Opinions on: line as a functional unit

[pfeaster]

Going back to the topic of this thread:  I am still confused about what exactly LAAFU means.  I see that there has been a huge amount of discussion about it,and what I have read only left me more confused.

Is there a short summary of what is known somewhere?

LAAFU ("Line As A Functional Unit") refers broadly to the observation that statistical properties of Voynichese text vary based on line position -- implying in turn that the line functions somehow as a "unit."

Historically it has mostly been used to refer to distinctive patterns found at the beginnings and ends of lines, probably because the differences in those positions are most readily apparent.  

However, Emma May Smith and Marco Ponzi have also identified statistical anomalies among second words of lines, and my own studies of "rightwardness" metrics have (I think) shown that subtler forms of line patterning permeate the whole text, with many word features consistently "preferring" earlier or later positions within a line.  For example: choose any pair of Voynichese words that differ only in that one contains [a] where the other contains [o].  Considering only mid-line tokens of those two words -- excluding first and last words -- I believe you'll find that in nearly every case the word containing [a] appears further rightward on average than the word containing [o].

If the line weren't somehow fundamental to the process by which Voynichese text was composed, I can't imagine how such consistent and pervasive patterns would have arisen.