STENO? GRAPHY!

Abstract

Considering the scarcity of information and the lack of knowledge regarding stenography –very rarely used or called upon nowadays, both in daily and academic contexts – and given the decreasing number of people who hold this specific knowledge, it becomes increasingly urgent the creation of a relevant archaeological and bibliographic Iberian archive of this almost extinct writing form.

This text arose in the context of a master’s degree aiming to study the universe of stenography and its relevance (if any) in contemporary contexts and technologies. To accomplish this, it was crucial to have access to reliable information regarding this writing form. This objective was pursued through a non-interventionist qualitative methodology that included methods such as bibliographic research, literature review and critique, interviews with experts in the field (namely stenographers, teachers, students) and in-depth case studies.

In this paper, we present the groundwork that enabled us to gather information about Portuguese shorthand which was of crucial importance to the development of the project. The bibliographic research revealed the existence of several Portuguese shorthand authors. Through in-depth research and a comparative study among various case studies, we observed that each shorthand system exhibited peculiarities, setting it apart from the others. This divergence was attributed to individual authors' endeavors to revolutionize the field of Portuguese shorthand, striving to establish their methods as the fastest and most effective. Noteworthy distinctions surfaced in areas such as the representation of the stenographic alphabet, the portrayal of numerals in text, the handling of articles, names, abbreviations, and suppressions, among other aspects. None of them provided evidence to determine the official Portuguese shorthand system. However, the interviews conducted revealed that the Martinian System was the official one. They also helped us gain insight into the teaching methods of shorthand employed in class, as well as the layouts students used to enhance writing efficiency.