Steno layouts and supported languages

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Revision as of 18:19, 11 February 2024 by Rice (talk | contribs) (→‎Languages)

A chorded system, or system for short, is a set of rules for Plover that determines the keys, language rules, and default dictionaries in Plover. System Plugins allow Plover to support different machine types and languages other than English.

The American Ward Stone Ireland Stenotype is the default layout in Plover, and what we teach and recommend by default. However, there are many different chorded systems worldwide and some of them have been implemented in Plover.

Note that not all of these systems have been fully implemented; many of them are probably not going to be implemented in Plover, but they have been listed so that you may use them as a reference should you choose to create your own layout/system.

For systems proposed for implementation, check out the issues list.

🔴 Not supported in Plover
🟠 Work in progress, not actively updated or maintained
🟡 Work in progress
🟢 Stable and available for Plover

Languages

Stenotype (Ireland)

The default system in Plover. Used internationally for English-language transcription, invented in the United States in 1913.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Plover Mirabai Knight English Phonetic Built-in 147k entries Learning Resources
🟢 Lapwing Aerick English Phonetic Built-in 130k entries Learning Resources
🟡 Cocoa Kaoffie English Phonetic Built-in
🟢 LaSalle Claire Lefebvre-Yelle French Phonetic Built-in 4.2k entries Non-realtime-capable theory, taught at the École de sténographie judiciaire du Québec
🟡 Pluvier Vermoot French Phonetic Realtime-capable theory based on LaSalle
🟢 Easy Korean Steno Peter Park Korean Orthographic Requires plover-python-dictionary Python Dictionary
🟢 Stanley's Stanley Sakai Spanish Phonetic Built-in 12k entries
🟢 EO Variant Eliseo Ocampos Spanish Phonetic plover-spanish-system-eo-variant 71k entries Developed for the default Plover layout, proposes a syllabic system trading-off a little of abbreviations for consistent rules.
🔴 Marino Spanish Phonetic Spanish theory used in the Argentine Senate, along with Spanish Grandjean.

Overview Facebook Page

🟢 Trillo Finnish Priscilla Trillo Finnish Phonetic 49k entries Textbook (in Finnish)
🟢 Aerick's Aerick Vietnamese Orthographic Built-in 7k entries Learning Resources
🟢 plover-vi user202729 Vietnamese Orthographic plover-vi
🟡 Hindi Devanagari winston Hindi Phonetic N/A 1,404 entries Home Page

Shavian

Shavian is an alternate alphabet for English; the Shavian Stenotype is a steno system designed to be used on a regular English Stenotype keyboard.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟠 Magpie Lynn (Ruma) English (Shavian) Orthographic Capable of both Shavian and orthodox (Latin script) translation

Brazilian Stenograph

Brazilian Portuguese system used by Paulo Paniago, published in the textbook Transcrição em Tempo Real: Teoria da Estenotipia compatível com o computador. Also included in some Stenograph machines.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Brazilian Stenograph Randall Adam Czerenda, Jucineia J. de Andrade Pereira Portuguese Phonetic plover-portuguese 4k entries<br>(available on the Plover Discord)

Czech Stenograph

The Czech layout that comes built-in on some Stenograph machines, including the latest Luminex II.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Czech Stenograph Czech Phonetic

Greek Stenograph

The Greek layout that built into some Stenograph/Stentura machines. Not much is known about this layout.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Greek Stenograph Greek Phonetic

Hebrew Stenograph

The Hebrew layout that built into some Stenograph/Stentura machines. Not much is known about this layout.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Hebrew Stenograph Hebrew Phonetic

Turkish Stenograph

The Turkish layout that comes built-in on some Stenograph machines, including the latest Luminex II.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Turkish Stenograph Turkish Phonetic

Russian Stenograph

The Russian layout that built into some Stenograph/Stentura machines. Not much is known about this layout.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Russian Stenograph Russian Phonetic

Spanish Stenograph

The Spanish layout that comes built-in on some Stenograph machines, including the latest Luminex II.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Spanish Stenograph Spanish Phonetic

German Stenograph

German stenography system for Plover based on the not realtime capable theory of the book "Deutsches System der computerkompatiblen Stenografie". This book can be found in the university library of Dresden and can be read via interlibrary loan. This is also the system that is built into some Stenograph machines.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 German Stenograph German Phonetic plover-german

Regenpfeifer

A German steno system based on a modified English stenotype layout; the -Z key is replaced with -N.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟠 Regenpfeifer Martin Körner German Phonetic plover-regenpfeifer 219k entries Dictionary generator

German Syllatype

A syllabic and orthographic system with the mission to be more intuitive and easy to learn.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Syllatype YAMERO German Orthographic plover-german-syllatype 5k+ entries (syllables)

