sixths

> >>> (Somehow, the more extreme examples in English phonology -- "two
> >>> sixths [t_hu: sIksTs]" -- never seem to come up in these discussions.)
Andrew Chaney wrote:
> Of course if I were really going to say "two sixths",
> I'd probably say it "one third". But that's just me.
They could be ordinal sixths.

Latin, incidentally, has names for all the fractions n/12:

         1      u:ncia
         2      sextant-
         3      quadrant-
         4      trient-
         5      qui:ncu:nc- (< quinque unciae)
         6      se:miss-
         7      septu:nc-
         8      be:ss- (< duess-)
         9      dodrant-
        10      dextant-
        11      deu:nc-

(all are third declension, i.e. consonant-stem, except <u:ncia>)


I'm tempted to make cardinals, ordinals and reciprocals independent of
each other; if I'm feeling really wicked that day they'll be on
different bases.


--
Anton Sherwood  --  http://www.ogre.nu/