Letters of the Alphabet

I like that I can read IPA.
aj lajk ðæt aj kæn rid ajpiei

It’s kind of like a secret language.
ɪts kajnd əv lajk ə sikrət læŋgwədʒ

Except you never know who can understand.
ɪksɛpt ju nɛvər no hu kæn əndərstænd

And once you get into the swing of it, it’s actually pretty easy.
ɪts prɪti reni awtsajd rajt naw, gɑddæm ɪt

Flusser brings up the demands that the letters of the alphabet place on us, and the effects that writing has on understanding.
ɪz ðæt hejəl? aj hæv tu rajd ðə fɛri ovər tu tawn letə tənait, ænd aj kæn dɛfənətli hɪjə θʌndə

As a linguistics student, I find the whole question of how what we read effects what we understand extremely fascinating. For example, it has been proven than the number of words a language has to describe colours effects how the speakers of that language perceive colour. A language may have two words for blue: one for light blue and one for dark. Speakers of that language would perceive light and dark blue and two distinct colours, the same way we see pink and red as two distinct colours. A language may also have just one words to talk about both red and orange, and so they are seen as just different shades of the same colour.
sʌm ʃit əbawt kʌlərz. sɪriəsli, wot ɪz ʃi goɪŋ on əbawt hijə?

Similarly, the spelling of a word may affect how we perceive we are pronouncing it. I recently had a problem with a haiku I saw because the first line was “If you like this tale.” To me, ‘tale’ clearly has two syllables, the [l] carrying extra syllabic weight which in the New Zealand dialect cannot be carried by the one vowel. A [j] sound is added to break up the separate carriers of syllabic weight. This can be seen in the IPA spelling: teɪjəl.
However, a friend saw no problem with the first line of the haiku, saying that ‘tale’ clearly has one syllable, as there’s only one pronounced vowel: the a (with the e being, obviously, silent). Even though that friend was saying [teɪjəl], he couldn’t tell that’s what he was saying, because his thinking about that word was so entwined with its spelling.
ɪf ju lərn ajpiei, jul bi smɑrtər. ænd jul no mɔr əbawt haw ju spik. kul, hə