VWMQ, ECMA-367, 2nd edition, section 8.29.7 Manifest-Type Qualifier rule It is valid for a Manifest_constant to be of the form {T} v (with the optional Manifest_type qualifier present) if and only if the type U of v (as determined by cases 2 to 7 of the definition of the type of a manifest constant) is one of CHARACTER, STRING, INTEGER and REAL, and T is one of the sized variants of U.