You've found my dictionary repository! The main dictionary that I update the most is the namesake one, stanmain.json. I will update this readme to include more but I'll start with this. Many on the Plover Discord have mentioned that this repo is just dictionaries with no explanation so I'm going to attempt to explain what's going on in my head in general terms and hopefully it'll help whoever is reading this to figure out what the hell it is I'm thinking when seeing my outlines.
For people who want to see my dictionaries.
Download them and load them into Plover as .json dictionaries.
braille.json- My starter dictionary for steno-based Braille input.
captioning.json- Some overrides for captioning-specific stuff like making new lines after every ending punctuation mark.
smalldict.json- Starter dictionary Mirabai gave me as a template (not actively updated or used).
stan-italiano.json- Dictionary I started when I was doing an Italian class. Not very developed.
stanespanol.json- Main Spanish steno dictionary.
stanmain.json- My main English dictionary.
stanplover.json- Additional entries to correct formatting errors caused by RTF -> JSON conversion.
usage_stats.txt- Shows usage statistics to help learners (or anyone, really) analyze my dictionary usage patterns.
- Hasn't been updated in a while, though.
Don't care.
I originally started learning Phoenix Theory back in 2009 or so. After using that theory for a little while, I decided its approach was not for me, especially after learning about the R-R. R-R is basically a form of a shift key in steno where you would repeatedly use R-R to cycle through different steno conflicts. In general, I found Phoenix Theory to be way too verbose even though it was probably one of the most consistent theories I had ever encountered.
I continued my search, enventually finding an online PDF of the Philly Clinic Theory. There was also a stock dictionary for Philly on Stenovations' website of around 30,000 entries available for free download. With those resources, I started retraining to overwrite what I had learned from Phoenix. Philly is a much older theory that predates realtime so it is not as consistent in its handling of conflicts. After I got sufficiently advanced, I bought the Magnum Steno book to start my realtime training and that became my ultimate theory source of truth.
If you have no exposure to Magnum Theory, I will tell you it is abstract. You will find things in there based on phonetics, on English spelling, or based on an arbitrary combo that are meant to be memorized as a shape. Accordingly, my current style of writing is a mish-mash of all of the above. My dictionaries were never meant to become a formalized theory and you should consider them as a guideline, and not absolute in any way. Plus, there are a lot of things from the stock dictionary that I'm still cleaning out that I never use.
So keep all this in mind. If there are several definitions for anything, look for a consistent pattern across multiple entries. It's is a pretty clear indication of a paradigm I use regularly. A whole bunch of entries with SKPWE- for "and we..." phrases is a strong signal that this is how I handle phrases that start with that.
Also, if out of all the entries there is a single-stroke way of writing it, 95/100 times that'll be the one I employ most often.
I generally use normal steno conventions with a few exceptions. This usually comes from the fact that I adopted Philly Clinic early on and it wasn't originally designed to be a realtime theory. So you will see lots of instances of me omitting the E in long-O phrases like TKPWO for go or STROBG for stroke.
For some words that end in -a, I use the final -D to represent it. I learned this from my colleague, Lisa Hutchinson in Seattle while I was shadowing her on CART jobs. I think it comes from the Italian keyboard. For example, "plethora" would be written as PHREFRD or "diaspora" would be written as TKAOEUFRPD.
For past-tense verbs with double obstruents (usually /dd/or /td/), I use final -TD. For example, "extended," I would write as STEPBTD. Or "branded", I would write as PWRAPBTD.
I also have a general pattern I use for Spanish-sounding words. Basically, you assume if the word ends in a consonant, and you don't add anything to the end, it ends with an -a. "Santa" like in Santa Maria is written just SAPBT. But for -o, I add the asterisk. So "Santo" would be SA*PBT. So "Santo Domingo" would be SA*PBT/TKPH*EUPBG. The * takes care of the final -o.
I use final -DZ to create the gerund or -ing form. But because of how the steno keyboard is laid out, words that end in an -s, -t, or -d, I will drop those and add the -DZ. So the gerund of "break" (breaking) would be PWRAEUBGDZ. The gerund of "promise" would be PROPLDZ since you can't hit the -S at the same time as the -DZ.
With the combo AE, it can mean I'm disambiguating a homophone or it's a multi-syllabic word. "Rain" is RAEUPB but "rainy" is RAEPB. "Space" is SPAEUS but "spacey" is SPAES. "Piece" is PAOES but peace is PAES.
If I can find a one-stroke gibberish syllable that makes sense for it, I will go ahead and brief it that way. If by some way, I can fit all the relevant sounds in a word or phrase in a single stroke, it becomes a single stroke and I will make it a point to memorize it. It's called shorthand for a reason. I know plenty of stenographers that can write twice as many strokes as I can in the same amount of time which is completely okay and if that works for you, do it!
But my speed primarily comes from my polyglot background and my ability to rapidly memorize tons of arbitrary goop and put it to use immediately (just as I do with natural languages). Not everyone possesses the same neurology. Some need to have consistency above all even at the expense of brevity. So I say do what works for you first always!
In general, I use a ton of shape outlines. This is to say that the individual letters pressed are loosely or not at all related to the actual output. There is no mnemonic or any convenient trick to memorizing these. You have to go through the rote practice to turn these from unrelated gibberish to instant recall. Sorry, I don't have any tips or tricks for learning these. You just have to go for it yourself.
These may be combined with phrase enders in grammatically correct combinations.
- i.e.
