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"The Only Official Site for Rap Lin Rie /World Speedwords"

Ordinary writing at Shorthand Speed for all Languages

This, the only World Brief-Script in existence, breaks down all the present language barriers to free international correspondence between all countries.

"Another outstanding and attractive feature of Dutton Speedwords [Rap Lin Rie] is the fact that it is the first abbreviated writing invention in history which at once transcribes all languages." ---R. J. G. Dutton

Rap Lin Rie is the nickname I have given to Dutton World Speedwords. Dutton World Speedwords was intended to be a shorthand system that could also be used as an international language. And, it turns out that it is the perfect email shorthand system for the 21st Century.

Scope of the Original Lessons

The original series of lessons consisted of twelve lessons. Each lesson could be comfortably completed within the short period of 21/2 hours. Students ware able to incorporate the abbreviated word-forms in their ordinary correspondence from the very first lesson. I am posting most of Lesson One here for you to enjoy. Later this lesson will be translated into other languages on this web page.

The 1-letter and 2-letter Speedwords for the 100 most-used words in the English language are nearly all included in the first three lessons. As they actually comprise three of every five running words, students, as early as the end of the third lesson, should therefore quickly perceive a distinct increase in their speed of writing.

Special Note. Keys to all Exercises in this and all the other lessons, plus additional exercises on each lesson are available in the "Companion to the Dutton Speedwords Lessons."

Sean Shannon, a Canadian residing in Oxford, Great Britain, recited Hamlet's soliloquy "To be or not to be" (259 words) in a time of 24 seconds - equivalent to 647.5 words per minute - on British Broadcasting Corporation's Radio Oxford on October 26, 1990.

Steve Woodmore of Orpington, Great Britain, spoke 595 words in a time of 56.01 seconds, or 637.4 words per minute, on the ITV program Motor Mouth on September 22, 1990.

Pronunciation.

In working through these lessons students should articulate each syllable as they read or write them. The student will then ultimately be able to make themselves understood by word of mouth when they personally meet Speedwordites who are not able to converse in the same national language. The ability to read, write and speak Speedwords will equip its possessors for high and responsible positions in 21st Century world commerce, and fit them to be pioneers in the great movement for international understanding which will be certain to arise in the near future.

RULES OF PRONUNCIATION

Vowels

When used alone or finally vowels have the following "long" values, approximating to those of most Continental languages, viz:

a as in 'bah', 'ma' represented in imitated pronunciation by 'ah'

e as in 'eh', 'grey' represented in imitated pronunciation by 'eh'

i as in 'machine', 'fatigue' represented in imitated pronunciation by 'ee'

o as in 'oh', 'foe' represented in imitated pronunciation by 'oh'

u as in 'lunar', 'truth' represented in imitated pronunciation by 'oo'

Vowels followed by a consonant are "short", as in 'at', 'get', 'it', 'odd', 'put'. In the imitated pronunciation a short vowel is shown by doubling the following consonant.

In words of two or more letters y is pronounced as in 'by', 'rhyme', whether followed by a consonant or not, and is represented in the imitated pronunciation by 'y'. When y stands alone, however, it is pronounced "yoh" as in the first syllable of the English word 'yokel'.

Consonants

c is pronounced like English 'ch' and is represented by 'ch'

j is pronounced like English 's' in 'measure' and is represented by 'zh'.

q is pronounced like English 'kw' and is represented by 'kwe(r)'

r is always trilled as in Scotch 'r' and is represented by 'rr'.

s is always "hard" as in 'less', and never "soft" as in 'boys'. It is represented by 'ss' whenever the incorrect soft or 'z' sound may suggest itself.

g is always "hard" as in 'gag', 'get', never "soft" as in 'gem'.

h is always aspirated when it is the first letter of a syllable.

The other consonants have the pronunciation which is common to English and most other European languages.

Stress

In Speedwords of more than one syllable the stress always occurs on the first syllable, except in the cases of opposites ending in -o (second half of this lesson) and words having the prefixes y (lesson 6) and u (lesson 10).

Interchangeability of Nouns and Verbs, etc.

  1. The English words 'end', 'love' and 'work', among others, have the same form whether used as nouns (thing-words) or verbs (action-words), and the same principle applies in Speedwords. Thus, for example, the Speedword ra supplies the meaning of 'work' in the sentence 'I work to-day' - J ra c de - where 'work' is a verb, and in the sentence 'This work is easy' - C ra e fas - where it is a noun; similarly with 'end', 'love', etc.
  2. Special attention is drawn to the word 'to' which is given in brackets before each English word capable of being used as a verb or action-word. The forms 'to love', 'to work', etc. (known to grammarians as 'infinitives') should each be regarded as a single word, as, indeed, they are in many languages, and the preliminary 'to' is to be disregarded when translating. Thus, 'He loves to work' is rendered S am ra, the 'to' being ignored, and it is perfectly obvious that even in English there is no material difference between 'He loves to work' and 'He loves work'.
  3. It should also be noted that the final 's' in 'loves' is merely an English grammatical ending which makes no difference at all to the meaning of the word, and this ending is accordingly ignored when translating this and similar English verbs into Speedwords.

