Yunilen Phonetic System

Version 0.3.2 (Beta development)
Last modified: 19 Dec 2002

Author and copyrighted by: Eric Chen
Created: Year 2000 (as part of Project Sociologistics)

You may freely use or modify this work as long as you credit the author and use this work for non-commercial purposes. The author appreciates an optional acknowledgment of about how his work has proved useful.

Purpose

Inspired by the Japanese kana system, I developed a phonetic system much more complete and simpler than the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This system would prove useful for learning or accurate pronunciation of words in languages that the user had not learnt.

I had found in the IPA a surprisingly confusing array of symbols to learn and inconsistent non-atomic symbol matching. This proved very user-unfriendly and I felt determined to create a better system than that.

I derived this from my research in creating a more efficient and effective language for use by humanity with the intention of maintaining the spoken form as a legacy add-on.

Introduction

This system only requires only minimum effort to read and write, especially if the user has prior knowledge of the Latin alphabet. The pronunciation system proves easy to learn with the consistent rules of the phonetic table. Memorising all the vowels plus any example of each of the consonants would allow one to reproduce all the sounds within the table.

It requires the user to pronounce in a monotone similar to the Japanese Language, according to the spelling of the Yunilen words. However, by the correct combination of consonants and vowels as well as pronunciation length, it could emulate different tones such as those used in Mandarin.

Details (non-standardised yet)

General

• To draw the reader’s attention, use an underline. The reader will not pronounce this.
• Make a space between words to form a pause for distinct words.
• Normal punctuation rules apply for sentences.
• When writing Yunilen phonetics, always use small caps.

Amplitude (Loudness)

• To signify loudness, use capital letters or write in a large font.
• To signify quietness, write with or use a small font.

Velocity (Speed)

• Note: We specify the speed in terms of the standard amount of time needed to pronounce a vowel in a sentence, usually about 1/8 to 1/12 of a second depending on the language or speaker. We call this standard vowel time (SVT).
• To slow down, insert ‘-’ beside the vowel or consonant in question. Unless a number appears immediately beside the dash to specify its length (as a number larger than one), each ‘-’ specifies one SVT by default.
• To speed up, write ‘!’ beside the vowel or consonant in question. Unless a number appears immediately beside the dash to specify its length (in decimal or fractional numbers), each ‘!’ specifies half SVT by default.
• To specify exact speed, you can place a bracket beside the word, such as (1/5), (.5) or (2.5) to show the time in relation to SVT.
• To embrace groups of words, you can enclose them in brackets such as: s(ying)!

Yunilen Phoenetic Table

(For English Users)

This table assists you in filling in ‘missing’ sounds in your own native language and access the full range of sounds available to human pronunciation. Once you know the vowels and any example of a certain consonant; you can pronounce all the compounds in the entire consonant row.

The 7 vowels make up the top of the table, while the 15 consonants fill the side. We have the 3 vowel-constants at the bottom which shall remain unclassified.

The ‘j’ vowel
This vowel does not feature in the English language. It sounds like a quick ‘q’ (‘er’) but slightly different.

We have a few examples of how to express this vowel:

• The shortened version of the sound expressed when one gets killed on the movies
• The Chinese words: shi (die), shi (yes, is)

Chinese Tonal Translation (not standardized yet)

The Chinese language uses 4 different tones according to the HanYi-PinYin (HYPY) Phonetic system. The table below shows some examples on how to translate them into the Yunilen system. (T refers to the tone and word refers to the HYPT word in question).

Examples
To determine a Yunilen form, you could break up the words yourself or refer to the IPA Translation Table. To break up the word into individual phonemes, pronounce it and work in this sequence:

• Starting from the first phoneme
• Determine which class does this phoneme belong to: vowel, consonant, ambiguous
• Go through the table of the phoneme and determine which vowel best fits the candidate
• Determine if the word requires any lengthening or shortening of the vowel
• Write down the discovered phoneme and then proceed to the next one until you finish with the word

In this section, I shall provide examples of how to apply the system by writing the words as in this structure: Written form => Yunilen form

Practice 1: Plain (no consonant-consonant and ends with a vowel)
apple = vowel + consonant + vowel = e + p + q = epq
autism = otizqm
chicken = cikqn
christmas = krismqs
computer = kompyutq
cow = kau
dictionary = diksqnqri
glory = grori
maintain = menten
move = muf
newspaper = nyuspepq
sector = sektq

Practice 2: Words with shortening/elongation
aversion = evqsqn!
fish = fis-
full = consonant + vowel ‘u’ + vowel ‘u’ = consonant + vowel ‘u’ + extension =  fu-
pear = pe-
harry = he-ri
happy = he!pi
hijack = hai-zek
height = hait!
memory = mem!q!ri
radiant = rediyqnt!
sad = sed!
sat = sat!
tall = to-
time = ta!i!m
vaccine = vek!s-in

Practice 3: Words with complex consonants
accompolish = qkomplis
complete = komplit
multimedia = mautimidyq
proclaim = proklem
stimulate = stimyulet
pilot = pailqt
observe = obsqf

Practice 4: Complex Words
orchard = o-cq!d!
nuclear = nyukyq-
sword = suwod!
productivity = produk!tiviti

