Stenograph Luminex Captioner Student Edition, User Manual, Page: 13 / 50

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Luminex Captioner/Student User Guide Chapter 2 Understanding the Shorthand Machine
Similar to a typewriter, your fingers have a home position on the keyboard as shown in the previous
diagram. Notice that the Vowel keys are slightly lower than the other three banks of keys. This allows
for the natural position of your thumbs.
Unlike the typewriter where each key is pressed one at a time, any number or all of the keys on a
shorthand machine can be "stroked,” or pressed down at the same time. This means that a machine
shorthand writer can write an entire word, syllable, or phrase in just one stroke. Although the keyboard
does not contain all the letters of the alphabet, letters are used in combination to identify the remaining
consonants. You will also notice, that while some letters do not appear at all, other letters appear
twice.
The machine shorthand keyboard was designed to write sounds. Most word and syllable sounds
begin with one or more consonants, followed by a vowel, and end with one or more consonants. For
example: R E D; SH O P; ST A RT. While the machine shorthand writer may write words exactly as
they are spelled, R E D or SH O P, they often are writing the words or syllables as they phonetically
hear them. For example, in two strokes they may write "courthouse"-- K O R T/H O U S or
"workhorse"-- WORBG/HORS. The writer may also record an entire phrase in just one stroke, "state
your name"-- ST A U R PL or "could you tell us" -- KOUTS. The machine automatically creates
spaces between the strokes, so the writer never needs to take their fingers off the keyboard to press a
Return or Enter key.
Computer software translates each stroke or group of strokes immediately into text by comparing the
strokes to an electronic table of words and phrases called a "dictionary." This dictionary automatically
provides for correct spelling of words, punctuation and spacing between words. Once the steno
strokes are translated into words, text editing software is used to make corrections and to produce a
final printed transcript.
The first shorthand machines were developed in the late 1800s and have evolved over time to the
present-day Luminex Captioner/Luminex Captioner/Student Edition. To learn more about the evolution
of the shorthand machine that brought the technology to this point, visit www.stenograph.com and
view “The History of Machine Shorthand.”