My ignorance of German did not allow me to understand the contents of the interview and I must rely on Matthias' summary. Lisa's mention of the apparent phonetic nature of Voynichese can help keep our attention on some features of the text. While of course one cannot be sure of anything, there are phonetic-like effects in Voynichese. E.g. the alternation between few-but-frequent circle symbols (vowels?) and many-but-less-frequent other symbols (consonants?). Also, as first observed by Currier, the last character of a word has an influence on the first character of the next word. As Emma and I argued in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., this is similar to Sandhi-effects that happen in several languages.
These phenomena must be explained. It could be that Voynichese is a complex cipher which results in something that looks pronounceable. If so, this is probably the intentional result of a particularly clever design.
There are several facts that make Voynichese incompatible with the phonetic rendering of a European language, but in principle the "exotic" language idea is still open. Given the huge variety of linguistic phenomena, and how much the same language varies according to time, subject and style, I am not sure it will ever be possible to entirely dismiss this idea. We know that Lisa finds the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. promising. There could be other Eastern languages that one could consider (e.g. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as pointed out by Donald Fisk).
Also, the distinction between "phonetic" and "linguistic" is an important one. The text of Liber Loagaeth by Dee and Kelley appears to be phonetic but non-linguistic (something like "written glossolalia"). Similarly, the VMS could be meaningless, as argued by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. but, instead of being based on the visual harmony of glyphs as they suggest, it could be based on the actual harmony of sounds (again, like Liber Loagaeth).
Of course, I am looking forward to read Lisa's paper. It is clear that Terra X, however nicely produced, is not the right place for in-depth discussion of technical details.
These phenomena must be explained. It could be that Voynichese is a complex cipher which results in something that looks pronounceable. If so, this is probably the intentional result of a particularly clever design.
There are several facts that make Voynichese incompatible with the phonetic rendering of a European language, but in principle the "exotic" language idea is still open. Given the huge variety of linguistic phenomena, and how much the same language varies according to time, subject and style, I am not sure it will ever be possible to entirely dismiss this idea. We know that Lisa finds the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. promising. There could be other Eastern languages that one could consider (e.g. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as pointed out by Donald Fisk).
Also, the distinction between "phonetic" and "linguistic" is an important one. The text of Liber Loagaeth by Dee and Kelley appears to be phonetic but non-linguistic (something like "written glossolalia"). Similarly, the VMS could be meaningless, as argued by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. but, instead of being based on the visual harmony of glyphs as they suggest, it could be based on the actual harmony of sounds (again, like Liber Loagaeth).
Of course, I am looking forward to read Lisa's paper. It is clear that Terra X, however nicely produced, is not the right place for in-depth discussion of technical details.