Penmanship is the technique of
writingWriting is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
with the hand using a writing instrument. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called
handsA Hand, in calligraphy and palaeography refers to one of several historical varieties of formal, impersonal, generic and exemplary writing styles...
, whilst an individual personal style of penmanship is referred to as
handwritingHandwriting is a person's particular & individual style of writing with pen or pencil, which contrasts with "Hand" which is an impersonal and formalised writing style in several historical varieties...
.
Origins
The earliest example of writing is the
SumerianSumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
pictographic system found on clay tablets, which eventually developed around 3200 BC into a modified version called cuneiform. Cuneiform is from the Latin meaning “wedge shaped” and was impressed on wet clay with a sharpened reed. This form of writing eventually evolved into ideographic system (where a sign represents an idea) and then to a syllabic system, (where a sign represents a syllable). Developing around the same time, the Egyptian system of hieroglyphics also began as a pictographic script and evolved into a system of syllabic writing. Two cursive scripts were eventually created, hieratic shortly after hieroglyphs were invented and demotic in the seventh century BC. Scribes wrote these scripts usually on
papyrusPapyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
with ink on a reed pen.
The first known alphabetical system came from the Phoenicians, who developed a vowel-less system of 22 letters around the eleventh century BC. The Greeks eventually adapted the Phoenician alphabet around the eighth century BC. Adding vowels to the alphabet and dropping some consonants, the
GreeksThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
developed a script which included only what we know of as capital Greek letters. The lower case letters of Classical Greek were a later invention of the Middle Ages. The Phoenician alphabet also influenced the Hebrew and Aramaic scripts, which follow a vowel-less system. One Hebrew script was only used for religious literature and by a small community of Samaritans up until the sixth century BC. Aramaic was the official script of the Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian empires and ‘Square Hebrew’ (the script now used in Israel) developed from Aramaic around the third century AD.
Western handwriting
The Romans in Southern Italy eventually adopted the Greek alphabet as modified by the Etruscans to develop Latin writing. Like the Greeks, the Romans employed stone, metal, clay, and papyrus as writing surfaces. Handwriting styles which were used to produce manuscripts included square capitals,
rustic capitalsRustic capitals is an ancient Roman calligraphic script. As the term is negatively connotated supposing an opposition to the more 'civilized' form of the Roman square capitals Bernhard Bischoff prefers to call the script canonized capitals.Rustic capitals are similar to Roman square capitals, but...
, uncials, and half-uncials. Square capitals were employed for more formal texts based on stone inscriptional letters while rustic capitals freer, compressed, and efficient. Uncials were rounded capitals (majuscules) that originally were developed by the Greeks in the third century BC, but became popular in Latin manuscripts by the fourth century AD. Roman cursive or informal handwriting started out as a derivative of the capital letters, though the tendency to write quickly and efficiently made the letters less precise. Half-uncials (minuscules) were lower case letters, which eventually became the national hand of Ireland. Other combinations of half-uncial and cursive handwriting developed throughout Europe, including Visigothic, and Merovingian.
At the end of the eighth century,
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
decreed that all writings in his empire were to be written in a standard handwriting, which came to be known as
Carolingian minusculeCarolingian or Caroline minuscule is a script developed as a writing standard in Europe so that the Roman alphabet could be easily recognized by the literate class from one region to another. It was used in Charlemagne's empire between approximately 800 and 1200...
. Alcuin of York was commissioned by Charlemagne to create this new handwriting, which he did in collaboration with other scribes and based on the tradition of other Roman handwriting. Carolingian minuscule was used to produce many of the manuscripts from monasteries until the eleventh century and most lower-case letters of today's European scripts derive from it.
Gothic or black-letter script, evolved from Carolingian, became the dominant handwriting from the twelfth century until the Italian Renaissance (1400 AD – 1600 AD). This script was not as clear as the Carolingian, but instead was narrower, darker, and denser. Because of this, the dot above the
i was added in order to differentiate it from the similar pen strokes of the
n,
m, and
u. Also, the letter
u was created as separate from the
v, which had previously been used for both sounds. Part of the reason for such compact handwriting was to save space, since parchment was expensive. Gothic script, being the writing style of scribes in Germany when
GutenbergGutenberg may refer to:People:* Johannes Gutenberg , inventor of movable type printing* Beno Gutenberg , a German-born seismologist* Erich Gutenberg , a German economistPlaces:...
invented movable type, became the model for the first type face. Another variation of Carolingian minuscule was created by the Italian humanists in the fifteenth century, called by them
littera antiqua and now called
humanist minusculeHumanist minuscule is a handwriting or style of script that was invented in secular circles in Italy, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. "Few periods in Western history have produced writing of such great beauty", observes the art historian Millard Meiss...