Pronouncing English Letters

References

International Phonetic Alphabet
- http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipachart.html
- http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode.htm

Features of Future Revisions

• Rearrangment of consonants according to International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
• Full International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Translation Table
• Full HanYi Pinyin Translation Table
• Lessons for easy learning of Yunilen System

Examples: Transliteration Buddhist Sutras

[Mandarin version, not standards compliant yet]

da- be- zow!u (v0.0.2)
na mo da bei kwan shi yin pu- sat (x3)

na- mo hq nai da nai tor nai ye ye
nai mo o- li ye
por ru jye di shou puwo nai ye
pu- ti sat duo por ye
mo ho sat tuo por ye

mo ho zia ru ni zia ye
an
sar tuo nai fa- yi
su- tan na tan se
nar mo sit zi li duo yi mong o- li ye

puo ru zi ti sj for nai lin tuo puo
na- mo nai lin zing cjj
shi-di mo- ho- parn duo sar mi
sar puo ou tar thou shu pqn
o- sj ying

sa- puo sa- duo na mo puo sa- duo na mo por cye
mor fa- t-q thou
darn z- ta-
an o- puo lu si lu zia ti
zia lu ti

zia lo- ti
yi si di
mo- ho- pu ti sar tuo
sa puo sa puo
mor nai mor nai

mor si mor si li tuo yin
zi ru zi ru zi mong
tu ru tu ru fa- sq ye di
mo- ho- fa- sq ye di
thou nai thou nai

di li ni
sj fo- nai ye
zq nai
zq nai mo- mo- fa- mo nai
mo- ti li

yi si yi si
sj na- sj na-
o- nai sqn fo- nai sq li
fa- sa- fa- sqn
fo- nai sq ye

fu lu fu lu mo- nai
fu lu fu lu si di
swa nai swa nai
si di si di
su ru su ru

pu ti ye pu ti ye
pu tuo ye pu tuo ye
min di li ye
na- nai zin chj
di li sq ni na-

puo ye mo na
s-a puo ho-
syi tuo ye
sa- puo ho-
mo hor syi tuo ye

sa- puo hor
si tuo yi yi
sj puo nai ye
sa- puo ho-
na- nai jyin chj

sa- puo ho-
mo- nai na nai
sa- puo hor
syi nai sqn o- mo chye ye
sa- puo ho-

sa- puo mo- o- syi tuo ye
sa- puo ho-
zq zi nai o- syi tuo ye
sa- puo ho-
puwo tuo mo zi si tuo ye

sa- puo ho-
na nai zing chjj pqn cye nai ye
sa- puo ho-
mo- puo l-i sqn zye nai ye
sa- puo ho-

na- mo hqn nai tarn nai duo nai ye ye
na- mo o- li ye
puwo lu zi di
swo puwo nai ye
sa- puo ho-

an syi di-yan thou
mam duo nai
pat tuo ye
sa- puo ho-

kwan ying min gan zqn yen (v0.0.1, original version)

am mani pe-me hom
maha ni na lap
zito tit pa tap

zi tq sya nap
wei ta li gq
sa q wa q tap

o li si ta gq
na por nai lap
na por li

tyu tyap pa na
nai ma lu zit!
swa la ye swa hor

puwo lye puwo luo mi tuo syin zing (v0.0.2)

nam muo puwo- lye hwei sha-n for pu- sa! (x3)
puwo lye puwo luo mi tuo syin zing

kwan z- zia pu sa
syin sqn puwo lye puwo luo mi duo sj
zao zyan wu ying zie kong

du yi cye ku q-
sq li z-
shq bu yi kong
kong bu yi shq

shq zi sj kong
kong zi sj shq
sou syang sying sj
yi fu- lu sj

shq li z-
syj! zhu fa- kong syang
bu sqn bu mye
bu gou- bu zing

bu zqn bu zian
syj! gu kong zong wu- sj-
wu- shou s(yang)! s(yin)! sj-
wu! yuan q bi sq syqn yi

wu! sj- syqn s(yang)! wei chu! fa
wu! ye-n zye
nai z- wu! yi syj zye
wu! wu! ming

yi! wu! wu! ming zyin
nai z- wu! lao sj-
yi wu! lao sj- zing
wu! ku- zi mye dao

wu! zj- yi wu! dq
yj-- wu! shou dq gu!
pu ti sa! duo

yj- pwo lye pwo luo mi duo gu-
syin wu! gua- a-i
wu! gua- a-i gu-
wu! yu- kong bu

ye-n li- dyan dao mong syang
zyu- zing nye- pa-n
san sj- zhu fo-r
yi-- puwo lye puwo luo mi duo gu-

de a- myao duo luo san myao san pu ti
gu z- puwo lye puwo luo mi duo
sj- da sqn zou

sj- da ming zou
sj- wu! sarn zou
sj- wu! dqn dqn zou
nqn- chu yi che ku-

zqn sj- bu syi-
bu shou puwo lye puwo luo mi duo zou
zi shou zhou ye
zye di zye di

puwo luo zye di
puwo luo zyqn zye di
pu- ti sa! po- hor