but I claim for the adaptation that it is extremely easy to the English phonographer, and is adequate to all ordinary reporting purposes. I find no difficulty, after comparatively little practice, in writing tolerably easy French from dictation at the rate of about 120 words a minute ; and I am sure that, with longer practice, and the use of some additional abbreviations, a much greater speed could be obtained with this method by a skilful penman. Although there are a few details in English Phonography in which I ordinarily prefer to follow an earlier presentation of the system than that given in Mr Pitman's present publications, I have based my adaptation upon the latter as being that which is now written by the majority of phonographers. Writers of earlier editions will have no difficulty in making the slight modifications needed to adapt the method here recommended to their requirements. The consonants represent the same sounds in French as in English, except that I have used // c/i,j, to represent the usual French sounds of those letters, as in chaise, tour/ and *w not for ng, which does not occur in French, but as a sign of nasality. ( ( for th are of course not needed, and I have not thought it worth while to utilize them for any other purpose. _JJ are used as alternative characters for ch,j, whenever a better joining can be gained by their use, or when a different outline is needed for the purposes of distinction. FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. 5 The sound of gn, which closely resembles the English n, fol- lowed by the consonant sound of y, may be expressed by n and one of the y series of vowels, or the consonant y, as c " i ~V' or c-^s_^ craignez, '~^ s ^ or — v_> i a £ ner - At the end of words the letter « alone will ordinarily suffice, as X^" 3 Boulogne, °^ ivrogne, disregarding the slight y sound which follows. The / mouille, which resembles / followed by_y (consonant), may be written with the phonographic / and a y vowel or the y con- sonant, as \/n a or\y^ bouillon; — fj\ cueillir ; or by the letter / alone, as V fille. The phonographic vowels represent nearly the same sounds as in English. They are not absolutely identical ; and there are certain slight distinctions or nuances not perceptible to every English ear, which should be provided for in an exact phonetic system, but which for practical shorthand purposes may be disregarded. For the three vowels not known in English, eu as in peuple, e as in le, and u as in du, I have adopted the three parallel dashes j ll j as given in Mr Pitman's "Manual." Nearly all the French diphthongs and triphthongs may be repre- sented with approximate accuracy by some of the compound phono- graphic vowels ; as oi by j or j (I prefer the second), oui or ui by j ier by vj iou by j . ieu (Dieu) may be represented by i (which is not needed for yau) and cei by L j The diphthongs oi and ui may often be conveniently written with the letter w, as in \^ y /' voir, gyS soir, g^r soyez, eS\ suivre, e y soin, ^ — cuir,K_^^ fuir. For shorthand purposes it is rarely necessary, in writing French, to distinguish between long and short, or open and close vowels. There is not the same sharp distinction between them as in the case of English long and " stopped " vowels, and they may be almost always disregarded. In a strictly French phonetic system I am disposed to think that provision should be made for joining the vowels, in many cases, to the consonants ; but the English phonographic vowel scheme does not admit of easy junction. For this among other reasons, I have in numerous instances thought it desirable to express silent consonants. By adopting this method many vowels which would otherwise have to be written, each in- volving the lifting of the pen, may be safely omitted. This is especially the case with the representation of s in certain plurals. The letter is not sounded in French, unless the suc- ceeding word begins with a vowel, but the omission of it in the 6 FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. shorthand characters would necessitate the insertion of vowels which the retention of the final consonant renders unnecessary. This system of occasionally following the French spelling rather than the sound is attended with the great advantage that many of the outlines