KP-(keep) +*T(it) =>KP*T(keep it).
| Phrase | Steno | Phrase | Steno | Phrase | Steno |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| about | KPW- |
did | TK- |
somewhere | SWR- |
| and | SKP- |
does | STK- |
the only | TW- |
| and we | SKPWE- |
for | TPR- |
what | WHA- |
| before | PWHR- |
had | H- |
when | WH- |
| bring | PWR- |
has | HA- |
where | WR- |
| but | PWH- |
in | TPH- |
whether | WHR- |
| but we | PWHAOE- |
just | SKWR- |
will | HR- |
| because | SKPR- |
keep | KP- |
||
| because we | SKPWRE- |
something | STKPW- |
Likewise, you may combine these with grammatical phrase beginners to form phrases.
- i.e.
SKPWRE-(because we) +-FRBGD(could be) =>SKPWREFRBGD(because we could be).
| Phrase | Steno | Phrase | Steno | Phrase | Steno |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| be | *B |
could be | -FRBGD |
'll | *L |
| been | -B |
did | RPLS |
like | -FPL |
| believe | -BL |
didn't | *RPLS |
many | -PL |
| believed | -BLD |
do | RPBLGS |
means | -PLS |
| can | -BG |
doesn't | *RBGZ |
much | -UFP |
| can't | *BG |
don't | *RPBLGS |
remembered | -RPLD |
| can be | -FRBG |
found | -FBD |
remember | -RPL |
| could | -BGD |
get | -GT |
should | -RBD |
| couldn't | *BGD |
go | -G |
should be | -RBLG |
| find | -FPBD |
got | -GTD |
some | *PLS |
| had | -D |
had been | -BD |
that | -LGTS |
| hasn't | *FPLTD |
has | -FPLTD |
the | -T |
| have | -F |
've | *F |
their | -BLS |
| have been | -FB |
've been | *FB |
thing | -FRLG |
| has been | -FBS |
it | *T |
think | -PBG |
| it | *T |
liked | -FLD |
this | -TSDZ |
| knew | -PZ |
much | -UFP |
these | -RPG |
| liked | -FLD |
remember | -RPL |
those | -FBL |
| like | -FPL |
remembered | -RPLD |
thought | -LGT |
| many | -PL |
should | -RBD |
was | -FS |
| means | -PLS |
should be | -RBLG |
wasn't | -FSZ |
| much | -UFP |
some | *PLS |
were | -RP |
| remember | -RPL |
that | -LGTS |
weren't | *RP |
| remembered | -RPLD |
the | -T |
we | -FRPBLG |
| should | -RBD |
their | -BLS |
will | -L |
| should be | -RBLG |
of their | -FBLS |
'll | *L |
| some | *PLS |
their | -BLS |
won't | -FPZ |
| that | -LGTS |
thing | -FRLG |
won't be | *FPZ |
| the | -T |
those | -FBL |
would | -LD |
| their | -BLS |
thought | -LGT |
would have | *FLD |
| thing | -FRLG |
was | -FS |
would have been | *FBLD |
| this | -TSDZ |
wasn't | -FSZ |
wouldn't | *LD |
| these | -RPG |
were | -RP |
'd be | *BD |
| those | -FBL |
weren't | *RP |
||
| thought | -LGT |
we | -FRPBLG |
||
| was | -FS |
will | -L |
||
| wasn't | -FSZ |
'll | *L |
||
| were | -RP |
won't | -FPZ |
||
| weren't | *RP |
won't be | *FPZ |
||
| we | -FRPBLG |
would | -LD |
||
| will | -L |
would have | *FLD |
||
| 'll | *L |
would have been | *FBLD |
||
| won't | -FPZ |
wouldn't | *LD |
||
| won't be | *FPZ |
'd be | *BD |
||
| would | -LD |
||||
| would have | *FLD |
||||
| would have been | *FBLD |
||||
| wouldn't | *LD |
||||
| 'd be | *BD |
This is a list of prefixes and suffixes that I use to build words. Yes, I have a lot of entries with these built in to them but I keep these strokes dedicated so that even if I don't have them defined exactly, they come out either correct or at the very least readable.
Here's the table in two columns:
| Prefix | Steno | Prefix | Steno |
|---|---|---|---|
| anthro- | THA*ORP |
macro- | PHAO*RBG |
| anti- | A*EPBT |
micro- | PHAO*EURBG |
| back- | PWA*BG |
mega- | PHA*EG |
| bio- | PWO*EU |
meta- | PHA*ET |
| chemo- | KAO*EPL |
mono- | PHO*EPB |
| contra- | KRA* |
over- | O*EFR |
| de- | TKE |
re- | RE |
| dis- | TKEUS |
sub- | S*UB |
| endo- | SPWO* |
un- | UPB |
| giga- | TKPW*EUG |
under- | *RB |
| in- | EUPB |
||
| infra- | TPRA*E |
||
| inter- | SPWER |
||
| intra- | SPWRA |
||
| ir- | EUR |
Here's the table in two columns:
| Suffix | Steno | Suffix | Steno |
|---|---|---|---|
| -able | ABL |
-ic | EUBG |
| -ably | AEBL |
-ical | KAL |
| -al(s) | AL(S) |
-ically | KAEL |
| -ans | A*PBS |
-ite(s) | AOEUT(S) |
| -en | -PB |
-ologic | SKWR-BLG/SKWR-BG |
| -ence | -PBS |
-ological | HR-L |
| -ial | KWRA*L |
-ology/-ologies | OLG(S) |
| -ally | AEL |
-ologist | O*LGS |
| -ality/-alities | KWRA*LT(S) |
-oscopy/-oscopies | SKOEUP(S) |
** More to come! **