In alot of classical writings the position of the words on the page was often played with to add symbolic meaning because word order doesnt carry as mutch meaning in classical Greek and Latin as it does in modern languages. Could as similar reasoning be the cause of some of these patterns?
Highly inflected languages like Latin do have a tendency to allow for relatively free word order. However, when we look at word-based statistics like Type-Token Ratio (TTR), we see Voynichese align with the mid range rather than the high end (where highly inflected languages are). And this is ignoring the much bigger issues Voynichese has, like its low character entropy.
Wondering if these observations could be used in perhaps looking at two theories (one professional, one layperson) I've seen here on YouTune that the MS is "phonemic abbreviation" (not sure if that's accurately put) of old Turkish language and the document related to essentially recording the processes, timeframes, and recipes/treatment methodologies for women's health care procedures in a well-known old natural baths complex. Both of which I know less than nothing about LOL but the layperson's observations seemed quite logical, the pro's observations just too over my head to say one way or another. My area of semi-expertise is typography and modern typesetting which is quite different from calligraphy, so some of this makes sense to me and some is beyond. With the premise sometimes the simplest theory is often what's really going on, rather than cypher or unknown/made up language.
The more I learn about Voynichese the more I think it's some sort of poetic constricted language. Three scribes are suspected so at least three people used and possibly spoke the language. When those three people died the language died with them leaving this artifact behind.
... Having only spent a few hours on this, but I already think the most simple explanation is that they were just speaking in tongues... (Albeit in writing). This has the same lack of ability to carry meaning and the same non-random lack of creativity as any hoaxter TV evangelist pretending to speak in tongues.
This possibility has been discussed in other videos from this channel. The argument is that the use of abbreviations increases the entropy, and the Voynichese already has a "low entropy problem", so that is not a likely explanation.
@@me_fault sure, but that seems unlikely given that the margins are generally even to the left of the text and not so much to the right, suggesting it was clearly written left to right 🤷
Excellent presentation - lots of new food for thought.
In alot of classical writings the position of the words on the page was often played with to add symbolic meaning because word order doesnt carry as mutch meaning in classical Greek and Latin as it does in modern languages. Could as similar reasoning be the cause of some of these patterns?
Highly inflected languages like Latin do have a tendency to allow for relatively free word order. However, when we look at word-based statistics like Type-Token Ratio (TTR), we see Voynichese align with the mid range rather than the high end (where highly inflected languages are). And this is ignoring the much bigger issues Voynichese has, like its low character entropy.
Wondering if these observations could be used in perhaps looking at two theories (one professional, one layperson) I've seen here on YouTune that the MS is "phonemic abbreviation" (not sure if that's accurately put) of old Turkish language and the document related to essentially recording the processes, timeframes, and recipes/treatment methodologies for women's health care procedures in a well-known old natural baths complex. Both of which I know less than nothing about LOL but the layperson's observations seemed quite logical, the pro's observations just too over my head to say one way or another. My area of semi-expertise is typography and modern typesetting which is quite different from calligraphy, so some of this makes sense to me and some is beyond. With the premise sometimes the simplest theory is often what's really going on, rather than cypher or unknown/made up language.
The more I learn about Voynichese the more I think it's some sort of poetic constricted language. Three scribes are suspected so at least three people used and possibly spoke the language. When those three people died the language died with them leaving this artifact behind.
... Having only spent a few hours on this, but I already think the most simple explanation is that they were just speaking in tongues... (Albeit in writing).
This has the same lack of ability to carry meaning and the same non-random lack of creativity as any hoaxter TV evangelist pretending to speak in tongues.
Dont know 'bout medieval languages, but 'snot that uncommon to 'breviate the front of words in English 'least, even 'ole words!
This possibility has been discussed in other videos from this channel. The argument is that the use of abbreviations increases the entropy, and the Voynichese already has a "low entropy problem", so that is not a likely explanation.
if the text is read in the opposite direction the abbreviated part is the end of the word
@@me_fault sure, but that seems unlikely given that the margins are generally even to the left of the text and not so much to the right, suggesting it was clearly written left to right 🤷