An experimental transcription — working note, not part of the whitepaper
The passage below is the standard specimen text of the International Phonetic Association, chosen because it is the most widely transcribed paragraph in phonetics and so invites comparison with existing IPA renderings.
Method and conventions
Every glyph here was generated arithmetically from the tables of the whitepaper rather than selected by hand.
- Consonants are tetragrams, by the formula of Chapter 14:
codepoint = U+1D306 + address₃. The block runs U+1D306 to U+1D356 and is exactly eighty-one wide, which was checked against Unicode before anything was transcribed. - Cardinal vowels take monograms and secondary vowels digrams, from the lookup table of Table 14.1. These cannot be derived arithmetically, since four of them were unified with existing Yijing symbols.
- Diphthongs are written as sequences of two vowel symbols — /eɪ/ as 11·21 and so on. At glyph level the sequence separator becomes unnecessary: each phoneme is exactly one character, so adjacency is unambiguous without it.
- Rhotacized vowels /ɝ/ and /ɚ/ are written 10ʳ — the mid-central digram bearing a rhotic modifier, per Chapter 8, not the Center followed by /ɹ/.
- The schwa has no glyph, because it has no address. It is shown as ◌ below. This placeholder is an ad-hoc reading aid invented for this experiment and forms no part of the system. Without it the Center would be invisible, which turns out to be the most interesting thing in the transcription — see the last section.
The reference variety is General American. Two segmentations are contestable: traveler is taken as two syllables, and every /ɔ/ here belongs to a speaker who has not merged cot and caught. A merged speaker would read 𝌂 as ⚊ throughout — six substitutions in the passage.
Word by word
| Word | IPA | Addresses | Lingua-U |
|---|---|---|---|
| The | /ðə/ | 1011 — | 𝌥◌ |
| North | /nɔɹθ/ | 2211 12 2121 1010 | 𝍒𝌂𝍌𝌤 |
| Wind | /wɪnd/ | 2001 21 2211 0111 | 𝌽𝌄𝍒𝌓 |
| and | /ənd/ | — 2211 0111 | ◌𝍒𝌓 |
| the | /ðə/ | 1011 — | 𝌥◌ |
| Sun | /sʌn/ | 1110 10 2211 | 𝌭⚍𝍒 |
| were | /wɚ/ | 2001 10ʳ | 𝌽⚍ʳ |
| disputing | /dɪspjutɪŋ/ | 0111 21 1110 0100 2021 2 0110 21 2221 | 𝌓𝌄𝌭𝌏𝍃𝌀𝌒𝌄𝍕 |
| which | /wɪtʃ/ | 2001 21 0220 | 𝌽𝌄𝌞 |
| was | /wəz/ | 2001 — 1111 | 𝌽◌𝌮 |
| the | /ðə/ | 1011 — | 𝌥◌ |
| stronger, | /stɹɔŋgɚ/ | 1110 0110 2121 12 2221 0121 10ʳ | 𝌭𝌒𝍌𝌂𝍕𝌖⚍ʳ |
| when | /wɛn/ | 2001 11 2211 | 𝌽⚏𝍒 |
| a | /ə/ | — | ◌ |
| traveler | /tɹævlɚ/ | 0110 2121 01 1001 2111 10ʳ | 𝌒𝍌⚎𝌢𝍉⚍ʳ |
| came | /keɪm/ | 0120 11·21 2201 | 𝌕⚏𝌄𝍏 |
| along | /əlɔŋ/ | — 2111 12 2221 | ◌𝍉𝌂𝍕 |
| wrapped | /ɹæpt/ | 2121 01 0100 0110 | 𝍌⚎𝌏𝌒 |
| in | /ɪn/ | 21 2211 | 𝌄𝍒 |
| a | /ə/ | — | ◌ |
| warm | /wɔɹm/ | 2001 12 2121 2201 | 𝌽𝌂𝍌𝍏 |
| cloak. | /kloʊk/ | 0120 2111 12·22 0120 | 𝌕𝍉𝌂𝌅𝌕 |
| They | /ðeɪ/ | 1011 11·21 | 𝌥⚏𝌄 |
| agreed | /əgɹid/ | — 0121 2121 1 0111 | ◌𝌖𝍌⚋𝌓 |
| that | /ðæt/ | 1011 01 0110 | 𝌥⚎𝌒 |
| the | /ðə/ | 1011 — | 𝌥◌ |
| one | /wʌn/ | 2001 10 2211 | 𝌽⚍𝍒 |
| who | /hu/ | 0020 2 | 𝌌𝌀 |
| first | /fɝst/ | 1000 10ʳ 1110 0110 | 𝌡⚍ʳ𝌭𝌒 |
| succeeded | /səksidɪd/ | 1110 — 0120 1110 1 0111 21 0111 | 𝌭◌𝌕𝌭⚋𝌓𝌄𝌓 |
| in | /ɪn/ | 21 2211 | 𝌄𝍒 |
| making | /meɪkɪŋ/ | 2201 11·21 0120 21 2221 | 𝍏⚏𝌄𝌕𝌄𝍕 |
| the | /ðə/ | 1011 — | 𝌥◌ |
| traveler | /tɹævlɚ/ | 0110 2121 01 1001 2111 10ʳ | 𝌒𝍌⚎𝌢𝍉⚍ʳ |
| take | /teɪk/ | 0110 11·21 0120 | 𝌒⚏𝌄𝌕 |
| his | /hɪz/ | 0020 21 1111 | 𝌌𝌄𝌮 |
| cloak | /kloʊk/ | 0120 2111 12·22 0120 | 𝌕𝍉𝌂𝌅𝌕 |
| off | /ɔf/ | 12 1000 | 𝌂𝌡 |
| should | /ʃʊd/ | 1120 22 0111 | 𝌰𝌅𝌓 |
| be | /bi/ | 0101 1 | 𝌐⚋ |
| considered | /kənsɪdɚd/ | 0120 — 2211 1110 21 0111 10ʳ 0111 | 𝌕◌𝍒𝌭𝌄𝌓⚍ʳ𝌓 |
| stronger | /stɹɔŋgɚ/ | 1110 0110 2121 12 2221 0121 10ʳ | 𝌭𝌒𝍌𝌂𝍕𝌖⚍ʳ |
| than | /ðæn/ | 1011 01 2211 | 𝌥⚎𝍒 |
| the | /ði/ | 1011 1 | 𝌥⚋ |
| other. | /ʌðɚ/ | 10 1011 10ʳ | ⚍𝌥⚍ʳ |
Note: The symbols may not display properly on your device or browser. Get the PDF version.
