For a while, I have been wondering about how mid-line breaks due to drawings compare with "true" line breaks. In other words, I wanted to check if the same LAAFU (line as a functional unit) effects that happen at line boundaries also appear when lines are interrupted by a drawing. For instance You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
This has likely been studied before, but I am not aware of any specific research in this area.
As always, I cannot exclude I have made errors somewhere in the process.
This analysis is based on the corpus of text from pages that include at least a drawing interruption. I used the Zandbergen-Landini transcription (ignoring uncertain spaces) where mid-line breaks are marked by the three characters sequence '<->'. The text from pages that do not include mid-line breaks was ignored. The corpus includes:
13966 words
11050 regular word breaks (word couples separated by a space)
751 image word breaks (word couples separated by an illustration)
2168 lines
The following histogram illustrates word length, considering:
* all words in the corpus
* first words in lines
* words that appear immediately before an image break
* words that appear immediately after an image break
* last words in lines
The histogram shows that the first word of each line is slightly longer than average. This has been discussed, for instance, by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
On the contrary, words that appear immediately before a mid-line break are shorter than the average. Line final words and words following the image-break have a normal length.
The following is the histogram for specific word-lengths. Last words in lines have more frequent 1 and 2 length words: maybe because they can be more easily squeezed at the end of a line. This tendency is much stronger for words before an image break. It is possible that words are sometimes split around the image, but words after the image break do not show any particular word-length pattern.
This graph shows frequencies for the most common word-initial characters in the different positions. s[^h] stands for s-not(h), i.e. it excludes the "bench" Sh which is considered separately.
The fact that p-, t-, y-, s- are more frequent at line start is another known fact, discussed for instance by Emma You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
The first word after an image break shares the preference for y- and s- with line-initial words, but initial gallows are almost totally absent. In addition to the gallows, also l- and q- are rare after the image break. o- is also more frequent than usual. The drop in the frequency of q- after an image break and the (symmetrical?) increase in y-/o- are particularly noticeable and puzzling.
The graph for the word-final character shows what could be the best known LAAFU effect: the high frequency of -g and -m at line end. The two characters are not particularly frequent before a mid-line break. On the other hand, -d and -s are twice more frequent before a mid-line break than in the other positions; -y is also more frequent than expected.
I looked into the specific case of -s before an image break. It turns out that almost half of the occurrences are due to the word 's' itself: the word occurs before 0.6% of regular (i.e. space) word breaks and before 3.2% of image breaks, more than 5 times as frequently. Nothing similar happens for 'd' and 'y', the other two characters that are more common immediately before an image break: they only rarely occur in that position as stand-alone words.
In a few cases, there are multiple occurrences of 's' immediately before an image on a single page:
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's' is the only character to appear twice isolated by two image breaks.
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It seems possible that this could be described as a preference for detaching an initial s- from the rest of the word.
First, I would like to apologies for my first post, because I said there that I had a theory. When I meant to say I a hypothesis(I always seem to get those two mixed up), which is that each glyph or [font=DDG_ProximaNova, DDG_ProximaNova_UI_0, DDG_ProximaNova_UI_1, DDG_ProximaNova_UI_2, DDG_ProximaNova_UI_3, DDG_ProximaNova_UI_4, DDG_ProximaNova_UI_5, DDG_ProximaNova_UI_6,]glyphs[/font] represent a specific # of Chinese characters.
