Regional handwriting variation

Although people in many parts of the world share common alphabets and numeral systems (variations on the Latin Writing System are used throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia, and much of Africa; the Hindu-Arabic numerals are nearly universal), styles of calligraphy vary. This results in the "regional accent" in handwriting.

The variation within a geographical region depends upon several factors:

Contents

Arabic numerals

The numerals used by Western countries have two common forms. "In-line" or "full-height" form is that used on typewriters and taught in North America, in which all numerals have the same height as the majuscule alphabet (i.e., the capital letters). In "old style" text figures, numerals 0, 1, and 2 are x-height; numerals 6 and 8 have bowls within x-height, plus ascenders; numerals 3, 5, 7, and 9 have descenders from x-height, with 3 resembling ʒ; and the numeral 4 extends a bit both up and down from x-height. Old-style numerals are often used by British presses, which sometimes results in confusion because of the numeral 1's resemblance to a shortened majuscule letter I. Aside from these two main forms, other regional variations abound. The numeral one also can be confused with the lower case serif l.

The numeral 0 — Some writers put a diagonal slash through the numeral 0 (zero), a practice that may have originated with early, low-resolution computer terminals which displayed a slashed "zero" glyph to distinguish it from the capital letter O. This practice is confusing to speakers of Danish and Norwegian languages containing the letter "Ø", and they prefer to place a dot in the center of zero for this purpose. Additional forms that avoid confusion with Danish include one with the use of a tick, that is, a slash that does not cross the entire bowl of the figure, but entirely lies in the upper right; a form found in Germany with a completely vertical slash; and one with a slash from upper left to lower right. Mathematicians avoid all of these practices, which obscure distinction between the numeral 0, the empty set symbol (\empty), and the Greek letters phi (φ) and theta (θ). Confusion between the numeral 0 and the letter O can be resolved by using a script letter O (with a loop at the top), and leaving the numeral 0 without embellishments; this was a common practice before use of the slashed zero became the norm.

The numeral 1 — In mainland China, Taiwan, and parts of Europe, this numeral is written with an ear at the top extending downward and to the left which resembles a serif. People in some parts of Europe extend this ear nearly the whole distance to the baseline. It is sometimes — but less frequently — written with horizontal serifs at the base; without them it can resemble the common North American 7, which has a near-vertical stroke without a crossbar, and a shorter horizontal top stroke. In North America, the numeral 1 is often written as a plain vertical line without an ear at the top. This form is easily confused with the capital letter I and with the lower-case letter l.

The numeral 2 — In Germany and Austria a "curly" version used to be taught and is still used by many in handwriting. The 2 can be confused with a capital script Q, or a letter Z.

The numeral 3 — In Taiwan, the top is often written with a diagonal line from the top-left, and the overall figure may be so changed that to foreigners it is completely unrecognizable as even being a number.

The numeral 4 — Some people leave the top "open" — all the lines are vertical or horizontal, as in a seven segment display. This makes it easier to distinguish from the numeral 9. Whether the horizontal bar terminates at or crosses the right vertical bar is insignificant in the West, but to be distinguished from certain Chinese characters it must cross.

The numeral 5 — In Taiwan, the left vertical bar is extended upwards as a long stem. If this is slanted sloppily the overall figure may more closely resemble an uppercase Y. If casually written can be confused with a letter S.

The numeral 6 — Can be confused with a letter capital "G", or the lower case letter "b", or the "9" if inverted.[1]

The numeral 7 — The traditional form found in copperplate penmanship begins with a serif at the upper left and has a wavy horizontal stroke (a swash). In China and Japan, this numeral is commonly written with such a serif, but no swash and no crossbar through the middle. In North America is it usually written with just two strokes, the top horizontal and the (usually angled) vertical. A short horizontal bar sometimes is used to cross the vertical in the middle, to distinguish the seven from a numeral one. This form is used commonly throughout Europe and frequently in Australia, but less so in North America. One major exception is in the physical sciences and mathematics since the crossbar helps distinguish the numeral 7 from the numeral 2. In Taiwan it is possible to use two horizontal bars, although an exaggerated serif is the feature which most clearly distinguishes 7 from 1. When the cross is added in the center it can cause confusion with a script capital F.

