phonetic

Many proudly refer to themselves as DINKs — using the acronym in English — or dingke, the phonetic translation in Mandarin.

They say they have found four basic components they think make up this phonetic alphabet.

The description of what the researchers termed a “sperm whale phonetic alphabet” opens the possibility of conveying a much larger variety of information.

On Tuesday, the scientists reported that the whales use a much richer set of sounds than previously known, which they called a “sperm whale phonetic alphabet.”

That was compounded by a last-minute change to his lines — a new, phonetic spelling of Menzel’s name — and he was thrown because he “didn’t rehearse it that way.”