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]1. I thought it was just 昴 which is Subaru (yes, I thought it was Japanese at first, there is another hypothesis before this one.) Then I ask the question: " what do the Chinese called Pleiades?" So I look up Chinese constellation You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and it was the same character, but there was also this one [font=sans-serif]宿 next to [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]昴 on this star map. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] I then went to see[/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] if [/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]昴[/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]宿 fit into EVA: oalcheol and begun to notice that oal has a slight gap [/font][font=sans-serif]between it and cheol. Also saw that EVA: eo conjoin together and look similar to the part in green and that EVA: ch appear similar to the roof part in red [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif](picture below #1-3). You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[/font][/font][/font][/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=sans-serif][font=sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]This where my hypothesis started and I went on to learn the Chinese language to see if I can found more character in VMS.[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font]
2. I was looking for the radical character "辶" in blue to found out its meaning, (testing to see if EVA: iin might match it) and found that in Chinese it means "to walk" Japanese its "water" "slide" or "water slide." When saw water/slide, I immediately went to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and the vord I saw was EVA: kooiin. So I went to google translate ( I admit a bad source to use, but unfortunately I don't know Chinese very well, yet.) and type in water lilies(English --> Chinese(traditional)). I got [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]睡蓮, [/font]the first character didn't match anything, so I switch the language around(Chinese(traditional)-->English) and got rid of [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]睡 to see what [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]蓮mean. This is how I got lotus for [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]蓮(I also got lotus/water lily, when looking it up on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..) So I notice EVA: k look like the top part, while the blue part I said was iin. Now am left with EVA: oo and this symbol 車. At this point I thought my hypothesis was wrong, but I realize the character was very complex to be represent by a few glyphs. This may be for reason #1 why they use the EVA: oo, but then I found reason #2. I went to look up what [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]車 mean and turn out to be "vehicle" and then it hit me that the author made his/her own logography to represent vehicle. While [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]車 is a top down view of a cart, the EVA: oo is a side view of the cart wheels, and why they use the two O.[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]3. I found this one by accident, while looking at lotus in google translate I found this character [/font][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]菏[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif].[/font][/font][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Which look [/font][/font][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]surprisingly[/font][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif] like the first vord on paragraph 2 in [/font]You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]. It was odd to me why the first vord on both paragraph would be lotus, but then I copy the character and look on [/font]You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]. On there it says "[/font][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif][font=sans-serif]name of a [/font]You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[font=sans-serif] in [/font]You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[font=sans-serif] [/font][/font][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.", but I wan't convenience. So I went to google map and look around all in Shandong province in China for this river and while I was looking, I realize that their is a lot river with "he" at the end, which is the sound 菏-->[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Hé makes. Then it click, I went to google translate and in my head ask "google, what is river in Chinese?"(type river into box) Google responds:[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]菏. (well thanks google for sending me on a wild goose chase.)[/font][/font][/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Now my final image "Possible match" are possible explanation for certain weird character for each vords.[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font] The * is a responds to...[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]
(21-09-2019, 12:14 PM)RobGea Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
[/font]why so many words end in 'y' i personally would love to hear it.
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]This character "[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]了" could be why the EVA: y end every vords or the two below it. Though I can't explain what the EVA: dy, because d has been eluding so far. I will also[/font]show this video to show possible connecton between EVA: y and 了. Alright, commence trial by fire.[/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font]
It is clear that one of the problems with the Voynich when trying to place it in history in the context of other manuscripts and documents is of course that it has no obvious parallels. Certainly we can find similarities elsewhere in manuscripts, so it isn't as though it emerged from the ether with no relation to anything else.
But we all, naturally, try to find what seems to be the best place to situate it relative to other manuscripts or texts, despite its incongruity.
So how do we reconcile its uniqueness with it having a place amongst other documents in history?
(One thing, I think we can say is that even once it has been read or demonstrated as meaningless it will still have a significance in history, because of its uniqueness, though once this happens it will I daresay slide from public interest to some extent.)
A few days ago I made a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that the speed at which the vocabulary stabilizes itself in a text might be an indicator as to the type of the text contents. In a fiction novel, where one could expect any change of the plot, and where artistic descriptions and depictions constitute the essence of the writing, each new page can introduce notable additions to the cumulative vocabulary. In contrast to that, a narrow-topic professional text would probably have a limited base vocabulary, which is then watered by special terminology which can well arrive up to the last page, but the rate of the vocabulary growth would be slow towards the end of the text.
