Short for phone index, maps a word onto a sequence of phone clusters
    Strips non supported characters (for english, non alpha characters)

def phonex(word, language="english"):
    """
    Short for phone index, maps a word onto a sequence of phone clusters
    Strips non supported characters (for english, non alpha characters)
    """
    phone_variants = phoneticize(word)
    mappings = cluster_phones(language)
    results = []
    for phone_variant in phone_variants:
        try:
            phonex_variant = tuple([mappings[phone] for phone in
                                    phone_variant])
            results.append(phonex_variant)
        except:
            print('Error:', word, phone_variant)
            exit(1)
    return results