Comparative Research On Handwriting Habits

The scientific nature of handwriting identification has been challenged, especially thecountries which using English have reservations about the validity of the conclusion ofhandwriting identification. However, the author has been convinced that both Chinese andEnglish handwriting identification are built on the scientific basis. To solve this problem is thepremise of solving any other problem of handwriting identification. So it is very important.The author chooses her mother tongue-Chinese and the worldwide language-English as theobject. This paper begins with the writing habits which are the object of handwritingidentification, briefly introduces the concept, formation, developing process of writing habitsand the relationship between the writing habits and handwriting identification. Then, thehistory of the configuration of the two kinds of characters and writing systems are introduced.Through comparing the system of writing habits, particularity constitution of writing habitsand characteristics of Chinese with English, it can be shown essentially the scientific nature ofhandwriting identification of Chinese. From the front, it concludes that the configuration ofChinese characters is more complex than that of English characters, corresponding that thewriting habits of Chinese are more sophisticated, the personality is stronger, the commonnature is weaker. So under certain conditions, either from the basic theory of handwritingidentification, or identifying a small amount of writing and disguised handwriting, thehandwriting identification of Chinese is built on more scientific basis than that of English.The paper is composed of four parts.The first part is the outline of writing habits. It is the theoretical basis of studying thescientific nature of handwriting identification. This section introduces the concept, formation,developing process of writing habits and the relationship between the writing habits andidentification. Writing habits become the object of handwriting identification, because theyare unique, relatively stable and reflected. Handwriting identification is based on the principlethat every person is different. The writing habits are affected by physiology, psychology ofwriters and environment, so every person has different writing habit. This laid the foundationfor interpreting the scientific nature of handwriting identification.The second part is the history of the configuration of the two kinds of characters andwriting systems. This part introduces the evolution that Chinese and English characters evolvefrom hieroglyphs to the configuration now. Researching writing habit does not separate fromhandwriting, and researching the characteristic of handwriting does not separate from the configuration of characters too. The configuration of characters and writing system determineone person’s writing habit. Researching the history of the configuration and writing systemcan help us understand various writing habits better.The third part is the centre of this paper—the particularity constitution andcharacteristics of Chinese and English characters. The system of writing habits of Chinesecharacters includes the writing habits of separate character and text layout, that of Englishcharacters includes the writing habits of the letters, word and text layout. In order to illustratethe similarities and difference, the author has used the true cases and pointed out theparticularity constitution and the characteristics of two kinds of character.The fourth part is the emphasis. After analyzing the similarities and difference of writinghabits between Chinese and English, the paper enters the keynote that is the scientific natureof Chinese character. Comparing the particularity constitution and characteristics of Chinesewith that of English is to illustrate that the unique configuration of Chinese determines thatthe writing habits of Chinese are sophisticated and the personality is stronger, the commonnature is weaker. Under certain conditions, the handwriting identification of Chinese is builton more scientific basis than that of English. In this section, the author elaborates that theattitude of the countries which use English to handwriting identification, the scientific natureof basic theory of handwriting identification and the scientific nature of a small amount ofwriting and disguised handwriting.