Preliminary Thoughts on Nomenclature for Teachers of Handwriting

Abstract

This paper draws attention to the need for a useful nomenclature for handwriting and suggests sets of terms for use by those concerned with the teaching of handwriting and research into it. Reference is made to papers on nomenclature in the related field of printing types and to the recommendations of a study group of the Working Party on Typographic Teaching in Britain. Terms are proposed for categories of letters, the main parts of letters, descriptions of orientation, variant forms of letters, the real or notional lines associated with handwriting and ways of referring to heights. These terms are intended specifically for use by teachers and other specialists in handwriting. (It is accepted that good teachers will develop their own terms when working with young children.) The recommended terms are set out in a series of tables along with terms commonly used by different groups of specialists: teachers, writers of handwriting books, those who write about paleography and letterforms, and specialists in printing and computing. The terms used by teachers were gleaned from a small, uncontrolled survey. This revealed a reluctance or inability of many teachers to describe parts of letterforms and features associated with them and considerable variation in the use of terms. This survey suggested that a larger-scale project of a similar kind should be undertaken.