Voynichese Phonotactics

[Sam G]

This is the first time I've heard the third proposal regarding y. I am quite happy that ch and sh can be in both consonant and vowel positions. But y strikes me as not having the same qualities. Can it explain why y appears less commonly in the middle of words, and never before certain characters? I do believe that any theory concerning y has to account for its relationship with a.

I agree that y seems to be functioning primarily as a vowel or syllable nucleus.  But it's not clear what role it's playing when it follows a sequence of e's. E.g. ey, eey, etc.  Admittedly a vowel sound might not be inappropriate here either.  But I also think that y also seems to be a kind of counterpart to l, which seems to be primarily a consonant.

To a broader point concerning the phonology of Voynichese: if we believe ch and sh are sometimes acting as syllabic consonants we can potentially narrow down their value. Syllabic consonants are typically sonorants, so sounds like /n, m, r, l/. (I know which of those I would put my money on.)

If you're thinking that ch and Sh might represent /n/ and /m/ (not sure which would be which), then this is also a possibility that I have considered.

Though, as ever, problems arise when we consider the ends of words where ch and sh don't appear: can sonorants be forbidden in the syllable coda?

That's a good question.  I don't know.  I do know that in both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese /m/ may begin but not end a syllable, but /n/ may do both.