Re: VMs: Blanks: trying to summarize...

["Maurizio M. Gavioli" <mmg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 12:20 05/03/2004 +0000, Nick Pelling wrote:
> [...]
>
> However, AIUI Voynichese words generally have a very low instance count, 
> which is hard to reconcile with their being part of a language (whether 
> real or artificial).

(AIUI? If it is an acronim, I cannot resolve it). There are at least two 
elements to be taken into consideration:

1) if the language is flected, each form of each word has a lower instance 
count than the word globally taken. I mean: for instance, in a Latin text 
about Caesar, you would find _Ceasar_, _Caesaris_, _Caesari_, etc. each 
with a lower count than the word "Caesar" in the English equivalent. And 
some languages even change the initial part of the word (not necessarily 
exotic languages: Welsh is one and, if I am not mistaken, Polish is another).

2) I don't know if someone tried to count words only in portions of running 
texts, excluding for example texts, labels and sequences in the figures 
which might have a different nature.

> I agree that there must have been a good reason for spaces to be retained, 
> which would seem to run counter to normal cipher practice: hence, I 
> suspect that this points to an unusual kind of plaintext, or to an unusual 
> kind of cipher process (and possibly to both). But (as mentioned before) I 
> think that cipher systems where space performs a coding function would 
> have been far too conceptually esoteric for the kind of time frame this 
> seems to be from: and so I suspect that it's instead probably based on an 
> unusual kind of plaintext.

On the other hand, the Fontana mss. also show spaces. Maybe, a spaceless 
cypher would be thought too problematic for such long texts?

> Incidentally, if you subscribe (as I do) to the theory that at least some 
> of the VMs' system is based on a verbose cipher (at the very least qo, dy, 
> or, ol), then half-spaces often make sense as a kind of disambiguation 
> mechanism.

Are you hinting as half-spaces as distinct from spaces? Two kinds of spaces 
with potentially different meanings? I think we have enough problems with a 
single kind of spaces!!

Cheers,

        Maurizio


 Maurizio M. Gavioli -  VistaMare  Software
 via San Bernardo 5, I-16030 Pieve Ligure, ITALY
 http://www.vistamaresoft.com/

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