The question of concatenation

[Anton]

Suppose that the plain text character sequence P1...Pn maps to the Voynichese character sequence V1...Vm, where n and m are 1 or more.

Suppose that, likewise, another plain text sequence P'1...P'x maps to another Voynichese sequence V'1...V'y.

Would then one expect P1...PnP'1...P'x map to V1...VmV'1...V'y? Or is there anything in the observable properties of Voynichese that would immediately preclude that?

[Emma May Smith]

The end of one word appears to have some kind of effect on the next. So chaining together two strings could cause some alteration in the glyphs where the ends of the strings are adjacent. Also, the longer a string becomes the more like it is to wrap round the end of a line. Line patterns could also alter the glyphs involved.

For example:

• Take two strings: [chol daiin] and [keor al].
  
• Putting them together could (as an example) produce something like: [chol daiin okeor al]. With an [o] inserted before [k] due to the preceding [n].
  
• But if the new string wrapped round the end of a line after [keor], it might result in: [chol daiin okeor // sal]. With an [s] inserted before [a] at the start of a new line.
  

Neither of the examples in step one and two are definite, but they seem to be the kind of thing which happens as the Voynich text is built up from "ideal" words to composed text.

(I think that understanding this layer of transformation between ideal and composed text should currently be our main focus when analysing the text.)

[Anton]

That's not exactly what I mean. I mean producing words by concatenation.

For the sake of example (Voynich sequences are arbitrary):

if ar maps to "ein" and d maps to "das", would dar map to "dasein"?

[Emma May Smith]

That's not exactly what I mean. I mean producing words by concatenation.

For the sake of example (Voynich sequences are arbitrary):

if ar maps to "ein" and d maps to "das", would dar map to "dasein"?

My apologies for misunderstanding you.

In answer to your question: I believe that changes can still happen.

• The a glyph [a] has a clear determining environment. It mostly precedes the glyphs [l, r, i, n, m]. It can and does appear otherwise, but much less commonly.
  
• I believe, and think there is evidence to support, that the glyph [a] is a variant (or somehow related to) [y]. In my hypothesis, when [y] is followed by [l, r, i, n m]  it becomes [a].
  
• So the word [dy], when a final [r] is added, becomes [dar].
  
• Whether or not that indicates an actual change in the plaintext, or is simply how the script works, I don't know.
  

As with my first answer, these are my opinions. They constitute my best guess as to how to the Voynich text works. Nothing is definite.