for French words thus become exactly the same as their English equivalents, though the pronunciation is different ; and this, I need not say, greatly facilitates the labor of those to whom the English forms are perfectly familiar. Thus .a, may do duty for consequent, both in English and French, but if the sound were exactly followed the outlines would be very different. So with A station, °{ instrument, n f) succes, 6 s habit, ^-~ effort, L^ elegant, etc. Following out the same principle — that of assimilating as closely as possible the English and French outlines — I have assigned many English logograms to their French equivalents, not only when the words are iden- tical in spelling, but when they closely resemble each other, as ._ particulier, _\ difficile, \ pratique. In accordance with, the same principle I usually write the nasal sounds with the simple letter n (the full consonant, or the final hook) or with m, following the French spelling ; thus I ton, No fin, [^ temps, g-^f simple, /*' \ resembler. It will be seen that in the last three illustrations the outlines are precisely the same as those of the corresponding English words. When it is required to express the nasal sound and the asso- ciated vowel, I write thus : <^y in, i , en, an, > j x , un, ^, on. A wavy line through the letter n, or if it is expressed by a hook, through the stroke preceding it, may also be employed for the nasal, as ^ descend, j, content, *o fin, "^\ craindre. This, however, will rarely be needed. If required, it can only be to provide an occasional distinction between words liable to clash. The list of grammalogues is not a very long one. It provides for all the very common words in ordinary use, and includes several words that are alike in both languages, and for which the phonographic symbols will be familiar to every phonographer. The common words //, de, se, que, me, ne,je, are represented in the list by their respective consonants in the second position without the final vowel ; and the positions of the other words are mostly regulated by their prominent vowels. The list of phrases is a sufficient indication of the ease with which the system adapts itself to phraseographic representation. It may, of course, be indefinitely extended ; but the writer should be careful not to allow himself to run into very long or unusual joinings, and thus fall into the common mistake of some young English phonographers, who are perpetually exercising their in- genuity in devising impracticable phraseograms. The common FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. 7 words et and est I have expressed by ' and o , the phonographic signs for the corresponding English words and and is. The lat- ter form is very useful for joining, as J c'est, ^-j, c'est impossible, <_c ce n'est pas, l est ce que. The student may be a little puzzled at first to know when to follow the French spelling and when to write phonetically. The only departure from the phonetic principle is in the occasional expression of silent consonants and the representation of the nasal by «. As a general rule, I would say that where the writ- ing of the silent consonant would be easier than lifting the pen and writing the vowel, and the writing be legible, the former plan should be adopted. In some cases the outline is shortened by the addition of the silent letter, as \^ cependant, P courant; and in such cases there can be no hesitation as to which method to choose. In others the outline is, by the addition, made to resemble the English equivalent as L talent, and this also is a good reason for following the spelling instead of the sound. In the case of the common words t les, ^ des, s~b mes, etc., there can be no doubt that the addition of the circle is easier than the insertion of a separate vowel ; and the circumstance that the final s is actually pronounced when the succeeding word begins with a vowel is an additional reason for writing it. The same remark may be made with regard to many other final consonants when a vowel begins the next word. The s should also be generally written for the plurals of nouns.