42triangles' Kana System

Simple kana input system designed to work alongside the English layout to input Japanese without switching steno systems.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 42triangles' Kana System 42triangles Japanese Orthographic (Mora + Coda)

Romaji-only

Relies on a user IME

Willem's Kana System

A way to write Japanese kana in steno. This is not focused on speed; instead it is meant to be easy to learn for English steno users while still being reasonably efficient. It uses the standard English layout.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Willem's Kana System Willem Sonke Japanese Orthographic (Mora + Coda)<br>Romaji-only plover-japanese-kana Relies on a user IME

Danish Hjejle

A Danish steno dictionary based on the standard English layout with slight modifications. While the layout is different from the standard English one, this system does not come with a separate system plugin and uses the default English one, so the tape output might not reflect the actual phonetic value of each stroke.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Hjejle Lars Rune Præstmark Danish Phonetic Built-in 5k entries

Melani

Italian

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Melani Italian Orthographic plover-melani Stenolab

Spanish

Spanish system based on the Melani Italian layout, used at MQD.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 MQD Melani Noelia Ruiz Martínez Spanish Phonetic plover-spanish-mqd 11k entries

Russian

Not much is known about this layout; see thplover-thstenois discussion about Russian steno.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Melani Russian Phonetic

Thai Steno

A work-in-progress Thai steno system.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟠 Thai Steno Parnikkapore Thai Phonetic plover-thsteno

Jade's Dutch System

Dutch steno system that uses a modified version of the English stenotype layout with one extra G key on the left.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Jade's Dutch System Jade Geels Dutch Phonetic plover-dutch 3.4k entries

Willem's Dutch System

Dutch steno system that uses a modified English stenotype layout. It was made to be as similar as possible to the default English system to minimize confusion between the two; nevertheless, quite a few differences are unavoidable to make the system practical.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Willem's Dutch System Willem Sonke Dutch Phonetic plover-dutch 7.7k entries

Grandjean

The Grandjean Stenotype was created in 1909; it is also known as the "Continental" layout by some manufacturers and is the preferred phonetic system in France (The orthographic Velotype system is more commonly used for transcribing many TV programs and broadcasts).

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Grandjean French Phonetic plover-grandjean 690k+ entries GitHub
🔴 Grandjean Spanish Phonetic Asociacion Española de Estenotipistas

Michela

A piano-like keyboard layout, widely used in Italy. The English adaptation is drawn from the "Method for the English language" included in the machine's 1878 American patent.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Michela Sillabix Italian Phonetic plover-michela 103k entries Manual
🟡 Michela Sillabix English Phonetic plover-michela 150 entries Manual
🟡 Midi4Text Sillabix Italian Orthographic plover-midi4text 95k entries Manual
🟡 Midi4Text Sillabix English Orthographic plover-midi4text 159k entries Manual

Possum Palantype

The Possum Palantype is a system invented in the UK which was optimized to have readable shorthand notes (the untranslated output). It has more keys than the Ireland layout. It is still used by some STTRs worldwide for writing in English.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Palantype English Phonetic plover-palantype 21k entries Learn Palantype
🔴 Swedish Palantype Swedish Phonetic plover-swedish-palantype 87k entries Swedish Theory

Plover German Palantype

German steno system based on the Possum Palantype layout with two additional keys.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 German Palantype German Phonetic plover-palantype-german 85k entries

Ruben Moor's German Palantype

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟡 German Palantype Ruben Moor German Phonetic 100k entries, with plans to expand to 2 million Tutorial

Trillo

Trillo Russian

A realtime theory for Russian writing based on the Tréal machine.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Trillo Russian Priscilla Trillo Russian Phonetic plover-russian-trillo 15k entries Textbook (in mixed English/Russian)

Trillo West Slavic

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Trillo West Slavic Priscilla Trillo Czech, Slovak, Polish Phonetic Textbook

Yawei

Yawei

Yawei is the most commonly used Chinese stenotype system - it is widely used in Mainland China and Taiwan and uses Pinyin without tones as its main way of inputing characters; learners are required to memorize the positions of homophones based on their position in a frequency-based selection menu for fast character entry.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟡 Yawei (亚伟) Mandarin (Traditional / Simplified) Symmetric Toneless Pinyin Wikipedia

MaaJik

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟡 MaaJik (孖翼) Sammi de Guzman, Samuel Lo Cantonese (Traditional) Symmetric Toneless Jyutping plover-maajik 314k entries

SanSan

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟠 SanSan (珊々) Sammi de Guzman Cantonese (Traditional) Symmetric Toneless Jyutping Steno Explainers

TCIM

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟡 TCIM (千鳥詞注) Quisette C Mandarin (Traditional) Symmetric Toneless Zhuyin plover-tcim

