01-10-2016, 04:56 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-10-2016, 05:07 PM by ThomasCoon.)
As Sam G stated, there are three types of decipherments:
1) Known language in an unknown script (ex. Mayan Hieroglyphics written in Ch'olan language)
2) Unknown language in a known script (ex. Etruscan language written in Roman alphabet)
3) Unknown language in an unknown script (ex: Linear B tablets)
Right now, Voynichese is Type #3.
Type 1 is usually decipherable (think Mayan, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, etc.)
Type 2 is problematic but can be workable. For example, Etruscan is written in an alphabet similar to Latin, so we could "read" the words for centuries, we didn't know what many of them meant. There are two things we have done:
a) Use bilingual texts where Etruscan text is written alongside Greek, Latin, or Phoenician, and start to make educated guesses about what certain Etruscan words mean. Etruscan texts next to images could also be considered "bilingual". In addition:
b) Use the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. to analyze the content of many different inscriptions (especially bilingual ones), and piece together which words may be nouns or verbs, how grammar works, and ultimately what certain words mean. This is a slow and lengthy process but it has worked on Etruscan, aided mostly by bilingual inscriptions.
Type 3 texts have been deciphered (Linear B) but only if there is a large amount of writing in the unknown script. The length of the VMS would be sufficient, but in other unknown scripts where we only have writing on a few stone tablets, we can never solve the language. Usually "Type 3" decipherments have to start with statistics: how many signs are in the script, what combinations appear, etc. As Sam G said, we determined that Linear B was both a syllabary and an inflected language before we determined that it was Greek.
1) Known language in an unknown script (ex. Mayan Hieroglyphics written in Ch'olan language)
2) Unknown language in a known script (ex. Etruscan language written in Roman alphabet)
3) Unknown language in an unknown script (ex: Linear B tablets)
Right now, Voynichese is Type #3.
Type 1 is usually decipherable (think Mayan, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, etc.)
Type 2 is problematic but can be workable. For example, Etruscan is written in an alphabet similar to Latin, so we could "read" the words for centuries, we didn't know what many of them meant. There are two things we have done:
a) Use bilingual texts where Etruscan text is written alongside Greek, Latin, or Phoenician, and start to make educated guesses about what certain Etruscan words mean. Etruscan texts next to images could also be considered "bilingual". In addition:
b) Use the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. to analyze the content of many different inscriptions (especially bilingual ones), and piece together which words may be nouns or verbs, how grammar works, and ultimately what certain words mean. This is a slow and lengthy process but it has worked on Etruscan, aided mostly by bilingual inscriptions.
Type 3 texts have been deciphered (Linear B) but only if there is a large amount of writing in the unknown script. The length of the VMS would be sufficient, but in other unknown scripts where we only have writing on a few stone tablets, we can never solve the language. Usually "Type 3" decipherments have to start with statistics: how many signs are in the script, what combinations appear, etc. As Sam G said, we determined that Linear B was both a syllabary and an inflected language before we determined that it was Greek.
![[+]](https://www.voynich.ninja/images/collapse_collapsed.png)