Implications of the continuity of Currier "languages"

[nablator]

But in concrete terms, what is it exactly that causes this gradual change? Vocabulary? Or the increasing and declining use of glyphs/clusters in specific positions (kind of like morphemes)?

A "gradual change" or "drift" is visible on a large scale (entire quires) because the variations (sometimes sharp discontinuities) on a small scale (pages or even paragraphs) are smoothed. I am not denying the "drift" phenomenon, just noting that there is much more going on.

I agree with Nick Pelling's assessment that statistics capture "the evolution of the container layer, and not anything ‘semantic’ as such." You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.