* I do not think it need be written for the plurals of adjectives, as these must of course agree with their substantives, but if the writer prefers to express the plural in this way there can be no objection. With regard to the infinitive termination er, I usually write the r when it makes an easy flowing outline, as C V^ N \ parler ; / ^~ JrN \ amasser ; but where there is not a decided saving I prefer to write the final vowel. Different writers will probably differ in their practice in this respect, and possibly no one will always, adopt a uniform method. This, however, is a matter of little consequence. Even in writing English, phonographers differ occasionally from one another in their outlines ; and scarcely any writer always employs the same forms : but these variations in detail do not render the writing illegible. The vowel terminations of verbs should be carefully expressed, distinguishing as they do the different persons and tenses. I have given a table of the verbs etre and avoir, which I think will prove useful. * Where it is desirable to insert a vowel, expressing the exact sound of a word, the final s need not be added, as * | aides, * — . antes. FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. CONSONANT GRAMMALOGUES. \ pas J -J- l ton / J large, joie tien-ne \ peu-t / je tes -V puis -L- ._/.. avantage __.. put tous ; danger _ i_ tout-e -V plus j tant -/- jour •s. pratique j etant 7 aujourd'hui N> apres 33 jL religion \ special] 1 dois-t y- jeune \> pays 1 de r general -e _|_ du sujet ^ point I deux -A suis-je "\ particulier-e JL I droit religieux-se <\ opportunity I divin-e k que A liberty 4- difficile J dans — qui -v nombre J d'un crois-t \ bon-ne 4 d'une * — cceur \ bien j dont - ■= qu'un t T [l^donc] qu'une i ta, toi a i CH cr~ secret I te / choix e- creature -1- tu / chez 1 — ' quant-d etre / chose IF 1 tres /« r J) cher-e V_ foi-s FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. .v. fus-t r_ la, loi ^ mon w fis, fils r le 7^% humain-e v^ fait-e "•"8 mais -F il ___. fit r> les ^-*> mes Va fin -^a monde 1 -p- ils r "" ?5" mouvement V l'un V important-e avec -f- l'une /"b ^ avez, avais-t-ient £L cela impossible -W vous C seul-e en v« vos !R v _^. ne v» avant Z>L aura __ une t> souvent ^ aurez-ait,aient v_© nos, nous =N eurent 8 "i auron? opinion ) sa ^ auront 3 union ) se V-* nature ee \ appas T s n e"glise O midi FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. With curved letters it is hardly practicable to distinguish in the first and third positions more than two directions, and in such cases the arrangement is as follows. First position : the vowel-stroke, when pointing to the beginning of the consonant, indicates a final ah; when pointing away from it, a final « or e. Third position : the vowel stroke, when pointing towards the end of the consonant, indicates a final e ; when pointing away from it, a final a or ah. In the middle, or second position, of curved consonants, the three directions can be preserved, as in the case of straight consonants. Examples : — \_ = 'Vt_ ar \- (avis) v = w W - ^ » ^ +_^ = < (ann^e) or ^-P r = r W r* = r r = f (aller) or r r* l - r or r ^ siva fj" he"las \__ avez, avais, etc. ^+^ aimer, aiir -P savez, savais, etc. ^aima ^ e-ffet x _ s ami "t assez or assis *\ arret X- essai ~\ irez 1, essayer y_^ anna J id ^j_v aine" X aise* ^/\ suivi \ saisi o^ senat f 6lit T~h elysee 12 FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. A VOIR and ETRE. The different tenses of Avoir and Etre I Write as follows : — Avoir V/ . Ayant f . . Eu , Pret. Ant. : J'eus eu /i, -jji ./Til Ind. pres. : J'ai, etc. /, -I-', -£•' 7»z^. .• J'avais, etc. (_,..|-.^,vA.- ... <*■ /V — /^-- j — Sub.pres. : Que j'aie "7, r|.-,.^c. FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. '3 Etant "J Pret. ant. : J'eus ete. /-+, .]._,+, j£»H Plup. : J'avais ete. Cb« .