. This was a combination of Roman capitals and the rounded version of Carolingian minuscule. A cursive form eventually developed and it became increasingly slanted due to the quickness with which it could be written. This manuscript handwriting, called cursive humanistic, became known as the typeface
ItalicIn typography, italic type is a cursive typeface based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, such typefaces often slant slightly to the right. Different glyph shapes from roman type are also usually used—another influence from calligraphy...
used throughout Europe.
Copperplate engraving influenced handwriting as it allowed penmanship copybooks to be more widely printed. Copybooks first appeared in Italy around the sixteenth century; the earliest writing manuals were published by Sigismondo Fanti and Ludovico degli Arrighi. Other manuals were produced by Dutch and French writing masters later in the century, including Pierre Hamon. However, copybooks only became commonplace in England with the invention of copperplate engraving. Engraving could better produce the flourishes in handwritten script, which helped penmanship masters to produce beautiful examples for students. Some of these early penmanship manuals included those of Edward Cocker, John Seddon, and John Ayer. By the eighteenth century, schools were established to teach penmanship techniques from master penmen, especially in England and the United States. Penmanship became part of the curriculum in American schools by the early 1900s, rather than just reserved for specialty schools teaching adults penmanship as a professional skill. Several different penmanship methods have been developed and published, including Spencerian, Getty-Dubay, Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting, Icelandic (Italic), Zaner-Bloser, and D’Nealian methods among others used in American education.
Eastern handwriting
While Roman handwriting has influenced American and European text, different writing systems have developed in the East, including
ChineseChinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
and
JapaneseThe modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:*Kanji, adopted Chinese characters*Kana, a pair of syllabaries , consisting of:...
. Chinese characters represent whole morphemes rather than individual sounds, and consequently are visually far more complex than European scripts; in some cases their pictographic origins are still visible. The earliest form of Chinese was written on bones and shells (called Jiaguwen) in the fourteenth century BC. Other writing surfaces used during this time included bronze, stone, jade, pottery, and clay, which became more popular after the twelfth century BC. Greater Seal script (Dazhuan) flourished during 1100 BC and 700 BC and appeared mainly in bronze vessels. Lesser Seal script (
XiaozhuanLesser Seal Script, or Small Seal Script , or Hsiao-chuan, is an archaic form of Chinese calligraphy. It was standardized by Li Si, prime minister under the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi, and promulgated for use during the first imperial dynasty of China, the Qin DynastyBefore the Qin...
) is the precursor of modern complex Chinese script, which is more stylized than the Greater Seal.
Chinese handwriting is considered an art, more so than illuminated manuscripts in Western culture.
CalligraphyCalligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
is widely practiced in China, which employs cursive scripts such as Kaishu, Xingshu, and Caoshu. Chinese calligraphy is meant to be represent the artistic personality in a way western calligraphy cannot, and therefore penmanship is valued higher than in any other nation. Standard Script (Kaishu) is main traditional script used today, except in the People’s Republic of China. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China introduced simplified characters (jiantizi) to replace Kaishu characters and Singapore has since adopted this script.
Japanese writing evolved from Chinese script and Chinese characters, called
kanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
, or ideograms, were adopted to represent Japanese words and grammar. Kanji were simplified to create two other scripts, called
hiraganais a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
and
katakanais a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
. Hiragana is the more widely used script in Japan today, while katakana, meant for formal documents originally, is used similarly to italics in alphabetic scripts.
Books used in North America
Platt Rogers SpencerPlatt Rogers Spencer was born in East Fishkill, New York, on November 7, 1800, and died in Geneva, Ohio, on May 16, 1864. Spencer is credited as being the originator of Spencerian penmanship, a popular system of cursive handwriting....
is known as the "Father of American Penmanship". His writing system was first published in 1848, in his book
Spencer and Rice's System of Business and Ladies' Penmanship. The most popular Spencerian manual was
The Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, published by his sons in 1866. This "
Spencerian MethodSpencerian Script is a script style that flourished in the United States from 1850 to 1925.Platt Rogers Spencer, whose name the style bears, was impressed with the idea that America needed a penmanship style that could be written quickly, legibly, and elegantly to aid in matters of business...
" was taught in American schools until the mid 1920s, and has seen a resurgence in recent years through charter schools and home schooling using revised Spencerian books and methods produced by former IAMPETH president
Michael SullMichael Sull is an IAMPETH master penman and author living in Mission, Kansas, United States. A world-class expert on penmanship, he was Ronald Reagan's calligrapher after his Presidency and is known worldwide for his skill and teaching ability...
(* 1946).
George A. Gaskell (1845–1886), a student of Spencer, authored two popular books on penmanship,
Gaskell's Complete Compendium of Elegant Writing and
The Penman's Hand-Book (1883).
