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+--- Forum: Analysis of the text (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-41.html)
+--- Thread: Hypothesis regarding small alphabet (/thread-4521.html)
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RE: Hypothesis regarding small alphabet - ViolaGuy32 - 08-03-2025
(07-03-2025, 11:48 PM)Dana Scott Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.(07-03-2025, 11:43 PM)ViolaGuy32 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.(07-03-2025, 11:31 PM)Bluetoes101 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.(07-03-2025, 10:34 PM)ViolaGuy32 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I'm not sure I understand you. Someone who understands a script with this phenomenon would intuit which letters would make sensible words in each context.
Regarding your statement, "You could add a way, like hide "12212" in the text which tells the reader the rule is option 1 then 2 and so on, repeating," the examples of Arabic with only the rasm do not have a key or code hidden in the manuscripts informing the reader on which letter is intended for each glyph; the reader must intuit the proper letter on a case-by-case basis.
"Is it possible that the reason that the Voynich script appears to have only 13 or so letters (when accounting for positional variation) is that multiple letters could use the same glyphs? This phenomenon can be found in early Arabic writing."
So you meant by this, "is it possible Voynich text is Arabic" then? I had mistook this as an example to further your idea of doubling use of characters.
I am not saying that the Voynich manuscript is in Arabic, nor that it is in a derivative of the Arabic script. I am using early Arabic manuscripts as examples of what a text with this phenomenon looks like because they are they only texts that I know to exhibit this phenomenon.
What examples in the Voynich manuscript text might exhibit this "phenomenon"?
If the text features this phenomenon, it would be a core attribute of the script, and not something limited to particular passages of the text.
RE: Hypothesis regarding small alphabet - MarcoP - 08-03-2025
I think the Malta paper You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., by Bowern and Gaskell, confirms that this could be a good idea. The authors found that among the cipher methods that create results closer to Voynichese are “manipulations that remove phonemic contrasts (such as voicing, place, or manner)”.
In their conclusions: “Encipherment approaches that merged phonemic contrasts yielded the closest overall results, suggesting that ciphers and writing systems with this property may be a useful target for future research.”
If I understand correctly, removing voicing contrast means that plain-text pairs like t/d p/b k/g are each encoded by a single cipher letter.