Hence, by plotting the vocabulary growth curve of the VMS we can potentially make conclusions as to the nature of the contents thereof. Of course, we should separate sections of apparently different topics - because in the framework of this discourse, they present different texts.
Just an idea. I have not run any tests. What do you think?
Since approximately eight months I followed a theory, originally discussed by Prof. Stephen Bax and Derek Vogt, who suggested that Voynichese could be related to Romani or Old Romani and added my own findings, which came from the Basque language, to this.
[font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]After this, I think, the Voynichese could be a relative of the so called "Erromintxela", the Creol of Basque and Kalderash (a Romani dialect).
I´ve therefore did a comparison of the my and their suggested Voynichese sounds with the actual Erromintxela phonetic inventory. And it turns out, that all known Erromintxela sounds would be covered by the Voynich glyphs. Also there are seven more sounds (two accompanied vowels, and five consonants) in the Voynichese, that filled some unusual gaps. As it seems, two of came from the Arabic, two from the Basque, two from the Spanish and one from the Hindi language.[/font]
But there are some irregularities:
[font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Concerning the vowels it´ s possible, that their use is not as straight as for example in English. There seem to be two main vowels, which can be accompanied by consonants, like "al/ar" in Arabic and "el" in Spanish. The consonants can stand in front or behind the vowels. So "ar" could also turn into "ra" depending on the context. As far as I can say for the moment, the connected consonants (n,l,r, and final sch) are all apico- alveolar except the finishing bilabial "m".
If two coronal consonants of the same type are standing on the end of a word, each of them is seemingly followed by a vowel.
The "k" may exist in an initial form and a final form.
Also there two special rules with the "h", as it seems:
[/font]
If a standard "h" followes "n", "l" or initial "k", or is followed by a closed vowel, it turns into "her" or "har" or "hir" or similar constructions with an "n" if it is standing next to an "n". If a standard "h" followes "p" it turns into "q". If a standard "h" followes "b" it turns into "v".
[font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] 2. If an "h" (with an hamza above) followes a Plosive, it aspirates the Plosive (for example "p" turns into "ph").
[/font]
[font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]That´s quite strange even to me.[/font]
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[font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]With my findings, in the meantime, I have checked two other theories of Andres Eloy Martinez Rojas (folio 68r3 shows the circular solar eclipse of April 15th, 1409) and Tom E. O'Neil (folio 68r3 shows Halley´s Comet in 1910) and as you can see it turns out, that the eclipse theory seems to be much more likely than the Halley´s Comet theory.
I´ve found eleven stars and a mythological being which were next to the position of the eclipse in 1409: [/font]
[font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]1a.) the dragon of the eclipse, a well known demon in Asian cultures, [/font] [font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]1b.) the Pleiades and Aldebaran in Taurus[/font] [font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2. two stars in Andromeda[/font] [font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]3. one star in Aries and two in Pisces, [/font] [font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]4. four stars which today belong to Eridanus, Fornax and Cetus, but could be one constellation in older times, which was maybe called Elephant.
For me at least this chart is an hint that Voynichese is a real language and is authentic for the early 15th century, when the Romani people came to Spain.
What I can´t refute is the possibility, that the VMS could also be a work by the Arabic conquistadors of the Iberian Peninsula, but their connection with the Basque people wasn´t very tight. So for me its more unlikely, than the Old Romani origin.[/font] By the way, the plant names, which Bax transcribed in his essays and presentations and my phonetic inventory are different from each other. But it seems, that my transcription is a little more precise than the transcription of Bax.
[font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I´m ready for your opinions![/font]
Simply question - why encrypt the VM?
Assuming it is first half of 15th century - nothing was encrypted. It just wasn't necessary. Maybe a short message from one court to another would have been partially encrypted.
Yes, we had philosophical interest from the Arabs. But this isn't backed up with actual messages. What we have are intellectuals discussing the idea.