The dominant copybooks in North America at the start of the 20th century included those produced by
A. N. PalmerAustin Norman Palmer innovated the field of penmanship with the development of the Palmer method of script.-External links:**, including scans of the January 1932 issue of Palmer's American Penman...
, a student of Gaskell, who developed the
Palmer MethodThe Palmer Method of penmanship instruction was developed and promoted by Austin Palmer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It soon became the most popular handwriting system in the United States....
, as reflected in his
Palmer's Guide to Business Writing, published in 1894. Also popular was Zaner-Bloser Script, introduced by
Charles Paxton ZanerCharles Paxton Zaner was an American calligrapher, pen artist, and teacher of penmanship.Zaner was born near Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. He attended G. W. Michael's Pen Art Hall course in penmanship in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1882...
(15 February 1864 – 1 December 1918) and Elmer Ward Bloser (6 November 1865 – 1929) of the Zanerian
Business CollegeA business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a regular University or College...
. The A. N. Palmer Company folded in the early 1980s. Zaner-Bloser continues, and accounts for roughly 40% of handwriting textbook sales in the USA.
Later styles include
D'Nealian ScriptD'Nealian is a style of writing and teaching cursive and print handwriting for English . It was designed to ease the learning of cursive and print handwriting. It was developed by Donald Thurber, who developed the system while teaching in a primary school, and was first introduced in 1978...
and
Getty-DubayGetty-Dubay is a modern version of Italic script developed in 1976 by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay to ease the transition to cursive. Other than strokes to join the letters, only the lower-case letter 'k' and a few upper-case letters have forms different from their printed equivalents...
— both published in 1976. D'Nealian (named after its designer, Donald Neal Thurber) is a derivative of the Palmer Method and uses a slanted, serifed manuscript form followed by an entirely joined and looped cursive of the typical American variety. Getty-Dubay (named after its designers, Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay) is an Italic hand and uses a slightly slanted, optionally serifed Italic manuscript followed by a partially joined, unlooped Italic cursive with letter-forms similar to those of Italic manuscript. D'Nealian accounts for 40% of American handwriting textbook sales; Getty-Dubay, which accounted for less than 1% of American handwriting textbook sales in 1995, by 2003 had come to account for 7% of American handwriting textbook sales.
Other copybook styles comprise more than 200 published textbook curricula, many differing from these and from each other in a variety of ways.
Schools in the East
By the nineteenth century, attention was increasingly given to developing quality penmanship in Eastern schools. Countries which had a writing system based on logographs and syllabaries placed particular emphasis on form and quality when learning. These countries, such as China and Japan, have pictophonetic characters which are difficult to learn. Chinese children start by learning the most fundamental characters first and building to the more esoteric ones. Often, children trace the different strokes in the air along with the teacher and eventually start to write them on paper.
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, there have been more efforts to simplify these systems and standardize handwriting. For example, in China in 1955, in order to respond to illiteracy among people, the government introduced a Romanized version of Chinese script, called Pinyin. However, by the 1960s, people rebelled against the infringement upon traditional Chinese by foreign influences. This writing reform did not help illiteracy among peasants. (However, it does help speakers of phonetic languages learn Chinese.) Japanese also has simplified the Chinese characters it uses into scripts called kana. However kanji are still used in preference over kana in many contexts, and a large part of children's schooling is learning kanji. Moreover, Japan has tried to hold on to handwriting as an art form while not compromising the more modern emphasis on speed and efficiency. In the early 1940s, handwriting was taught twice, once as calligraphy in the art section of school curricula, and then again as a functional skill in the language section. The practical function of penmanship in Japan did not start to be questioned until the end of the twentieth century; while typewriters proved more efficient than penmanship in the modern West, these technologies had a hard time transferring to Japan, since the thousands of characters involved in the language made typing unfeasible.
Challenges of the 21st century
With the increased use of and dependence on computers and word processing systems, many question the relevance of learning penmanship at all. While handwriting was necessary for documents, reports, etc., this is no longer the case today. The majority of formal documents are expected to be typed and most people only use handwriting for informal notes and reminders.
As a result of the change in technology, penmanship and cursive specifically are losing emphasis in schools, especially in the West. Children in the United States usually learn block letters through second grade and move on to cursive in third grade; however, after third grade, handwriting is no longer taught in schools and often students lose the techniques which they learned. According to
College BoardThe College Board is a membership association in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board . It is composed of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It sells standardized tests used by academically oriented...
, in 2005 and 2007 only approximately 15% of students taking the written portion of the SAT preferred to write in cursive over print.
Instead of teaching handwriting, there is increasing importance given to teaching new technology, typing skills, and program familiarity. Even standardized testing is employing the new technologies which have become a part of most aspects of society. For example, rather than writing by hand, 8th and 11th graders will be required to compose the writing test of the
National Assessment of Educational ProgressThe National Assessment of Educational Progress is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in core subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics , within the ...
on computers in 2011 and 4th graders will have the same requirements by 2019.
