Re: Numbers ancient & modern (was: Unilang report)
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, May 23, 2001, 8:40 |
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En réponse à David Peterson <DigitalScream@...>:
> In a message dated 5/22/01 11:22:35 AM, ray.brown@FREEUK.COM writes:
>
> << This is not universal
> in the francophone world where _nonante six_ occurs in many dialects;
> it
> was originally a peculiarity of "Francien" and is considered by some to
> be
> due to substrate Gallic influence. >>
>
> You're kidding!!! What do they say for seventy and eighty? I'm
> never
> using any of those crazy numbers again!
>
> -David
>
If you talk to any Francophone person, they will all understand the words
"soixante-dix", "quatre-vingt", "quatre-vingt-dix". But in Belgium, you usually
hear "septante" instead of "soixante-dix" (but they still use mainly
"quatre-vingt" and "quatre-vingt-dix"), and in Switzerland you also hear
"octante" and "nonante" (I've also heard "huitante" and "neuvante"). There's
kind of a continuum where the vigesimal numbers are gradually replaced with the
decimal ones :)) .
Christophe.
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
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