Re: Types of numerals

On 1/17/06, tomhchappell <tomhchappell@...> wrote:
> [begin YAEPT/YAEDT]
> Examples:
> "coordinate" may be pronounced as if it were either
> "co(w)ordinate" or "co(?)ordinate".
> "microorganism" may be pronounced as if it were either
> "micro(w)organism" or "micro(?)organism".
> "milliohm" may be pronounced as if it were either
> "milli(y)ohm" or "milli(?)ohnm".
> "megaohm" may be pronounced as "mega(?)ohm".
I would never put a [?] in any of those, FWIW.   A hiatus, perhaps,
but never a glottal stop.

> But there is no glottal stop in "chaos", nor in "vacuum".
I'd say "vacuum" is a bogus example.  Despite the spelling, there are
only two syllables and only one vowel sound in the second syllable;
it's /'v&k.jum/, not /'v&k.ju.um/.

 >> That is, not with "common fractions" like one-third or
> >> two-sevenths or four-ninths?  Clearly it works OK with
> >> decimal fractions like 0.466.
> >
> > "Four-hundred-sixty-six thousandths" or "four tenths six hundreths
> > six thousandths" certainly is a fraction,
>
> Yes;
>
> > but "zero dot four six six" isn't.
I agree with Tom here: the use of decimal point representation does
not disqualify a quantity from being a fraction.  Writing 0.466 is
just shorthand for 4/10 + 6/100 + 6/1000.

>  "Percent" occurs frequently, but "parts per thousand",
> "parts per million", and "parts per billion" occur less frequently.
English has a word "permille" analogous to "percent" for parts per
thousand; there's even a symbol for it, analogous to %: ‰.  Rarer
still are "permyriad" and the corresponding symbol ‱, meaning parts
per 10,000.  On the other hand, "parts per million", usually
abbreviated ppm, is a common measurement of concentration.

> >>> and I've heard "third" used in the first sense too: "We thirded
> >>> the income of the show." "The pie was thirded." etc.
> A native speaker of my idiolect would never use these; but would
> probably guess what they meant right away.
Uhm, isn't "a native speaker of my idiolect" just a very roundabout
way of saying "I"? :)

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>


--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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