Editing Abugida (section)

===Shorthand===
Several systems of [[shorthand]] use diacritics for vowels, but they do not have an inherent vowel, and are thus more similar to [[Thaana]] and [[Kurdish alphabet|Kurdish script]] than to the Brahmic scripts. The [[Gabelsberger shorthand]] system and its derivatives modify the ''following'' consonant to represent vowels. The [[Pollard script]], which was based on shorthand, also uses diacritics for vowels; the placements of the vowel relative to the consonant indicates [[tone (linguistics)|tone]]. [[Pitman shorthand]] uses straight strokes and quarter-circle marks in different orientations as the principal "alphabet" of consonants; vowels are shown as light and heavy dots, dashes and other marks in one of 3 possible positions to indicate the various vowel-sounds. However, to increase writing speed, Pitman has rules for "vowel indication"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitmanshorthand.homestead.com|title=The Joy of Pitman Shorthand|website=pitmanshorthand.homestead.com}}</ref> using the positioning or choice of consonant signs so that writing vowel-marks can be dispensed with.