[Blog Post] Scribes of the Voynich Manuscript

[Emma May Smith]

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All these open options depend on whether the text is rather based on a written original or a spoken original.

Just to give an example: if word-initial o is any vowel, then the preceding q could be a glottal stop or an aspiration (spoken original).

Indeed. Or any sound inserted between vowels to prevent hiatus. Or any sound which is not preserved in speech except when between two vowels.

[q] is interesting, and contested, but there are several potential models which render it unproblematic for a linguistic solution.