The numeral 9 — In parts of Europe, this numeral is written with the vertical ending in a hook at the bottom. This version resembles how the lowercase letter g is commonly written. () In North America and elsewhere, the usual shape is to draw the vertical straight to the baseline. In South Korea, the 9 is written with the loop above or even to the right of the stick. The backwards version can also be found in Southern Taiwan.

The Latin writing system

The lowercase letter a — In standard "Latin" type, the lowercase letter a has a hook on the top (and is called the "hook a"), unlike the form taught in elementary schools, which is also used in italic type. That form is called the "bowl a" (ɑ).

The lowercase letter e — Because ink has a tendency to fill the bowl of this letter, two variations have appeared. One is a mirror-image of the common Arabic numeral "3" (ε), which is also called "open E" or "Greek E". Another form is a "C" with a hyphen stroke coming out of the center (є).

The lowercase letter g — The lowercase letter g has a wide variety of shapes. The form seen in standard roman type differs widely from that taught in elementary schools (and italic type), having an "ear" at the upper right and a descender that starts from the left and ends in a bowl, rather than a loop. It ultimately derives from the Celtic alphabet, but was chosen solely to decrease the length of descenders and fit more lines of print on a page.

The lowercase letter p — In italic type, this lowercase letter often has a half-way ascender as the vertical extension of the descender. This is a development of the French way of writing this character, which also does not complete the bowl at the bottom. In early Finnish writing, the curve to the bottom was omitted, thus the resulting letter resembled a 'n' with a descender ('ɲ').

The lowercase letter q — In block letters, some Europeans like to cross the descender to prevent confusion with the numeral 9, which also can be written with a straight stem. This has recently appeared in a set of letter stick-ons published in the U.S. In North America the descender often ends with a hook curving up to the right. ()

The lowercase letter r — For a form used in the Middle Ages, see half r.

The lowercase letter s — See long s.

The lowercase letter t — The lowercase letter t is sometimes replaced by a small version of the capital t (T), reminiscent of the Greek letter tau.

The lowercase letters u and v — These letters have a common origin and were once written according to the location in the word rather than the sound. The v came first; the u originally had a loop extending to the left and was only used to start words. All other locations for either u or v were written with the latter. In Germany (especially southern Germany), Austria and Switzerland, lowercase u is often written with a horizontal stroke or swish over it (ū, ũ), to distinguish it from n.

The lowercase letter z — This letter comes in a variety of forms, many with loops and tails.

The capital letter A — Two common variations are the usual triangle on legs, which in some artistic drawings lacks the crossbar (Λ), and an enlarged version of the "bowl a" (ɑ). On road signs in Ireland, and sometimes elsewhere, a form that goes back to the handwriting of the Middle Ages can be seen, that which has the cross-bar droop in the middle.

The capital letter J — In Germany, this letter is often written with a long stroke to the left at the top. This is to distinguish it from the capital letter "I," which the Germans like to reserve as a roman numeral.

The capital letter S — In Japan, this letter is often written with a single serif added to the end of the stroke. In North America, it is rarely written with serifs.

The capital letter Z — In North America and China this letter is usually written with three strokes. In parts of Europe such as Germany and Spain, it is commonly written with a short horizontal crossbar added through the middle. This version is sometimes preferred in mathematics in other regions, to help distinguish it from the numeral 2. In Polish, the character Ƶ is used as an allographic variant of the letter Ż. In Japan it is often written with a short diagonal crossbar through the middle. ()

Slant

The slant of a sample of writing is a reflection of the copybook that is taught.

Copybook Slant When used Where used
w/o Tears 90  ???? USA
Carolingian 90 9th Century Europe
Humanistic Hand 90 9th Century Europe
Zaner-Bloser  ?? 1904 USA
D'Nealian 85 1978 USA
Getty-Dubay 85 1976 USA
Palmer Method 85 1884 USA
Barchowsky 80 1997 Western Australia
Copperplate 55 17th Century England / Europe
SmithHand 55 2000 USA
Spanish Copybook 55 1650 Central Spain
Spencerian Script 50 1886 USA

From the data in the table, it should be obvious that slant alone can not be used to determine where a writing sample originates from, or when it was written.

See also

References

  1. ^ A study of confusing letters

Day, Lewis Foreman (1911), Penmanship of the XVI, XVII & XVIIIth Centuries (First ed.), London: B. T. Batsford; New York: C. Scribner's Sons., http://www.archive.org/details/penmanshipofxvix00dayluoft