A chord keyboard for iPhone and iPad
Say a word slowly. Press its sounds together, like a chord on a piano. Thorn shorthand spells the word for you.
Take the word cat. Said slowly, it is three sounds: k, a, t. You do not need to spell it. You only need to hear it.
Each finger covers one place in the mouth, so the keys follow how you speak, not how you spell. Press the three sounds together, then lift.
A word list does the spelling. You pressed k, a, t, and the page shows cat. One chord writes one syllable, so a long word is a short run of chords.
Tap a word to see which keys are held down. They all go down together, because a chord is one press.
Choose a word
Sounds k a t The page shows cat
Left K, A, right T. One finger for each sound.
Writing by chord is an old idea. A stenographer presses several keys at once, and one stroke writes a whole word or part of one. It is fast, and it is hard to learn, because each system asks you to memorise thousands of outlines. Thorn keeps the chord and drops the memorising.
The little finger is the hiss: S, Z and SH. The ring finger is the back of the tongue: K, G and NG. The middle finger is the lips: P, B and M. The index finger is the tip of the tongue: T, D and N. Press both keys of a finger and you get the related nasal.
Put a finger on your throat and say s, then z. The z buzzes. On the board t sits over d, p over b and k over g. Learn one key and its neighbour comes free.
Four thumb keys write the vowels, alone or in groups. You can work out most chords from the sounds, instead of learning them by rote. If you can say a word slowly, you can write it.
A page on top and the board underneath. Turn the phone sideways, press a chord, and the word appears. The keys can lean to follow the angle of your fingers.
Add names and rare words with your own spelling. Your words win over the shared list, and they follow you between your devices through iCloud.
Look up any word and see its chord. Tap a row and the keys light on the board.
Show ordinary spelling, or switch to sound spelling to see exactly what you pressed.
To, two and too share a chord. Press one key straight after the word to change the spelling.
Use a Bluetooth keyboard if you prefer. One that reports many keys at once works best.
Thorn is a new system, so three things are worth knowing before you start.
