These pages are copyright, 1997 by Robert J. Petry, C.L. Information on these web pages are for personal use only, and may not be reproduced in any form whatsoever for commercial use of anykind.

This page updated 10-24-97.

"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.

(Please note that we are beginning to use much more rap lin rie, so hopefully, you will want to learn more. Enjoy.)

"I l Beginning y l Word…" John 1:1

I l early history d on kind, whether myth or history, on communicated m one language. Then um happened.

"Nu l whole world hy one language & u common speech. As onz moved eastward, g found u plain i Shinar & settled iro. g ydi a each ot, 'Come let's ma bricks & bake g thoroughly.' g used brick instead d stone, & tar f mortar. Then g ydi, 'Come, let us build ourselves u city, m u tower k reaches a l heavens, so k w pi ma u name f ourselves & n be scattered ov l face d l whole earth.' b YHWH came upo a vu l city & l tower k l onz y building. YHWH ydi, 'If as one, people di l id language g h begun a do c, then nothing g plan a do r be ibo f g. Come, let w go upo & confuse gi language so g r n understand each ot."

"So YHWH scattered g from iro ov al l earth, & g stopped building l city. k e why t y called Babel --- zi iro YHWH confused l language d l whole world." Genesis 11:1-9 NIV

Centuries later u strange "international lin" event occurred. t y n i l ri b i l di & au k on, f l first te re yp understand each ot. c event occurred i Jerusalem. ir e l account: "nu iro y staying i Jerusalem Elohim fearing Jews from je na upo cel. qe g yau c sound, u crowd came together i bewilderment, zi each one yau g di i si own lin. Utterly amazed, g yax: 'e n al cz on qi e di Galileans? Then qa e t k each d w au g i si own native lin?'" Acts 2:5-8 NIV.

Although, u promise y given a finally give on u "pure" new lin, w h impatiently tried a develop one ourselves. One such attempt y qd w call cde Dutton World Speedwords.

Unlike ms ot "conlangs", Speedwords e ai u rie. k e, each person p ri rap i si or shi own lin, plus communicate m ot i ot lin qi sa Speedwords (mote).

Reginald J. G. Dutton developed si mote ov several an te. ir e u quote by s ab mote.

"If v agree k f l purposes d international communications & translations d l cultural & technical literature d al na 'book' p e expressed by bu, writing by ri, liberation by lib, efficiency by ef, gratitude by gra, & so o, then v p help a ensure k young people d je nationality r i future e able a: a) Sweep ao f ever al lin barriers a full international understanding, social intercourse, & cultural development. b) Read, ri, & typerite any da matter i less than half l te required fa so i any national language. c) Purchase l translated literary & technical works d al nationals at one-third d l publication i any national lin. d) Double l ib contents d al Air letters. e) Double l speed d transmission, & thereby halve l cost, d al plain lin cables & telegrams."

Ir e u quote d l recent Rap Lin Rie email newsletter. J hope v find t int.

"In 1943, Reginald Dutton yri c. 'Mastery of Speedwords, l culmination d 21 years' intensive philological research, is possible in ONE MONTH because thee are only 493 short key-words to learn.'

That means, he began to formulate Speedwords in 1922, or thereabouts. Most, I think, do not know how much time went into developing Mote. Many seem to think, because it is also a shorthand system, k Dutton js threw t together. Not so. T e well ypu ix, & frankly, e extremely practical f l individual."

Dutton's dream apparently had 4 par a t. L uv par y accomplished. L ot 3 y n. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ THOSE FOUR PARTS AND WHAT YOU/WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT, SUBSCRIBE TO THE Rap Lin Rie NEWSLETTER.&, ask f issue #5.

NEW INFORMATION:As mentioned above, Dutton began his research at least in 1922. That is the year an international conference was held on the idea of adopting a "universal" language. Just the year before that, 1921, a report was issued in England describing what would be acceptable as an international auxiliary language. I believe these two events sparked Dutton to develop Speedwords. He was already a student of Esperanto at this time. In 1935-6 Dutton wrote correspondence describing this "international symbolic script", possibly for the first time. This is why, probably Speedwords was included in the 1944 edition of Loom of Languages. It was already known by 1935-6. Dutton's first text was issued in 1943, the year before Loom of Languages. Soon, I hope to be able to reproduce that correspondence for you in the Rap Lin Rie newsletter. We now know, also, that Mr. Dutton was a Fellow in the Royal Society of the Arts from 1918 to 1969. His Fellowship was for life. Therefore, until further information is obtained, it appears Mr. Dutton died in 1969. Subscribe to the newsletter for updates on this. As to Speedwords, we know he revised them in 1946 and again in 1951. Not much is known yet about revisions prior to 1943. We do know that he offered a correspondence course in Speedwords, and issued other texts on various shorthand methods. More later. Enjoy.

