Phonology of Voynichese

[MarcoP]

about the alternation of final [-y] and [-aiin] as suffixes of the same roots: Many researchers have observed that the glyph [y] has the shape of the common medieval Latin ms abbreviation for the "-us" suffix. If [-y] is also being used here to represent a suffix "-Vs", then this alternation could represent for example [-y] = nominative "-Vs" and [-aiin] = accusative "-Vn". In this case, the vowel is written as [a] in the [aiin] suffix, but not written separately in the [y] suffix. Such an explanation could be valid for this phenomenon in a number of medieval European languages.

Hi Geoffrey,
that idea is discussed by Jacques Guy inYou are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (1991). I think Guy's paper marked a significant step forward in Voynich studies: it is definitely worth reading. Guy observes that (in the part of the text he analyzed) -y 'accounts for 50% of word finals, an extraordinarily high proportion. Do folio 79v and 80r contain a text with every other word or so ending in "-us" or "-os", or even plain "-s"? Possible of course, but quite improbable and thus a poor working hypothesis'. Such a high frequency strongly suggests that y must be a vowel (if the script is phonetic and not an abjad).

Guy also mentions the well known fact that in Medieval Latin manuscripts the '9' abbreviation 'word-initially [represents] the prefix "con-" or its variants (com-, cun-, cum-)'.
Of course, if one thinks that -9 as a suffix works as in Latin manuscripts, an implication is that also 9- as a prefix does so. But evidence suggests that EVA:y represents the same sound word-initially and word-finally. In particular, words ending with -y are followed by words starting with y- less frequently than expected (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). This can be observed for all Voynichese symbols that can occur both word-initially and word-finally. In many languages, the consecutive repetition of the same sound across word-boundaries is avoided through alteration of one of the two words (e.g. in Italian word-ending vowels are often dropped before words starting with the same vowel). See also Emma's discussion of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..