[Article] [split] A Proposed Mapping of the Voynich Alphabet to an Indo-European Language

[-JKP-]

Downing has co-authored more than one paper but I haven't really looked into them so I don't know what his views are on the Voynich Manuscript (when there are several co-authors, it's difficult to know who contributed what).

However, if it's a student paper, obviously it needs to be evaluated (by the community) differently from a research paper. The goal is to guide, support and teach.

I agree with Don. If it's a student paper, that should have been made clear at the beginning, not buried in the small print.


I tried looking up the names to see if there were other adults involved, but some of them are common names, so it's difficult to know.

Well, my comments stand, but I'll summarize them for the record:

• Presentation and layout are good.
  
• The logic needs to be improved. You can't change one word into another just because they look similar.
  
• The methodology needs to be more complete and clear.
  
• The actual transliteration scheme was not revealed and it should be included.
  
• Cherry-picking words on the assumption that they will generalize to the rest of the manuscript is perilous—one cannot assume it will work, it has to be explicitly demonstrated.
  
• Plus... I very strongly feel the mentor should have steered the students toward reputable research, rather than a foundation as shaky as Cheshire.