10-24-97 UPDATE. Here is information not seen since 1935 by most, if not all, those who are familiar with Dutton Speedwords today.

Finally, the information came in with the 1935/6 correspondence between Dutton and Dr. Foat. Dr. Foat caused Dutton to make a change in his International Symbolic Script. From that change we have the modern day Dutton Speedwords. In that correspondence Dutton translated G.B. Shaw's Saint Joan twice. Once in the original Symbolic Script, and then in the "new" Speedwords. Plus, in the 1943-46 textbook Dutton again translates the same material with his new updates. Finally, in 1951 some few words were again improved. So, what we have is a progressive "revelation" of how Speedwords has grown over the years from 1935 until now. Below I have inserted those FOUR progressions. I hope you find this progression in the development of a new international/shorthand language interesting.

Although other changes may have been done to Speedwords, we now have FOUR separate changes to Speedwords we can show. This is done by Dutton’s retranslations of G. B. Shaw’s Saint Joan. Shaw had given Dutton permission to quote it in 1935 or earlier. Thus, we have a way to look at the process of improving Speedwords as done by Dutton himself. The first translation was done in “An International Symbolic Script”. The 2nd was a total revision based on Foat's suggestions, and the 3rd was done as the “new” Speedwords was improved. Finally, I added the fourth to show the last vocabulary change Dutton did.Below will be the text in English first. Then, the 1935 translation, the 1936 translation and then the 1943-46 translation. Finally, the 1951 translation showing a further small improvement. It should also be noted that the 1936 change was instigated by Dr. Foat who criticized the original Symbolic Script as not being pronounceable on a systematic basis. So, the 1936 version is the first version Dutton gave real effort to pronounce it as a “spoken” language. Note: the numbers in brackets show the actual letter count in each translation.

English text:

“To shut me from the light of the sky and the sight of the fields and flowers; to chain my feet so that I can never again ride with the soldiers nor climb the hills; to make me breathe foul damp darkness, and keep from me everything that brings me back to the love of God when your wickedness and foolishness tempt me to hate Him: all this is worse than the furnace in the Bible that was heated seven times.”[319]

Symbolic Script 1935:

”moa j za t aic d t zma & t av d t zt.hzs & hos oy.ym jr kps egr k j p gzn gr xfu m t uqaqs on tg.ma t phps F j mi apa lwrk ala & jg za j nco k mvfu j xr z t da d op gt vr ora & izv eev j daa i npa c e eua ar t zfc n t cbd k ge zhy 7 gzs.”[160]

Speedwords 1936:

“g apo j go l lum d l numo & l vi d l Disveg & Flo g libomet ji Ped s k j p ne re poru m l Milr ni tenas l Altv g ma j spi netoa aqi lumo & gar j go jet k zem j ba g l am d God te vi bono & menfo trya j amo h: al c e bem ki l branteg i l bul k x e ka 7 ok.”[173]

Speedwords 3rd. ed. 1943-46:

“apo j d l lum d l koso & l vu d l agz & floz; gemet ji pedz so k j p ozo re bers m l varz ni ase l holz, fy j spi puroa aqit lumo & gar j d jm qu zes j ur a l am d Dio qe vi kupe & mena iflua j amo S; al c e sux z l olkokee i l Bucel qu y hotyd 7 oz.”[170]

Speedwords 1951:

“apo j d l lum d l koso & l vu d l agz & floz; gemet ji pedz so k j p azo re bers m l varz ni ase l holz; fy j spi puroa aqit lumo & gar d j jm cu zes j ur a l am d Dio qe vi kupe & mena ilua j amo S: al c e sux z l olkokee i l Bucel qu yhefd 7 oz.”[167]

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