[split] Implications of multiple scribes

[Emma May Smith]

I've thought about one of these problems (that of the line patterns) and think it could be explained by the transition to literacy. If the spoken language showed sound changes based on neighbouring words that may have been recorded in writing by altering the spelling of those words. But the line break might have been considered a "true" break by the writer and the sound changes weren't written. It's a bit complicated to explain, and only a suggestion. I wrote about it a bit on my website a few years ago.