I looked through the function and tried to do this the long way ... gads what a nightmare ...

Then looked at it again and may have a short simple way for you ...

Find the function in the functions_prices.php

And locate this part of the code and try it with the change I have in there so you can see the results:
Code:
    if ($display_normal_price == 0) {
      // don't show the $0.00
      $final_display_price = $show_special_price . $show_sale_price . $show_sale_discount;
    } else {
//      $final_display_price = $show_normal_price . $show_special_price . $show_sale_price . $show_sale_discount;
      $final_display_price = 'xNORMAL PRICE' . $show_normal_price . 'x' . 'ySPECIAL' . $show_special_price . 'y' . 'zSALE' . $show_sale_price . 'z' . 'dDISCOUNT' . $show_sale_discount . 'd';
    }
The letters are to show you the start and end of each price component ...

You may be able to get away with changing that one line rather than all the code ...