Language

What is Grascii?

Grascii is a language for representing Gregg Shorthand forms using the ASCII character set.

Philosophy and Goals

Grascii strives to:

• be intuitive to those already familiar with the Gregg system

• describe shorthand forms accurately and succinctly

• prioritize ease of reading and writing for humans over ease of processing for computers

Gregg Editions

The current definition of Grascii is based on the Preanniversary (1916) edition of Gregg Shorthand.

Given that Preanniversary is almost a superset of all later editions of Gregg, Grascii is capable of representing the majority of shorthand forms across all editions.

Strokes

Shorthand Form	Grascii Representation(s)	Annotation(s)
	K
	G
	R
	L
	N
	M
	T
	D
	TH	( ) ,
	P
	B
	F
	V
	CH
	J
	S, Z	( ) ,
	X	( )
	SH	,
	‘
	NG
	NK
	LD
	A	~ | . ,
	E	~ | . ,
	O	( . ,
	U	) . ,
	EU
	AU
	OE
	I	~ |
	A&E	~ |
	A&’	~ |
	NT, ND
	MT, MD
	TN, DN
	TM, DM
	MN, MM
	DT, TD, DD
	DF, DV, TV
	JNT, JND, PNT, PND
	SS	) (
	XS	) (

Annotations

Annotation	Acceptable Tokens	Description
.	A, E, O, U	Denotes the medium sound of the four standard vowel groups.
,	A, E, O, U	Denotes the long sound of the four standard vowel groups.
,	S, Z, TH, SH	Denotes the more obscure sound of the preceeding consonant. Ex. gas vs. gaze, breath vs. breathe, assure vs. azure.
~	A, E, I, A&’, A&E	Denotes that the preceeding circle vowel is reversed.
|	A, E, I, A&’, A&E	Denotes that the preceeding circle vowel is looped.
)	S, Z, X, SS, XS, TH	When following an S/Z/X/SS/XS, denotes a right S/Z/X/SS/XS. When following an TH, denotes an under TH.
(	S, Z, X, SS, XS, TH	When following an S/Z/X/SS/XS, denotes a left S/Z/X/SS/XS. When following an TH, denotes an over TH.
(	O	Denotes an O on its side.
)	U	Denotes an U on its side.
_	A, E, O, U, I, EU, OU, OE, A&’, A&E	Signifies a W sound to be applied before the preceeding vowel.

Note

The direction of a SS/XS is based on the direction of the tail S. That is, a right SS resembles a longhand “s” whereas a left SS is flipped.

Other Symbols

Symbol	Description
^	When placed between tokens, denotes that the two forms are disjoined. When placed at the end of a form, denotes that the preceeding form lies above the line of writing.
-	When placed between grascii forms, denotes that the two characters should not be interpreted as a blended form. Ex. N-T prevents interpretation on NT.

Examples

Shorthand Form	Grascii	Longhand
	AKEUM^U	Accumulate
	APRXSH	Approximation
	BOLDN	Boldness
	DFINT	Defiant
	FETH)	Feather
	GRAUCH	Grouch
	‘A~MNE	Harmony
	ENKL’	Inkling
	LAFLNG	Lifelong
	PRMT	Prompt
	SA&ENTES	Scientist
	S(E,D	Seared
	TNJNT	Tangent
	TMEDTE	Timidity
	VOEJ	Voyage

Ambiguity

Grascii is moderately ambiguous. However, as the shorthand system is also ambiguous, it is reasonable that Grascii inherits this attribute.

Being ambiguous raises the question of how to interpret Grascii strings. See Interpretation for a discussion on this topic.

Unsupported Language Features

• Grascii does not provide a way of distinguishing between smooth and sharp joinings. There is no plan to make it possible to make this distinction in the future.

• Intersection is currently not implemented. Proposed symbol to denote two intersected characters: \.

• RD is currently not implemented as it does not appear in Gregg 1916, although, it is a form in subsequent versions.

• There is no way of distinguishing the capitalization of a form.

• The under joining/short vowel sound is not included.