Steno Glossary

Mirror of https://grahp.dev/steno-glossary.

I can't promise this will be up to date, so I'd look there instead :)

The content on this page is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0 Universal. Feel free to use it however you'd like

Outline:

• Key
• Chord
• Stroke
• Outline
• Translation
  • Affixes
  • Commands
  • Untran
• Entry
• Dictionary
  • Lookup
  • Reverse Lookup
  • Programmatic (From #programmtic-dictionary)
  • Modal
• Theory Rule
• Theory
  • Long
  • Short
  • Phonetic
  • Orthographic
• Conflict
  • Word Boundary Conflict
  • Word-affix Conflicts
  • Homophonic Conflicts
• Write-out
• Brief
  • Misstroke
  • Arbitrary
• Mandatory
• Raw Steno
• Paper Tape/Steno Paper
• Steno Order
• Layout
  • WSI Layout
  • Extended Stenotype Layout
• Steno Engine
  • Plover
• Steno Writer
  • Steno Machine
  • Steno Keyboard
  • Stenotype
• Philly Shift
• Shadowing
• Dropping
• Bank
  • Initial/Starter (links from starter)
  • Vowel
  • Final/Ender (links from ender)
  • Skeleton
• Key Label
• Fingerspelling
• Orthospelling
• Dedicated

Key

Noun

An individual key on a steno machine or layout. Analogous to a key on a keyboard.

• Multiple keys may share the same label, with a dash (-) denoting what bank the key is in. For example, in the WSI layout, there are two keys labeled 'S': the initial S- key, and the final -S key. Notice the dash at the start and end of the key.

Chord

Noun

A set, or group, of keys. Chords may denote a sound, letter, affix, or any other part of a translation.

• Chords can be combined to form strokes.
• The difference between a chord and a stroke can often be subtle. See https://grahp.dev/chords-vs-strokes.
• An example chord is TPH-, which translates to the initial "n" sound (/n/).

Verb

Pressing down all the keys that make up a chord on a steno machine.

• "Chording" is a term outside of steno, which means "pressing multiple keys together at once", rather than one at a time.
• Often used interchangeably with the verb stroke.

Stroke

Noun

A set, or group, or keys pressed together simultaneously.

• If that sounds like what a chord is, that's because chords and strokes are very similar. They are both sets of keys. When you press down a set of keys simultaneously, that is a stroke. A chord is something you can use to build strokes.
• A helpful way to think of it is that when you combine two chords, you get a stroke, but when you combine two strokes, you get an outline
• For a full explanation of the difference between chords and strokes, see https://grahp.dev/chords-vs-strokes.

Verb

Pressing down all the keys that make up a stroke on a steno machine.

• Often used interchangeably with the verb chord.

Outline

Noun

One or more strokes chorded, or pressed, in sequence.

Translation

Noun

A word, phrase, part of a word or phase, sound, affix, command, punctuation, or any other output.

Verb

To "translate". The translation that an outline maps to is referred to as its "translation".

• For example, the outline KAT translates to "cat".

Entry

Noun

An entry, or dictionary entry, is a mapping between an outline and a translation.

• For example, the outline HOT/TKOG might map to the translation "hotdog".

Dictionary

Noun

A set of outlines with mappings to translations. Dictionaries are made up of dictionary entries.

Lookup

Noun

The process of "looking up" a translation in a dictionary.

Reverse Lookup

Noun

The process of "looking up" the outlines that map to a given translation in a dictionary.

• Called "reverse lookup" as it is the opposite of regular lookup.

Programmatic

Adjective

A dictionary being programmatic means that it translates outlines as you write them, rather having a pre-defined collection of entries.

Modal

Adjective

A dictionary being modal means that it may contain different entries, and thus "do different things", depending on what "mode" you are in.

• Your current mode can change through a mode-switching stroke, based on context, or really for any other reason.

Theory Rule

Noun

A "rule" defining some part of how outlines should be mapped to translations.

Theory

Noun

A set of theory rules that defines how outlines should map to translations.

• Theories usually come with dictionaries, which are usually the theory author's best attempt to follow their theory rules.

Conflict

Noun

An outline that has multiple valid translations according to your theories.

• There are many different kinds of conflicts that happen for different reasons.

Word Boundary Conflict

Noun

A type of conflict where it is unclear where outlines should start and stop given a sequence of strokes.

Write-out

Noun

An outline that follows all theory rules, and isn't shortened in any way.

Brief

Noun

An "abbreviated" outline, used to reduce the number of strokes required to write a translation.

Verb

To "abbreviate" an outline. To use a translation's brief rather than its write-out.

Mandatory

Noun

An outline with no write-out, and only briefs.

Adjective

Having no writeouts, and only briefs.

Raw Steno

Noun

A notation for writing keys, strokes, chords, and outlines in a more human-readable form.

• -T is a key on the final bank of the WSI Layout.
• KWR- is a chord in the initial bank of the WSI Layout.
• KAT is a stroke.
• KEUT/KAT is an outline.

Steno Order

Noun

The order that the keys of a layout are written in with raw steno.

• Steno order is often used in a few ways by theories to make it clear when you can do certain things.

Layout

Noun

A set of keys with labels, often grouped into banks, often with a defined steno order, that can be grouped into chords.

• The most common, and "standard" steno layout is the WSI Layout.

WSI Layout

Noun

The "standard" steno layout.

Extended Stenotype Layout

Noun

An "extended" version of the WSI layout featuring 2 more keys, ^ and +.

Bank

Noun

A logical group of keys on a layout, used to organize keys based on their position.

• The WSI layout has 3 banks: the initial, vowel, and final banks.

Fingerspelling

Noun

A method of writing words letter-by-letter using a fingerspelling theory/dictionary.

Adjective

A theory/dictionary where words are written letter-by-letter, allowing you to write words that aren't in your dictionary

Verb

The act of writing with a fingerspelling theory/dictionary

Orthospelling

Noun

A method of writing words multiple letters at a time using an orthospelling theory/dictionary.

Adjective

An orthospelling theory/dictionary is fully orthographic. It's like fingerspelling, but uses the whole layout, or more of the layout than just one fingerspelling bank.

An orthographic theory/dictionary where words are written multiple letters at a time.

Verb

The act of writing using an orthospelling theory or dictionary.

Dedicated

Adjective

A dedicated key, chord, stroke, or outline is reserved for a specific purpose and cannot be used for anything else.