Dutton's Speedwords

Dutton Speedwords is an auxiliary language. It can be used by people who speak any other language. Auxiliary means it is the helper for other languages. It is not the whole language by itself. It is also a shorthand writing system – this means you can use it to write quickly.

The method was made up by Reginald John Garfield Dutton (1886–1970) in 1922. It was first published in 1935. It was called International Symbolic Script. A year later, it was called Speedwords. It was changed in 1946 and 1951.

It has two uses; to be the language and to be used for writing quickly. Dutton hoped that this would mean more people would learn it because ay could use it for two reasons.

The books that Dutton wrote about Speedwords are not printed anymore. But Speedwords is now being used by more people because ay find it is good for working online. For example, it makes it faster to type an email.

Another way of writing quickly is Pitman's shorthand. This uses special symbols instead of letters. Speedwords uses Roman letters. This makes it easier to learn. It also means it can be typed using the normal keyboard. Each word means only one thing. This means you do not need to use grammar.

The words used in Speedwords are the same as the words used in many other languages. The words are like short versions of the writer's own language.

External links

• Official Dutton Speedwords site
• Rap Lin Rie - history of Speedwords and further information

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