This is not just a concern in American schools either; similar trends are seen in schools across the world and many fear that technology will cause handwriting to disappear from schools and everyday life. In China, one study reported that Chinese youth are having increasing difficulty remembering how to write characters by hand. According to the study, conducted on 2,072 people, 69% of respondents claimed that they have not received handwritten notes or letters in more than a year and 83% mentioned that they had difficulties writing by hand. This lack of handwriting is seen as a detriment to Chinese culture by many (over 71% believed that this shift will weaken the identity of the Chinese people and civilization).
Efforts to preserve handwriting in the face of computerization include the development of computer software utilizing touch screens to teach handwriting.
Motor control
Handwriting requires the
motor coordinationthumb|right|Motor coordination is shown in this animated sequence by [[Eadweard Muybridge]] of himself throwing a diskMotor coordination is the combination of body movements created with the kinematic and kinetic parameters that result in intended actions. Such movements usually smoothly and...
of multiple joints in the
handA hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs...
,
wristIn human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
,
elbowThe human elbow is the region surrounding the elbow-joint—the ginglymus or hinge joint in the middle of the arm. Three bones form the elbow joint: the humerus of the upper arm, and the paired radius and ulna of the forearm....
, and
shoulderThe human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle , the scapula , and the humerus as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder make up the shoulder joints. The major joint of the shoulder is the glenohumeral joint, which...
to form letters and to arrange them on the page. Holding the pen and guiding it across paper depends mostly upon sensory information from skin, joints and muscles of the hand and this adjusts movement to changes in the friction between pen and paper. With practice and familiarity, handwriting becomes highly automated using motor programs stored in motor memory. Compared to other complex motor skills handwriting is far less dependent on a moment-to-moment visual guidance.
Research in individuals with complete peripheral deafferentation with and without vision of their writing hand finds increase of number of pen touches, increase in number of inversions in velocity, decrease of mean stroke frequency and longer writing movement duration. The changes show that cutaneous and proprioceptive feedback play a critical role in updating the motor memories and
internal modelAn internal model is a postulated neural process that simulates the response of the motor system in order to estimate the outcome of a motor command....
s that underlie handwriting. In contrast, sight provides only a secondary role in adjusting motor commands.
See also
- Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
— the appearance, arrangement, and style of printed text
Types of writing
- Handwriting
Handwriting is a person's particular & individual style of writing with pen or pencil, which contrasts with "Hand" which is an impersonal and formalised writing style in several historical varieties...
, a person's particular style of writing by pen or a pencil
- Hand (handwriting)
A Hand, in calligraphy and palaeography refers to one of several historical varieties of formal, impersonal, generic and exemplary writing styles...
, in palaeography, refers to a distinct generic style of penmanship
- Block letters
Block letters are a form of writing in which the letters are upright, separated, and usually made without serifs. In English-speaking countries children are first taught to write in block letters , and later may advance to cursive writing...
— also called printing is the use of the simple letters children are taught to write when first learning
- Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
— the art of writingWriting is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
itself, generally more concerned with aesthetics for decorative effect than normal handwriting.
- Cursive
Cursive, also known as joined-up writing, joint writing, or running writing, is any style of handwriting in which the symbols of the language are written in a simplified and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing easier or faster...
— any style of handwriting in which all the letters in a word are connected.
Studies of writing and penmanship
- Diplomatics
Diplomatics , or Diplomatic , is the study that revolves around documentation. It is a study that focuses on the analysis of document creation, its inner constitutions and form, the means of transmitting information, and the relationship documented facts have with their creator...
— forensic palaeography (seeks the provenance of written documents).
- Graphology
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
— the study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
.
- Graphonomics
Graphonomics is the interdisciplinary field directed towards the scientific analysis of the handwriting process and the handwritten product. Researchers in handwriting recognition, forensic handwriting examination, kinesiology, psychology, computer science, artificial intelligence, paleography and...
— is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the handwriting process and the handwritten product
- Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
— the study of script.
Penmanship-related professions
- Letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...
— comic book lettering profession.
- Technical lettering
Technical lettering is the process of forming letters, numerals, and other characters in technical drawing. It is used to describe, or provide detailed specifications for, an object...
— the process of forming letters, numerals, and other characters in technical drawing.
- Questioned document examiner
Questioned document examination is the forensic science discipline pertaining to documents that are in dispute in a court of law...
— forensic science discipline which includes handwriting examination
Other penmanship-related topics
- Handwriting in left-handed people
- Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
— is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input
- Regional handwriting variation
Although people in many parts of the world share common alphabets and numeral systems , styles of calligraphy vary...
- Signature
A signature is a handwritten depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying...
External links