26-06-2020, 09:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 26-06-2020, 09:11 PM by Torsten.
Edit Reason: typo
)
I have tried to find out more about the idea behind the statement that there are "linguistically identifiable roots, prefixes, and suffixes". In 2015 Lisa Davis has posted a blog post. Lisa wrote: "Linguists have identified prefixes and suffixes, and have zeroed in on what seem to be rootwords as well" (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). "For example, the following “Voynichese” word is a common root found throughout the astronomical section: [okal]" (Davis 2015)
(Note: [okal] occurs 138 times within the manuscript (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). In the astronomical section [okal] occurs 8 times, in Currier A it occurs 29 times and 94 times in Currier B. Therefore I wouldn't say that [okal] is especially common within the astronomical section.)
The only other source I was able to find is a blog post by Gordon Rugg. Rugg writes: "Voynichese words typically have a three-syllable structure, of prefix, root and suffix. There are regularities about which syllables occur as prefixes, or as roots, or as suffixes; for instance the syllable '4o' almost always occurs as a prefix, whereas the syllable '89' usually occurs as a suffix, occasionally occurs as a prefix, but hardly ever occurs as a root." (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).
In his papers Gordon Ruggs writes about 'prefix', 'midfix' and 'suffix'. This idea goes back to Jorgs Stolfis prefix-midfix-suffix decomposition of Voynich words (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). Stolfi used his model to explain "the non-trivial word structure" for Voynich words (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). Stolfi later modified this 'prefix-midfix-suffix' model into a 'core-mantel-crust' model.
Stolfi conclusion was: "The paradigm has implications also for theories that assume a straightforward (non-encrypted) encoding of some obscure language. The layered word structure does not obviously match the word structure of Indo-European languages. Semitic languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, or Ethiopian could perhaps be transliterated into Voynichese, but not by any straightforward mapping. In fact, if the VMS is not encrypted, the layered structure suggests that the 'words' are single syllables (a conclusion that is also supported by the comparatively narrow range of 'word' lengths). However, the number of different 'words' is far too large compared to the number of syllables in Indo-European languages. So either the script allows multiple spellings for the same syllable, or we must look for languages with large syllable inventory --- e.g. East Asian languages such as Cantonese, Vietnamese, or Tibetan" (Stolfi 2000).
A possible source for Lisa Davis statement is therefore Jorge Stolfis prefix-midfix-suffix model. (Note: Within the prefix-midfix-suffix model the decomposition of [okal] would be [o-k-al].)
(Note: [okal] occurs 138 times within the manuscript (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). In the astronomical section [okal] occurs 8 times, in Currier A it occurs 29 times and 94 times in Currier B. Therefore I wouldn't say that [okal] is especially common within the astronomical section.)
The only other source I was able to find is a blog post by Gordon Rugg. Rugg writes: "Voynichese words typically have a three-syllable structure, of prefix, root and suffix. There are regularities about which syllables occur as prefixes, or as roots, or as suffixes; for instance the syllable '4o' almost always occurs as a prefix, whereas the syllable '89' usually occurs as a suffix, occasionally occurs as a prefix, but hardly ever occurs as a root." (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).
In his papers Gordon Ruggs writes about 'prefix', 'midfix' and 'suffix'. This idea goes back to Jorgs Stolfis prefix-midfix-suffix decomposition of Voynich words (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). Stolfi used his model to explain "the non-trivial word structure" for Voynich words (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). Stolfi later modified this 'prefix-midfix-suffix' model into a 'core-mantel-crust' model.
Stolfi conclusion was: "The paradigm has implications also for theories that assume a straightforward (non-encrypted) encoding of some obscure language. The layered word structure does not obviously match the word structure of Indo-European languages. Semitic languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, or Ethiopian could perhaps be transliterated into Voynichese, but not by any straightforward mapping. In fact, if the VMS is not encrypted, the layered structure suggests that the 'words' are single syllables (a conclusion that is also supported by the comparatively narrow range of 'word' lengths). However, the number of different 'words' is far too large compared to the number of syllables in Indo-European languages. So either the script allows multiple spellings for the same syllable, or we must look for languages with large syllable inventory --- e.g. East Asian languages such as Cantonese, Vietnamese, or Tibetan" (Stolfi 2000).
A possible source for Lisa Davis statement is therefore Jorge Stolfis prefix-midfix-suffix model. (Note: Within the prefix-midfix-suffix model the decomposition of [okal] would be [o-k-al].)