19-05-2026, 02:07 AM
(19-05-2026, 12:49 AM)Torsten wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.A constructed language doesn't show a continuous evolutionary gradient. If the dictionary is fixed, the vocabulary shouldn't evolve from section to section. But the VMS shows "chol" dominant in early sections, "chedy" dominant in late sections, with smooth intermediate stages. A dictionary doesn't evolve — a copying process does (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).
I'm not convinced the ho/ed bigram evidence supports a continuous drift model. If ed/Currier B/Scribe 2+ emerged gradually through incremental copy-mutate, I would expect broad transitional zones and smooth redistribution of ed behavior across folios. Instead, the ed distribution appears highly clustered, with long stable low-ed regions written by Scribe 1 followed by abrupt activation zones written by Scribe 2+. That aligns much more closely with production/scribal boundaries than with lexical drift.
The attached charts are difficult to reconcile with a purely continuous evolution model. ho/Scribe 1/Currier A folios remain remarkably stable and locally reducible, while ED+/Scribe 2 behavior expands abruptly rather than progressively. That looks less like slow drift and more like a regime change in production methods or weighting strategy.