VMs: Conclusions

["chris123" <chris123@xxxxxxxxx>]

CONCLUSIONS - or why I think it is a load of rubbish
The VMS was written using an invented 'language' that does not 
have any meaning - as a language or as some form of code / cipher. 
It was probably created in the 15th or 16th century or is a fake 
from a later date that is designed to look like it was created 
then.

HOW THE TEXT WAS GENERATED 

It was not unprecidented for authors of the 15th & 16th C. to create 
entirely fictional 'alphabets' and claim that these were those used 
in foreign lands - presumably to make their efforts more saleable. 
 Not only did the author of the VMS create a fictional alphabet - he 
wrote an entire manuscript in it, possibly after realising his 
artwork wasn't exactly the best and that he needed an edge to make 
his manuscript more valuable.
Our author, didn't take the obvious route to creating his fictional 
language - invent some words a grammar etc.  but nonetheless he found 
a simple yet effective way. To do this he simply tried to imitate, 
speaking out aloud, a foreign language he was familiar with the sound 
of but of which he understood nothing or very little. Much as in the 
way children would when play-acting the role of a foreigner. Having 
done this, he invented a fictional alphabet to spell out his 'words' 
phonetically.
When you create text this way - as you hit an authentic sounding sound 
or group of sounds you tend to repeat it only changing the beginning 
or the ending, adding to it or modifying it slightly. And, what often 
starts off as a well ordered line can get rather messy/unstructured 
towards the end as you desperately struggle to make it sound convincing.
When a text is generated line by line in this way, it has many of the 
characteristics of the VMS that has confounded so many for so long, In 
a hand that looks like it is  practised in a Latin script!

* Letter and word combinations tend to occur in runs - Compare the 
different colours f41r and f42r in the colourized page above - ie in 
most of any given paragraph or page of the VMS a small subset of words 
and letters/letter groups occurs more frequently than would be expected 
in a normal language or code but there is no overall pattern to the 
entire text beyond what could be expected from a text created in the 
manner stated above. This favoured subset of words and letters slowly 
changes in order to avoid to much repetition or sudden changes that 
would make it look less languagey.

* When creating text in this manner there is an exceptionally high 
degree of assonance and alliteration, this is evident throughout the VMS.

* Low number of commonly occuring letters.

* This method of generating text also accounts for Captain Prescott H. 
Currier's findings on lines as functional entities and the effects of 
Word-Final Symbols on the Initial Symbol of the Following Word. Our 
author would have had to divide his time between speaking aloud his 
words and writing them, what better than a line to use as a dividing 
point between the two activities, and often he struggled to reach the 
end of a line.


THE ARTWORK 
Yes, it is unusual when looked at as a whole, and yes there is nothing 
else quite like it that we know of from that time, when looked at as a 
whole. But if you consider the authors intentions and look at the elements 
that make up the pictures in the VMS there is nothing unusual. Assuming 
that the authors intention was to create fantastic pictures of strange and 
wonderful mysteries from afar (as he did with the text), we see that he was 
only limited by his experiences. Artistically, he seems to have learned his 
techniques by imitating the art of the time, particularly the more widely 
available woodcuts and lower quality hand made manuscripts which, by their 
very nature, tend towards certain styles of representation. There is nothing 
unique about  any of the 'line-styles' or the repetitve patterns used to 
make up the pictures of the VMS, they where just put together with a 
little imagination. What does stand out is the flowing, organic 'tubes', 
but it is hardly inconceivable that our author did not draw these at his 
most imaginative moments, and while he was at it he made the less 
imaginative step of throwing in a few naked women. Having learned to draw 
curvy tubular/conical representations (which he may have considered very 
innovative, given the quality of his work) he couldn't but help using 
this technique frequently.

YES BUT WHAT ABOUT HIDDEN MESSAGES ? 
 Not likely, very, very not likely, If I want to hide a message I hide it 
in something that looks like an informal letter or a shopping list, not a 
strange and fantastic document that invites scrutiny! As for codes or 
ciphers - it doesn't match any known method except for the completely 
unlikely eg. if you read the eleventh and twenty-ninth letter of this 
example it says 'hy' which could mean hi, a common form of greeting in the 
early 21st century. I'm not convinced that the sentence was a secret code
 - are you? Yes, it is possible that it is some form of highly unusal 
encoding scheme but there is no reason to suspect that it is, and 
impossible to prove or disprove. It is also possible that by applying the 
right algorithm to the text you are reading now you will find that it is 
really the location of a downed UFO encoded  - not impossible, just very, 
very unlikely.

Well it has been fun and I've learnt more than I ever thought I might 
while searhing for the answers. 





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