The passage
Orthography
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.
Phonemic
/ðə nɔɹθ wɪnd ənd ðə sʌn wɚ dɪspjutɪŋ wɪtʃ wəz ðə stɹɔŋgɚ wɛn ə tɹævlɚ keɪm əlɔŋ ɹæpt ɪn ə wɔɹm kloʊk ðeɪ əgɹid ðæt ðə wʌn hu fɝst səksidɪd ɪn meɪkɪŋ ðə tɹævlɚ teɪk hɪz kloʊk ɔf ʃʊd bi kənsɪdɚd stɹɔŋgɚ ðæn ði ʌðɚ/
Lingua-U
𝌥◌ 𝍒𝌂𝍌𝌤 𝌽𝌄𝍒𝌓 ◌𝍒𝌓 𝌥◌ 𝌭⚍𝍒 𝌽⚍ʳ 𝌓𝌄𝌭𝌏𝍃𝌀𝌒𝌄𝍕 𝌽𝌄𝌞 𝌽◌𝌮 𝌥◌ 𝌭𝌒𝍌𝌂𝍕𝌖⚍ʳ 𝌽⚏𝍒 ◌ 𝌒𝍌⚎𝌢𝍉⚍ʳ 𝌕⚏𝌄𝍏 ◌𝍉𝌂𝍕 𝍌⚎𝌏𝌒 𝌄𝍒 ◌ 𝌽𝌂𝍌𝍏 𝌕𝍉𝌂𝌅𝌕 𝌥⚏𝌄 ◌𝌖𝍌⚋𝌓 𝌥⚎𝌒 𝌥◌ 𝌽⚍𝍒 𝌌𝌀 𝌡⚍ʳ𝌭𝌒 𝌭◌𝌕𝌭⚋𝌓𝌄𝌓 𝌄𝍒 𝍏⚏𝌄𝌕𝌄𝍕 𝌥◌ 𝌒𝍌⚎𝌢𝍉⚍ʳ 𝌒⚏𝌄𝌕 𝌌𝌄𝌮 𝌕𝍉𝌂𝌅𝌕 𝌂𝌡 𝌰𝌅𝌓 𝌐⚋ 𝌕◌𝍒𝌭𝌄𝌓⚍ʳ𝌓 𝌭𝌒𝍌𝌂𝍕𝌖⚍ʳ 𝌥⚎𝍒 𝌥⚋ ⚍𝌥⚍ʳ
What the transcription shows
One hundred and sixty segments, thirty-five distinct. The passage is built from a small alphabet used at very unequal rates.
The most frequent sound in the passage has no glyph. The schwa occurs thirteen times — more than any other segment, ahead of /ð/ and /n/ at ten each. The system’s busiest sound is the one it declines to address, and a transcription of ordinary English prose is therefore punctuated with holes. This is a consequence of the Chapter 8 decision rather than a defect in it, but it is much more visible in running text than it is in a table, and it is worth deciding whether that is acceptable before the notation is used for anything longer.
Spelling and sound come apart immediately. Wrapped opens on 𝍌, the /ɹ/ tetragram, with nothing corresponding to its written w. Who opens on 𝌌, the /h/ tetragram, likewise. One opens on 𝌽, /w/, which its spelling does not contain at all. Three words, three failures of the written form to predict the spoken one, in a single sentence.
Identical sounds produce identical strings. Cloak appears twice as 𝌕𝍉𝌂𝌅𝌕 and stronger twice as 𝌭𝌒𝍌𝌂𝍕𝌖⚍ʳ. Less obviously, were, first, stronger, traveler, considered, and other all end in ⚍ʳ — a rhotacized ending that English spelling distributes across -ere, -ir, -er, and -ered.
The tetragram names remain arbitrary, as Chapter 14 warns. /ð/, the second most frequent segment here, falls on TETRAGRAM FOR LEGION; /m/ lands on CLOSURE, which is apt by chance; /g/ on HOLDING BACK, which is not. Nothing in the transcription should be read through those names.
A practical caution
These characters lie in the Supplementary Multilingual Plane and are absent from most common typefaces. The tetragrams have reasonable coverage; several of the digrams do not, and will render as boxes in many environments. Anyone reproducing this will need to specify a font that covers both U+2680–U+268F and U+1D300–U+1D356, and should expect the vowels to break before the consonants do.
PDF version: [The-North-Wind-and-the-Sun-in-Lingua-U.pdf]