EXun

EXun is a Mandarin steno system used in Mainland China. Not much is known about it other than the fact that it is based on pinyin and uses a structure system for individual character input.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 EXun (E 讯) Mandarin (Simplified) Symmetric Toneless Pinyin

Suoheng

Very little is known about the Suoheng system and there are no plans to implement it in Plover.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Suoheng (索恒) Mandarin (Simplified) Symmetric Toneless Pinyin

Korean CAS

The Computer Aided Steno-machine, or CAS, was developed by Korea Steno and features one of the two modern stenography systems for Korean in use today.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟡 CAS Korean Orthographic (Initial/Medial/Final) with Briefs plover-korean ("Korean Modern C") Theory documentation

Korean Sorizava

Sorizava, developed by a company of the same name, is the second of the modern stenography systems for Korean in use today and the more recent to have been created.

The Sorizava system is not currently under development. There are partial pieces of an implementation in plover-korean but outside of a partial dictionary no theory materials have been obtained to progress further.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🔴 Sorizava Korean Orthographic (Initial/Medial/Final) with Briefs plover-korean ("Korean Modern S")

Sokutaipu

Also known as the Stentura (ステンチュラ) layout. The two sides are symmetric and are each in charge of a syllable, while the thumb is in charge of connecting the two sides; there are also one-side briefs that can be mirrored on the other side or merged.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Sokutaipu (ソクタイプ) Japanese Semi-Symmetric 2 Mora + 1 Coda

Pure Kana

plover-japanese-sokutaipu 365k entries Kana table

StenoWord

The preferred Japanese steno system for NHK live captions; the left hand is for consonants and the right hand is for vowels.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 StenoWord (ステノワード) Japanese Orthographic 1-Syllable

Pure Kana

plover-japanese-stenoword 2.6k entries Kana table

Frag's Japanese System

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟡 Frag's Japanese System Frag Japanese Symmetric 2 Mora + 2 Coda

Stucture-based kanji conversion

A Japanese steno system created for the Georgi machine; the layout is symmetrical to allow the user to type one kanji on'yomi on each side. This system also addresses the problem of inaccurate kanji conversions in existing systems by introducing a way for users to directly input kanji using a structure-based system where most common kanji can be entered in just one stroke.

This is the updated version of the Japanese layout available on TypeyType.

Hachidori

Japanese steno system created to fix all the downsides of Sokutaipu and introduce an intuitive Kanji input system. The system is symmetrical and each side is capable of inputting a full on'yomi; the layout is designed to keep as many keys from the English layout in the same position as possible whilst also maintaining compatibility with as many hobbyist keyboards as possible.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟡 Hachidori (はちどり) Kaoffie Japanese Symmetric 2 Mora + 2 Coda

Velotype

The Velotype is an orthographic system designed to support many European languages. It has also been implemented as a separate app in Qweyboard by kqr.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Velotype English, Dutch Orthographic plover-syllabic-chording Official website

Jackdaw

An orthographic system based entirely on spelling rather than phonetics, allowing the user to type any word as long as they know the spelling.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Jackdaw English Orthographic plover-jackdaw-alt1 Learn Plover! Jackdaw tutorial

Kinglet

Kinglet was an attempt to create a spelling-based steno system that would have a theoretical speed equal to Plover (about 1 word per stroke). It succeeds in doing this at the cost of a high degree of finger contortion and accuracy in each individual finger, making it difficult to use.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Kinglet Zachary Brown English Orthographic Plover 2.5.8 modified for Kinglet Learn Plover! Kinglet tutorial

Phenrsteno

Phenrsteno is a machine shorthand theory implemented as a system for Plover. It's designed for non-rhotic accents—British English in particular—but really anyone might like to use it or adapt it to their own idiolect.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Phenrsteno Gregory Chamberlain English Phonetic plover-phenrsteno 15k entries Phenrsteno wiki

Plover Czech

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟠 Plover Czech Ashlynn Anderson Czech Phonetic plover-czech

Especias

Finnish Especias

An orthographic system (spelling-based) for Finnish capable of writing Swedish loadwords. The layout allows writing two "vowels" and two "consonants" per stroke. The available consonants include a few consonant clusters, and the first vowel must be from a list of mostly short vowels and the second vowel is chosen from one of two lists to match the frontness of the first vowel.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Especias Lars Rune Præstmark Finnish Orthographic Built-in Dictionary

Spanish Especias

A layout that allows writing two "vowels" and two "consonants" per stroke. It uses the same layout as Finnish, except for one of the colon keys being replaced with an s to write plurals.

Author Language Type Plugin Dictionary Notes
🟢 Especias Lars Rune Præstmark Spanish Orthographic Built-in Dictionary