The same, but reduced, in Europe. Hildegard. Gonzanga. Rudolf IV. They all want to keep messages secret (Hildegard was frankly mad, and wanted to keep her ideas secret. She's probably the closest to a Voynich template).
But the simple fact of the matter was that nobody in the era thought it was necessary to create a more complicated code. Why? Because at the time, nobody could crack a more complicated code.
So we have short messages between intellectuals, in which nouns are written in a lookup code or substitution alphabet. It is one hell of a jump from that to a massive encrypted book.
So let's look at the mindset. Why would anyone encrypt a whole book? Because they thought it was full of personally important and confidential information? In which case, it would be the most important book from the era we have - because it would be unique. Nobody else from the era thought it important enough to encrypt their entire notebooks, let alone create an entirely new unbreakable encryption system.
Therefore, I think we can discard the notion it's encrypted. What's more, anybody arguing it is encrypted - or encoded - is arguing that it's nonsense. Because after so many attempts, until, or unless, a codebook arrives, the encryption system is lost forever, and is probably mathematically impossible to retrieve.
Can someone point me in the direction of some good historical reading about pedagogy in medieval Europe? I'd be particularly interested in writings that go into some detail about the mundane aspects of schooling, especially the materials typically used, the way lessons were structured, and what a student was expected to do. Obviously I'd be most interested in a historian who used source materials dating from the approximate time and place the VMS was written, but I'd be happy with just a general overview of pedagogy in the early fifteenth century, for those fortunate enough to receive any schooling at all.
What inspired me to want to look up medieval educational methods is that I noticed a number of clues about the VMS would fit together nicely if it were a student's notebook. I'd like to explore and flesh out this hypothesis a bit more (or abandon it if it keeps crashing into anachronisms), but I need to know more about the historical background of the Alpine region of Europe at the time, particularly who learned the arts / sciences / "natural law", and how they learned it.
Something else entirely, for those more experienced with handwriting than me. I've only recently learned about the IHS Christogram through this thread. I just noticed that (I know it's a stretch) it's kind of present in the scribble inside the large "sun"-flower on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . This would leave a protrusion on top and a mark at the bottom though.
I think it's time we fish this out of the depths of the off topic section and give it its own proper thread.
Anton suggested that investigating word entropy would be an interesting exercise. Thanks to Nablator's code I gathered some initial data, which can be viewed in my You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. under the word entropy tab.
What I did right now is make some quick graphs to see whether there is any signal in the noise. My favorite way of visualizing lots of data is in scatter plots, so that's what I used. For the second value I used MATTR 500, because I know this forms "language clouds", and additionally I wanted to find out whether there would be any correlation between this and word entropy (both are about vocabulary, after all).
Also, I wanted to get an idea of which values might be most useful to focus on.
Note: in most graphs, I left two VM outliers, those are te labels and the GC transcription. It is best to focus on the main VM cloud, which sits somewhere between Latin and German.
Note2: Greek is usually somewhere in the middle, but since there are so many dots of it, visibility is impaired, so I turned it off for these graphs.
An effect is visible, but less pronounced than in h1-h2.
Conclusion: Voynichese does not behave abnormally as far as word entropy goes. It sits somewhere between Latin and German. Some other languages like Italian and Slavic are also close, but I didn't include those in these graphs.
![[Image: image.jpg?q=f68v2_3-1326-368-70-38]](https://voynich.ninja/extractor/image.jpg?q=f68v2_3-1326-368-70-38)
I thought it was just 昴 which is Subaru (yes, I thought it was Japanese at first, there is another hypothesis before this one.) Then I ask the question: " what do the Chinese called Pleiades?" So I look up Chinese constellation ![[Image: image.jpg?q=f2v-382-304-105-81]](http://voynich.ninja/extractor/image.jpg?q=f2v-382-304-105-81)
EVA: kooiin. So I went to google translate ( I admit a bad source to use, but unfortunately I don't know Chinese very well, yet.) and type in water lilies(English --> Chinese(traditional)). I got 
