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Diffstat (limited to 'swedish.c')
| -rw-r--r-- | swedish.c | 50 |
1 files changed, 50 insertions, 0 deletions
@@ -1,6 +1,56 @@ /* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */ #include "common.h" +/* + * There are no spaces in Swedish numbers + * + * All my life, I've seen Swedish numbers, being written out + * in letters, completely absent of spaces. Banks, lotteries, + * brokers commonly write out large numbers in letters, and + * all of theme write without spaces; however to make it more + * readable (which isn't really necessary), they do capitalise + * some letters: for example, I bought by appartment for + * “TvåmiljonerNittioFemtusen” (2095000) SEK. Actually, this + * capitalisation is even a bit confusing because you naturally + * read it as 2000000–90–5000 rather than 2000000–95000. + * Recently, however, I've seen a non-Swedish style guide for + * Swedish, that seems to have caught on, claiming that 2095000 + * should be written as “två miljoner nittiofemtusen”. This is + * of follows completely different rules from the ones used to + * arrive at “TvåmiljonerNittioFemtusen”, and feels like German. + * So for some reason, this guide treats “miljon”, “miljard”, + * and so one as special, nounesque, numbers, and therefore + * thinks it should be surrounded by spaces. Looking to + * “Svenska Akademiens ordbok”, we see the spaceless version + * attested, but we also see the spaced version attested, albiet + * with lower numbers after “miljon”, we see that “sex miljoner” + * (actually it uses the older spelling for “miljoner”) attest, + * but nothing akin to “sex miljoner femhundratusen”. Why would + * “miljon” and larger numbers be treated separately from smaller + * numbers, especially considering that in Swedish we regularly + * combine words? There is only one differences between the larger + * numbers and the smaller numbers: “miljon” och larger numbers + * have distinct plural and singular from, whereas the smaller + * numbers do not. This of couse shouldn't matter: “5 får” is + * “fem får” not “femfår” (that would be something much more + * horrific). Something that makes the larger numbers specially + * is also that you can say for example “en och en halv miljon”, + * but you cannot say “en och en halv tio”, but you can say + * “en och en halv tusen”, and arguably “en och en halv hundra”, + * and therefore you can say ”sex miljoner”, but why then would + * you write “sex miljoner” but not “sex tusen”? However, you + * cannot write “en och en halv miljon fyrahundratusen” (probably + * not even “en och en halv miljon ettusen”, the would be + * “en och en halv och/plus miljon ettusen”. The conclusion is + * that 2095000 is properly written as “tvåmiljonernittiofemtusen”. + * But moreover, if you accept the spaced spelling: what would + * “en miljard fem miljondelar” mean? It would be completly + * ambiguous. It could be 1/1005000000, 1000000000/5000000, or + * 1000000005/1000000. In conclusion: the style that is coherent + * with the rest of Swedish, is not arbitrary, and is unambiguous + * it he one without any spaces. + */ + #if defined(__GNUC__) # pragma GCC diagnostic push |