VMs: Anomaly check-list (methodology)...

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rene,

At 04:58 21/12/2003 -0800, Rene Zandbergen wrote:
> --- Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Here's an idea: perhaps we could develop an "anomaly
> > check-list",
>
> Same idea occurred to me :-)
> I made a start , just listing the anomalies.
> This already is a non-trivial task. Hence, it
> is not (nearly!) complete :
> http://www.voynich.nu/analysis.html
> (Syntax, morphology, grammar)

It's a good page - but what I was actually suggesting was a methodology 
(that is, a check-list of tests to carry out in order to better understand 
any given anomaly), rather than a list of anomalies.

For example:
(1) Under what preceding (glyph-level) contexts does the anomaly occur?
(2) Under what following (glyph-level) contexts does the anomaly occur?
(3) What are the statistical distributions of those two contexts?
(4) Does the anomaly occur proportionately more in one language / hand?
(5) Does the anomaly occur more in one type of text (label, circular text, 
paragraph, etc)?
(6) Does the anomaly disproportionately occur in the first word of a line?
(7) Does the anomaly disproportionately occur in the last word of a line?
(8) Does the anomaly disproportionately occur in the first line of a paragraph?
(9) Does the anomaly disproportionately occur in the last line of a paragraph?
(10) Does the anomaly disproportionately occur in the first line of a page?
etc.

We have numerous anomalies (as listed clearly on your page) to examine, but 
we have no "gold standard" methodology to allow them to be compared with 
each other - merely evocative fragments of insight derived from personal 
analyses of partial / inaccurate / outdated transcriptions.

Perhaps developing and applying such a gold standard to the different 
anomalies would allow us to see their relationships with between them more 
clearly... just a thought. :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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