^P—<^, Imp. : J'etais. £.4-+. fir H> ^. A- flnrt def. : Je fus. Future : Je serai. /V<£ ;W^ : J'ai 6t6. In other verbs the sound should be closely followed, except that the termination ons (ist person pi. present tense) may generally be written with the hook n and the circle s ; ions with >— p ; ront with "5 or ^> ; and the participial termination ant with *~> , or the final dot as in English. Examples : l-^X j'aimerai; ■ The loop st is used in this case for est, to distinguish the character from /""o its. -£ • 14 FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. ^^/ aimer a ; ^-o} finisse-nt ; \u parldt ; \^^~^ par- lerions ; ^~/° aimerons ; s-~SU marcheront ; I dm vn» ; [>^ devrions f\ dormant; \ consider ant. CONTRACTIONS, bienveillant-e I L 1, circonstance dignite extraordinaire ""V^ gouvernement ^*N. impiobable And many others, following the phonographic abbreviations whete the English and French words are the same, or nearly the same, in spelling. ^ republique r£gulier-e satisfaction PHRASE.S. a la or a 1' et le et les et la avez vous ^Vp ,, ,» 4U ^ aussi bien que 4 d-t c'est c'est ce que ce n'est pas c'est impossible 1_ a. \ y c'est improbable ce que ») je „ je suis ce qu' il-y-a ce que vous avez „ „ vou'.ez de la, de 1' est ce que V est ce que vous avez \ je suis A J eme /- \ _ ~ i V } premier magisirat eut le nom de roi, titre qui en differents pays se l6 FRENCH PHONOGRAPHY. ]"IV^^ 4 ^ w ^ w \ ^ donne a des puissances bien differentes ; car en France, en Espagne, il signifie un homme absolu, et en Pologne, en Suede, en Angleterre, ^ k y\ * ) ^ - v ^ ^ r l'homme de la republique. Ce roi ne pouvait rien sans le senat et la senat dependait des Etats generaux, que Ton convoquait ^x r aj>-z v ^ j_ i " souvent. Les representants de la nation dans ces grandes j-^ f r * r k_ r ^ l y assemblies etaient les gentilshommes, les eveques, les deputes des villes v. ru- irv^v 4. y avec le temps on y admit les paysahs meme, portion du peuple ^ "^ -O ' 1^ J_ v- „,_ r - x injustement meprisee ailleurs, et esclave dans presque tout le nord. **-v/> r- 1492 r <^ -)- h 1 .1. A. ' - o Environ l'an 1402 cette nation si jalouse de sa liberte, et qui est ^ ^ ' IV^^tK encore fiere aujourd'hui d'avoir subjugue Rome il y a treize siecles, fut mise sous le joug par une femme et par un peuple moins puissant que les Suedois. — Histoire de Charles XII. — Voltaire. S. JKAN. CHAP. I. 17 s. JEAN. CHAP. I. :.. s/" f ' ^ . C vT-i. L L M v/" t Ui r ■ t * -^ L 5 .|. 1 -^ «- V r v L' + c " t ^ ^ r, * a N - ' r ~\ L L, - L- f ^" A/ t> <--» * 5 A C~S J r Uy. - %0 yT . . ^ ^ ^ •v y _ .^ ~<- > t ^ 1 U -^/i U-y U- A/ ' L " I - S r< «- ri V. r"^ : . ' ^ a ^ -^ /i u^ ^"^ 9 ^ .C L 18 S. JEAN. CHAP. I. II - w « , S ^ .... ^ —. V w ^~» — «_^- ^ ^ ^ - r ;,. ^ ^ ^w + y is } r j /-\ v^ rv.^ «■ 3 i . r j • / \ c — v, \ ~ ^ — o J. r o ..(.. v^ r - ^ r ' ■ - r t ' / r s ■ w L ^ r S. JEAN. CHA1'. I. 19 L -V-, V 7 > ^ ***■ ■<*• r s - L ^ Al, A ' ?. — -* ,_ I. .j. I ..h-> a Z* f - 1. ^ X. ^ I C - c-. .1 r \ '<*y { A .,.. *y-~ ■ I. r \ ^ u ^ ^. - ^ v ^- ^ ^ t r w 1 ■^ ^ )■ N . 27 ^ ,^>. - 6s J. \ K r — <- — ^ • r ■ . f . \. Ks\ r<^ \ l . — - **^ '^> Ns ^. 1 .(?, \^. , 31 -V r V- 30 VENISE. VEN1SE. r Vf~* t "X I k_* ^ r i^ w i ^ -f ? ' V- - ^ i. 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J C > \ J ■t l ^v ^ \T j .( w ,• ' I r K 26 JOHN BKOWN. — / ^ .^ ^- / , i.f.i..^) S ( - ' ^ ) C ^ ' ^ s • . ^ I r ^ r , j. s l i \ -i (, JOHN HKOWN. 2 7 / r- v \ f - - 1 x., - / i ^ \ l^ j r .V J ) v ^ ^ s • 1 ._. ^ w sr -^ s I * • I -*"} i I S r\- J ■ v t ^ > £" - J - f ^> ^ ^,4. t M J £ rv .^ Mf ~^ w r-T^ \ ' ~^ r 28 JOHN BROWN. 1^- - r- A -v_> ^. } l\ r vt y-V , ^ ^ /-/I u ~ ■*> r r* 1 .w . f ' n-i- ^ ■ * V '\ r ° . ' S •£ J Vj U^ 1/ v_ ^ r . \ it. r J H< •v^ V V 9 ' c' - - „ "- r ~*^ v \^ n~> nn - __ w v \ ' 4 V ' ' )• s % i ^7 1 S~^> <^r "/-^ , ./*■ ^ .,■ / ~7 t. _,, ■ i- , v 3 ) - -v ., <-5 t^, A i_* - - '.iu; ,. 3 >^l — NA V- D _-, V 5 U .4. ,- L I I ^ r^ \ t , •V ' '' k- >^*S ) c^ «J -\ ' y J •v _*-? ' 4 r < - *** 0~T— •L^I-< ^OOi^_*«X LIHEKT6. LI HER IE. -M r \ \ J J oX s r ' i .^ Z" 1 , i A I r * I r v-v i V, "C -^ ^ r H, * .. fV r ^y ' \. S=. r i J L. . s V C ~ 2 ^ ■., ^ \ J r .7 U- - J ~r^v r v^s ' ^ | So r /* *J ~ - > r ^ C\j J ^ i ' \, < w T „ r \ J ( I o V \ j f „ •» *. <_j^ (= T> -V r^ k/ • w r .^. O y-»-"l r. ; , r ^ ; v . ( er ^ .,.,.'! A \ v ■ 1 3 3 r ^ J r^ ' V <' ' *-\> J - f X ^ — \ > \ ~\ - V -^ .o ' rf J V t J- ^ l/« V- ^ v- y* ^_5> \_* • ^j? vj) C^ ^ K ~ ?) L- i * J* S-. " > > \ w. r^ V LIBERTY. 31 3 2 LE FROGkiiS. ^— 9 K i \s v_fi^l /^ *"/• <^ ^Vk- ^ jl v^7 \ I ^ * .•).. ^ — l \. r v, rv J. r x .^ ^ r ^ \ . 1 r } * r o • ^ w .2 - v- ~\. J. ^ v .^ 1 l -v.,- v c v - v. j /: >^, C . <>£■*- r/uw-i*ru«. LE PROGRfiS. r — ' ^> ^ \ ' .y rsA C — C H* L~"> v ~* r~> x r > - S S - ^ v - — \^ rX, x— ^ -v ) x ' /" -^ • r^ • - ^4 - . t r a . r \. v^ .^. jf Hr ■ -^"-o ^ M r vs'-f ~~l »-w | r^ % /r v- w- <--. <^