18-09-2019, 11:32 PM
I seem to recall one blogger (maybe it was Emma May Smith?) talking about EVA-ai(ii)n, and reckoning that this represents some type of common vocal phenomenon for the person writing and reading the VMS, with an, ain, aiin, and aiiin perhaps being minor but meaningful variations on a similar kind of vocalization. At the time I was reading that, I was very into Stephen Bax and Derek Vogt's idea that EVA-a derived from the Semitic letter waw, and accordingly, represents either the approximant [w] or as a back vowel. Since then, I've had an easy time imagining that a(ii)in represents a series of heavily nasalized back vowels, perhaps of varying phonemic length. I imagine it sounding a bit like the drone of a didgeridoo or a Tuvan throat singer, but briefer. Or, for a less exotic example, the way Portuguese speakers pronounce "-ão" at the end of a word.
I'm going really out on a limb here, but am I the only one who imagines this Voynichese letter combination sounding this way, and thinks this idea might be plausible?
I'm going really out on a limb here, but am I the only one who imagines this Voynichese letter combination sounding this way, and thinks this idea might be plausible?


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