< the name of Karl Edward Zener (1903–64), U.S. psychologist, who invented the cards in 1930…
< the name of Karl Edward Zener (1903–64), U.S. psychologist, who invented the cards in 1930.
Notes
The cards were apparently named in Zener's honour by his colleague J. B. Rhine (1895–1980), U. S. psychologist.
Meaning & use
1934–
attributive. Designating a set of cards designed for use in parapsychology experiments, the symbols used on these cards, or a test conducted using them.
Zener cards were developed as a means of investigating the possibility of extrasensory perception. A set consists of 25 cards, each showing one of five simple symbols, the likelihood of a subject guessing the symbol correctly by chance being one in five for each card.
1934
We have once since substituted a ‘heart’ for the ‘waves’ figure but later returned to the latter. I shall hereinafter call these cards the ‘Zener cards’.
J. B. Rhine, Extra-sensory Perception iv. 50
1941
The guesser at Zener cards all unwittingly was guessing correctly..a card which was one or two places earlier or later in the sequence.
Proceedings of Society Psychical Research 1940–1vol. 46 153
1951
On each letter box was pinned one of the five Zener symbols.
Proceedings of Society Psychical Researchvol. 49 151
1978
There are a dozen ways of beating the odds with the Zener packs they use for card-guessing tests.
D. Bloodworth, Crosstalk xiv. 119
2015
Results of the online Zener test were automatically calculated by a program from an unknown internet programmer.
S. Ertel in D. Broderick & B. Goertzel, Evidence for Psi 154
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values