Question about WW2 radio codes

[davidjackson]

NI HAO ROGER BACON APRIL FIRST 1260 XIE XIE HA HA

Good one Don and welcome to the forum!
Pinyan of course was only invented in the mid-20th century, although ways of writing Mandarin in the Roman alphabet have been around since the 17th century - the Jesuits being the driving force here, of course.

I would warn against trying to map our own linguistic conceptions upon the past. The truth of the matter is that past generations simply didn't have the same understanding of language that we do. Any explanation that uses modern semantic theory to explain the why of the Voynich is, IMHO, based upon false foundations.

I always think thatYou are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (Johnson-Laird, 1987) goes some way towards exploding arty-farty linguistic theories about the Voynich. If we "moderns" can't think "logically" (according to modern theory) about language, what chance did some person in the mid 15th century have?