Classifying False Voynich Decipherment "Solutions"

[Mark Knowles]

Spelling variation is a fact. Can't get rid of that. C-14 dates are in advance of most all relevant attempts at spelling standardization, if my scanty knowledge is correct. However there is the matter of quantity as to how many spelling variations might exist. Alternatives certainly do exist but, given the limited and roughly fixed phonetic set in a natural language, there are only so many ways to spell sugar.

My own person strong opinion is that the Voynich is written in cipher. However I am not focused on my theory here, but rather the false decipherment theories of others. These theories seem to tend to be largely natural language theories sometimes with very simple cipherish elements such as the anagram. I am interested in how to classify and distinguish between these false theories and identify common elements in both how the theory was constructed and the structure of the theory. I am much less interested in this thread in working on the construction of a correct theory.

I agree that spelling variations, spacing variations, limited grammar, multiple languages and the other items I listed are all possibilities, but when combined together they make for a huge amount of flexibility. I hypotheses that with this approach I could also construct a theory of this kind that is distinct from other false theories.