Course:ETEC540/2009WT1/Assignments/ResearchProject/FromHandwritingToTypingwriting/Handwriting

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The History of Handwriting

It is hard to determine where to begin in the development of handwriting, as it has its roots as far back as Sumerian cuneiform around 3300 BC, and grew through the writing of the Phoenicians, Greeks, Etruscans and Romans through to the fourth century BC. (SAFDE) Different languages developed different forms of handwriting, based on the technology that was available to them, as well, but this assignment will focus on English handwriting and its direct roots in the Roman (Latin) alphabet.

That being said, it is important to remember that the first real alphabet is thought to have been created by the Greeks between 800 and 775 BC, with the letters derived from Phoenician consonants – Phoenician consonants that were unnecessary were used as vowels. (Houston, 2004.) This alphabet was eventually adapted by the Romans, who included additional consonants to reflect their language. (SAFDE) While the Greek alphabet tended to spread (with adaptations) eastward throughout Asia Minor and into Egypt, the Roman alphabet dominated most of the European languages, its relatively rapid spread due in large part to the spread of Roman Catholicism, (Houston, 2004) and therefore coincided with the shift from scroll to codex (Grout, 2002; Fischer, 2004)

The Beginnings of Cursive Handwriting

At first, Romans used only capital letters (majuscule writing) [picture needed], including more serifs than the Greeks, but this practice generally stopped by the fifth century AD. (Fischer, 2004) The uncial form [picture needed] was used exclusively for biblical writing in Italy, and through the eighth century a half-uncial form, in lower case letters (miniscule), was common throughout Europe. (Fischer, 2004) [picture needed] In the eighth century, the Carolingian miniscule script [picture needed] “became Europe’s most important script and determined the course of writing in the West until the Renaissance,” (Fischer, 2004, p. 249) standardizing the form of letters throughout Europe, greatly improving readability. This standardization was enforced through the copying of scripts in monasteries throughout Europe.

The Humanist miniscule [picture needed] was developed in the early 1400’s, followed by a Humanist cursive [picture needed]; the Humanist miniscule, also known as Antiqua, was the predecessor to the modern typeface, whereas the Humanist cursive is now known as italic. (Fischer, 2004)

Gothic and italic [pictures needed] forms of calligraphy developed throughout the twelfth through fifteenth centuries, (SAFDE) but it wasn’t until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when cursive, connected handwriting increased in popularity. This is due significantly to the creation of the printing press, which allowed for “instruction manuals” for handwriting, such as the Operina of Arrighi aka Vicentino, a 1522 writing manual, (SAFDE)

The closest connection to modern English cursive handwriting was the Flemish Ronde Hand in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries [picture needed], which “[could] be rapidly executed because its letters [could] be joined together continuously without pen lifts.” (SAFDE) Ronde led to the development of English Round Hand [picture needed], more common in England, and Spencerian [picture needed], which was an adapted English Round Hand taught in the United States until 1890, although it was difficult for the average person to learn. (SAFDE) The Palmer Business Hand was developed in New York in 1905, and rapidly spread throughout North America. [youtube video]

Available Technology in the Twentieth Century

Through the most part of the twentieth century, pen and ink and later the fountain pen, along with inexpensive paper, were the primary technologies for handwriting. (video: sheaffer) Later, pencils and ball-point pens took the place of the fountain pen, creating changes in the way letters were formed, primarily due to the lack of thick-and-thin lines formed by the nib of the fountain pen. (source needed)

Teaching English Handwriting

The twentieth century saw the most prolific practice of handwriting instruction in North American schools. Today, there are arguments for teaching handwriting in that it “forges connections between the left and right brain, develops motor skills, and encourages cognitive learning,” possibly even curtailing attention deficit disorder. (Bowerman, 2007)

A prevalent practice throughout most of the history of handwriting instruction was to force students to write using their right hand, even if they were left-handed. In the early years, this was largely due to the available technology: left-handed writing, left-to-right writing, fountain pen, and ink, did not meld well. Even as pencils and quick-drying ink in ballpoint pens took the place of the fountain pen, still this practice continued, sometimes using brain research (left- and right-brain functionality in language) to support it. (Dewey, 2004) Modern science, however, has determined that there is no difference in the areas of brain activation between left- and right-handed writers. (Dewey, 2004)

One of the difficulties with teaching both print and cursive writing, including both upper and lower case letters, is that students have to learn not just 26 printed letters but 42 (as some capitals and small letters are the same), along with another set of cursive forms of the letters. (Fischer, 2004) This led to newer forms of both print and cursive writing that more closely resembled each other, such as the D’Nealian style [picture needed] from the mid 1970’s. (Wikipedia – find other source!)