Re: numbers as letters

> Yep - and Leibnitz outlined a scheme in which the nine consonants _b,
> c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n_ represented the digits 1 to 9 respectively.
> However the vowels added were not arbitrary: they denoted powers of
> 10, thus _a, e, i, o, u_ = x1, x10, x100, x1000, x10000 respectively.
> Thus, e.g.  81374 is written and pronounced _mubodilefa_.  However, as
> each syllable has a unique meaning, they may be written in any order,
> thus 81372 could also be written _bodifalemu_, _lemudibofa_ etc.,
> etc.!
This freedom of order may come in useful when calling attention to some
small number of (extra) items (when I say one and ten nine, might there
be something unique about the one, distinguishing it from the others?).
This would be more useful with an expressed consonant zero, say _p_, so
twenty might be _cepa_ or _babena_, depending on the sort of twenty, or
_ce_ if it was a vague around twenty (although that's clearly unfair to
numbers like 24, lacking a vague four), with but one significant digit.

> I am not convinced that the freedom of syllable order is a good thing.
> Nor do I know how Leibnitz proposed to express zero or numbers greater
> than 99999.
Elongating the vowels could indicate higher powers, but I'm a bit leery
of that, and it only puts off the cap, and doesn't do a thing about the
other end of the spectrum, decimals.

There isn't quite enough redundency in there for my taste, unless there
is a way to expand these to be more distinct, but the other two systems
mentioned also had simular failings, and I can imagine ways to add some
'arbitrary vowels' (though not quite arbitrary, chosen for distinctness
and to fit some pattern) or consonant changes to shore that side there.

Working with my first conlang, I came up with all sorts of schemes, the
best was CVC based, with the finals being the initials of the first 18,
in base 18, digits of pi, providing redundency, near initials came with
far apart finals, and then vowels were inflected with various purposes,
indicating common operations, cardinals and ordinals, and such... If an
intrest pops up in anybody, I can probably find details somewhere...

enjoy all,
tristan

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