Particles

  1. 1. The 46 most frequently used words, such as 'the', 'is', 'of', etc., are expressed by single letters in writing Speedwords, to which the term "particles" is applied, and a list of these is now given, with their meanings and pronunciations.
  2. 2. The vowel particles are pronounced as explained in the rules. Most particles consisting of a single consonant, like d - 'of' - are sounded with the dull vowel of unaccented 'the', making the pronunciation of 'de(r)' in which the 'r' is not sounded. A few particles, as but below, are pronounced in full, but as particles are of very frequent occurrence, and speed in writing is an essential feature of Speedwords, such words are expressed in writing by the initial consonant only.

Particle, Pronunciation, Meaning & Memory Aid

  • a ah at, to French à
  • b(ut) butt but
  • c che(r) this French ce
  • d de(r) from, of French de
  • e eh am, are, (to) be, is Latin est
  • j zhe(r) I, me French je
  • l le(r) the French le
  • s se(r) he, him French se
  • t te(r) it Think of 'it is' - 'tis
  • u oo a, an, one Latin unus
  • w we(r) us, we
  • x ex if, whether x - the "unknown quantity"
  • & and and

    1. A list is now presented of 23 radicals representing English words of very frequent occurrence. Students should write these, with their meanings, in their notebooks, and say each Speedword aloud as they do so. It will be seen that certain radicals are listed with more than one English equivalent, as ax - 'ask', 'inquire'. This is because there is no essential difference in the meanings of these two English words: the principle of this auxiliary medium is "One idea, one Speedword". Therefore, the two words 'ask' and 'inquire' are denoted by the same Speedword ax; conversely, the Speedword ax may be translated 'ask' or 'inquire' according to the context and/or the preference of the student.
    2. Where a Speedword expresses two or more different English words which have the same meaning they may be differentiated, for the purposes of English note-taking, by writing one with an initial capital letter, or underlining, as a-to, A-at; u-a, U-one; d-of, D-from, etc.

    Radical, Pronunciation, Meaning and Memory Aid

  • ad add (to) add
  • am amm (to) love amiable, amorous
  • ax ax (to) ask, (to) inquire Provincial and Old English
  • ba bah back, behind
  • be beh before (time), former, previous
  • de deh day
  • du doo (to) continue duration
  • ed edd (to) conclude, (to) end, (to) finish
  • ep epp (to) place, (to) put, (to) set Connected with Speedword suffix -p, meaning 'place'.
  • fas fass easy facility
  • fo foh front, before (place) before
  • gu goo good
  • he heh hot
  • ra rah (to) labor, (to) work
  • lo loh long
  • ma mah (to) make
  • nov novv new novelty, re-novate
  • ny ny about, almost, near-ly nigh
  • ok okk correct, right O.K.
  • ov ovv above, over
  • po poh after(wards) postpone, post-war
  • top topp top
  • vo voh will voluntary (willing)

    1. 'To-day' is rendered 'this day' and is written as one word, viz. cde.
    2. When a single-consonant particle is followed by a Speedword consisting of or commencing with a vowel it is pronounced with a very short added 'ee' sound for the sake of euphony, as in l ed, pronounced 'le edd'. The 'le' sounds like the pronunciation of 'lip' without the 'p' not like that of 'leap'. This sound is shown in the imitated pronunciation by one 'e' to distinguish it from the long vowel sound shown (later) as 'ee'.

    Specimen Sentences, with Meanings and Pronunciation

    He is near us. S e ny w. Se eh ny we.

    It is good to work. T e gu ra. Te eh goo rah

    It is hot today. T e he cde. Te eh heh chdeh.

    I love him and he loves me. J am s & s am j. Zhe amm se and se amm zhe.

    We are near the end of it. W e ny l ed d t. We eh ny le edd de te.

    After this we will continue the good work. Po c w vo du l gu ra. Poh che we voh doo le goo rah.

    1. From the above examples it will be seen that j supplies the meaning of both 'I' and 'me', s of both 'he' and 'him', and w of 'us' and 'we', just as you in English, Sie in German and vous in French are unaltered whether used as subject or object of a sentence. The same rule applies to all pronouns in Speedwords.
    2. It should also be noted that the particle e translates 'am', 'are' or 'is', in the same way that Norwegian has the one word er with the same three meanings. In Speedwords '(to) be' is also rendered by e.

    EXERCISE 1A. Transcribe into Speedwords: --

    1. This is the end of a long day.
    2. We will put it over the top afterwards.
    3. The new work is long but easy.
    4. I will ask him before the end of the day.

    EXERCISE 1B. Transcribe into English: --

    1. J vo ra cde. Pron. Zhe voh rah chedeh
    2. C e fas ma. Che eh fass mah.
    3. T e fas ep t ny l fo. Te eh fass epp te ny le foh.
    4. J ad c a t & ma t he. Zhe add che ah te and mah te heh.

    Note: All Speedwords listed in these lessons are tabulated in the Speedwords Dictionary in alphabetical order.

    This is the end of sample lesson one.

    Please review your lesson daily until it becomes part of you.

    Congratulations, you have begun an exciting and rewarding adventure by learning Rap Lin Rie. So, now you can start Rappin'.

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