Currier A/B split is not what we thought it was!

[Labyrinthinesecurity]

folios split into two sharply separated groups  ...  This is not the same thing as the Currier A/B split

Are you proposing an alternative way to divide the text of the manuscript?

The language in each of the main sections

Herbal A1
Herbal B2
Pharma A1
Quire 13
Quire 20

has been seen to be different. Distinct styles, choice of words, preference for a certain prefix or suffix etc. Quire 20 also shows statistical evidence of being in two different 'dialects'. ( See You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )  It has been proposed that there are six language clusters.

Dividing the pages into A or B has not been sufficient in helping to resolve the big questions about the manuscript. Each section really needs to be looked at separately. The manuscript just does not seem to be divisible into two consistent halves.

My study is not helping to resolve any big question about the manuscript, that's right. What it does is propose something much less ambitious, but still useful I think: a mechanical process that outputs the per-folio A/B split that we see, especially in Herbal.