alphabet

Chinese characters, for example, use symbols instead of letters of the alphabet to represent words and ideas.

One of the questions asked was: what is the 12th letter of the alphabet is it: T, L, R or B?

Research suggests that learning to read these symbols activates different areas of the brain to reading an alphabet-based system.

So in the late 19th century, the International Phonetics Association worked together to create the beginnings of the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA.