Folder: MAIL/folders-splitted/vm-folders/voynich-97
From VM Wed Feb 24 22:01:23 1999
Message-Id: <342805D8.4622@trl.telstra.com.au>
Reply-To: j.guy@trl.telstra.com.au
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 11:09:28 -0700
From: Jacques Guy <j.guy@trl.telstra.com.au>
To: voynich@rand.org
Subject: VMS: read on the conlang (CONstructed LANGuages) list

Two things. First, this proposal for generating
the vocabulary of an artificial language:

--- proposal "b" by Rick Morneau ---

Word    :=      Root  { Suffix }

Root    :=      [ C1 V ]  ( S V  |  C C1 V )

Suffix  :=      C C2 V  |  C2 V  ( S V )

{} enclosed item may appear zero or more times
[] enclosed item MUST appear one or more times
() enclosed item is optional
|  logical "or"

C = any consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, s, t, v, x, z)

V = any vowel (a, e, i, o, u)
S = any semi-vowel (w, y)
C1 = any root-marking consonant (h, n, p, d, k, j, s, v, q)
C2 = any suffix-marking consonant (l, m, b, t, g, c, z, f, x)


[I spare you the rest]

Second (from Paul Kenneth Roser <pkroser@CSD.UWM.EDU>):

He's not kidding - the dental stop is released into a voiceless
loosely fricated bilabial trill. As I understand it this seems to be
allophonic with a plain /t/ in Piraha, but phonemic in a neighboring
(and soon to be extinct) language Oro Win (and Wari AKA Pacaas Novos,
can't recall if it is allophonic or phonemic there though). Ladefoged
& Daniel Everett did a write up on it in Language sometime last year.

Piraha also has a straightforward voiced bilabial trill that alternates
with a voiced bilabial stop, and a complex double flap that alternates
with a voiced velar stop. The double flap starts with a lateralized
retroflex flap, tongue moves forward, underside hits lower lip
(sublingual-labial) & is drawn back into mouth. My vote for the weirdest
sound in any living language.

----------------------------------------------------------

What do I want to say? I do not know myself. Evidence that
Voynichese could be an artificial language, and counter-evidence
that it could be a natural language. Imagine a Piraha-speaking
Indian transported to Northern Italy in the 1400's, and recording
his language in a distorted Roman alphabet! Piraha, by the way,
has only 7 consonants (seven) and three vowels. But it has tones
(I don't know how many). Consider how, out of those seven
consonants, three have two very different possible pronunciations
each: plain sensible t, b, and k, alternating with those utterly
insane articulations.