Voynichese Phonotactics

[-JKP-]

The spelling is different, but I really hope English spelling and all of its artefacts is not too relevant for Voynichese. 

The point is that in spoken language, a sound that is usually a consonant can still act like a vowel. If we were to spell out that spoken language, wobble would be wobl and BR button would be butn. The l and the n are used as vowels.

Here is how I would word it... in spoken language, a letter than is usually a consonant can act like a syllable (a consonant that sounds like it is combined with a vowel). Hence the name "syllabic consonant". This isn't about consonants that sound like vowels. This is about consonants that imply/sound out both the vowel and consonant with only one letter to create what we think of as a syllable.

Thus, the word "button" is not a syllabic consonant because the consonant "n" is ONLY a consonant (it does not function as a vowel-and-consonant on its own because the vowel is already there).


Look at the name. It's not vowel-consonant, it's syllabic consonant (a consonant that behaves as a syllable). In "rhythm" the "m" functions as a syllable. In "bottom" (as in "button") the last letter does not function as a syllable (the syllable is "om" not "m") so it's not a syllabic consonant.