Hooks are used to indicate the sounds of R, L, N, F/V
and Shun/Zhun, as alternatives to the full strokes. The table below
is for revision/overview purposes and the main hooks pages cover the rules in detail. Attempting to learn the hooks
from this table alone is not advised and will lead to errors in
their use.
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Small hooks are
approximately one fifth the length of the stroke. They are
similar size to Circle S but without being closed up.
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Large hooks are
approximately one third the length of the stroke.
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Hooks are never in
any circumstances written on the outside of curves.
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Hooks are always
written thin, never thick.
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On straight
strokes, the beginning of the hook is written parallel to the
stroke, it does not curl round. Any curling would tend to look like
either a plain circle S or a circle S attached to the hook.
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In some
combinations the hook is slightly deformed to allow the joining,
e.g. "cudgel" under stroke Jay. This is the correct way, the
hook should not be curled round in such combinations. Where
alternative forms are available i.e. reversed F V Ith Thee, and
strokes that can be written either up or down, it is generally
possible to avoid a less-than-perfect hook; although sometimes
the formation of other parts of the outline have to take
precedence over the exact formation of the hook.
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Keep the hooks open so
they do not look like circle or loops.
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Keep the small
hooks small and the big hooks big – ensure there is a good
difference between the size that you write them.
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The small
hooks remain the same size regardless of whether the stroke is
halved, full or doubled. The large hooks may be reduced in
length slightly when the stroke is halved, to maintain
legibility – do not reduce the depth, lest it be mistaken for a
small hook.
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In the R and L
hook series, the hooked strokes have names – Per, Pel, Sher, Shel etc.,
so that they can be referred to easily, although the name is not
quite in keeping with the primary use of the R and L hooks i.e.
no vowel in the middle.
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The
hooks always represent something after the stroke, even
though with initial hooks the pen will write the hook part
first.
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In
the table below, impossible
combinations are shown with a dash.
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Some combinations
are theoretically possible but no examples are forthcoming,
these are thus marked, for future new words or non-English
names. These unused combinations may be employed when
creating advanced shortcuts, where a hook may serve to represent a whole word e.g. Shun for "association".
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