Re: numbers as letters

Philip Newton wrote:
> On 5/8/07, MorphemeAddict@wmconnect.com
> <MorphemeAddict@...> wrote:
>> Does anyone know of a system for reading digits (0-9) as letters
>> (probably consonants only, with arbitrary vowels added for
>> pronounceability)?
>
> You could go with the Lojban system - "no pa re ci vo mu xa ze bi so"
> for 0-9 (note |ci| = /Si/, otherwise you can use IPA values for the
> letters); each digit has a unique consonant, and you can take the
> usual vowel, ignore it, or substitute it with one of your choice. (The
> vowels follow an a-e-i-o-u progression for 1-5 and 6-9, incidentally.)
>
> FWIW, Lojban uses digit names exclusively, even in numbers larger than
> 9; for example, "123" is read "pareci", with no morpheme for "hundred"
> or "ten" used. (Part of the audiovisual isomorphism, I presume.)
>
> Cheers,
Very interesting. So I guess lojbanists would translate 10^12 (=
1,000,000,000,000 = one British billion = one American trillion) as
panononononononononononono. Am I right?

JF

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