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A phonetic shorthand using stroke thickness and position to carry meaning.
Also known as: Pitman's shorthand, Phonography, Pitman outline
Pitman shorthand distinguishes related consonants by the thickness of the stroke: a light stroke and a heavy stroke of the same shape are a voiceless and a voiced pair, so p and b share a form and differ in weight. Vowels are dots and dashes placed beside the outline, and their position along it carries which vowel. Because thickness is load-bearing, Pitman needs a pencil or a flexible nib — it cannot be written accurately with a ballpoint, which is one reason it declined.
Straight and curved strokes of two visibly different weights, written at set angles above, on or below a ruled line, with small dots or short dashes beside them.
Both are curved phonetic shorthands; one uses thickness and the other uses length.