[Article] What Will It Take to Solve the Voynich Manuscript?

[LisaFaginDavis]

Thanks for these thoughts, all. My main point wasn't about the linguistics at all - that was simply introductory. The point of the paper is that a workable solution must make sense, whether it results in legible text or not. It must be in accordance with the evidence, it must be repeatable. That all seems inarguable to me. Remember as well that this journal has a broad, populist audience. It is not a journal for specialists. It isn't meant to present new work or to tell you, the Voynich Ninja contributors, anything you don't already know. It is meant to be an introductory piece for an audience who only knows about the VMS from public media and wants to know a little more.

And I made the point about cooperation quite explicitly - no one is an expert in everything. I am not a linguist. But I AM an expert in medieval manuscripts, and I can assure you that I understand the codicological structure of the manuscript better than most, and that the manuscript is definitely not written in Gothic minuscule and abbreviations. 

I'm not going to debate this particular article further, as it wasn't intended to make an argument about the contents of the VMS at all, just to introduce readers to the manuscript and some of the complexities involved in working with it.