Most Common Words

Language is essentially a device by which we orient ourselves in space (nouns) and time (verbs). The relations between the two are defined by functional words such as prepositions, articles, conjunctions and the like. 

In short, there are nouns (things) and verbs (actions) and a nuts-and-bolts vocabulary that modify them or define their relations. 

Nouns and verbs change but the tool-box of functional words remains the same. 

Accordingly, these 'relation' words or 'function' words are the most commonly used words in natural languages. In English, words like "the" and "and". 

Regardless of the topic being discussed, these are the most commonly used words. 

If Voynichese is a natural language, the most common words should be function words. 

What we find, however, is that the most common words are different in different parts of the text. 

This is one of the most obvious signs of the two 'dialects', Currier A and B. The dialects are distinguished, amongst other things, by having different common words. 

Linguistically, the text is not homogenous. In English, it is the same set of nuts-and-bolts words throughout all texts. 

But in Voynichese, there are different sets in different parts of the manuscript. By linguistic expectations, these should be entirely different languages. 

Moreover, in either 'dialect' these words do not seem to act like function words. None of them, for instance, seem to behave like conjunctions or articles. 

This is one of the sundry ways in which Voynichese does not seem like a natural language.

* * *

In the dual paradigm model I have pursued, the text is a combination of two cycles: QOKEEDY and CHOLDAIIN. 

The difference between the two 'dialects', is that CHOLDAIIN dominates in Currier A and QOKEEDY dominates in Currier B. 

We find the clear imprint of the respective paradigms in the common words of the two 'dialects'. 

The most common words in the herbal pages are [daiin] and [chol].

The most common words in the star catalogue are [chedy] and [qokeey]. 

But, in fact, the distribution of common words is more nuanced. The first herbal section is different to the second herbal section, for example:

Herbal A = daiin, chol, chor, s, shol.

Herbal B = daiin, chedy, or, chdy, aiin

And the pharmacological pages are similar but different again:

Pharma = daiin, chol, cheol, okeol, ol

And the nymph section is different:

Nymph = shedy, chedy, qokedy, qokain, ol. 

And finally, the cosmological and zodiacal pages are also different:

Cosmo-zodiac = aiin, or, ar, daiin, ol

Here are the different sections tabulated:

Herbal A	daiin	chol	chor	s	shol
Herbal B	daiin	chedy	or	chdy	aiin
Parma	daiin	chol	cheol	okeol	ol
Cosmo-Zodiac	aiin	or	ar	daiin	ol
Nymphs	shedy	chedy	qokedy	qokain	ol
Stars	chedy	qokeey	qokeedy	aiin	qokaiin

(Gleaned from the stats of Marco Ponzi.) 

* * *

The table is revealing in terms of paradigm or template analysis. We can see the mutations of QOKEEDY and CHOLDAIIN throughout the different parts of the manuscript. 

Here are the QOKEEDY elements marked in blue:

Herbal A	daiin	chol	chor	s	shol
Herbal B	daiin	chedy	or	chdy	aiin
Parma	daiin	chol	cheol	okeol	ol
Cosmo-Zodiac	aiin	or	ar	daiin	ol
Nymphs	shedy	chedy	qokedy	qokain	ol
Stars	chedy	qokeey	qokeedy	aiin	qokaiin

If we arrange them as follows, we can see the gradual intrusion of the QOKEEDY template:

Herbal A
Cosmo-Zodiac
Parma			e	oke
Herbal B		edy		dy
Stars	edy	qokeey	qokeedy		qok
Nymphs	edy	edy	qokedy	qok

More exactly, we could arrange them in order of the number of the gallows glyph [k]:

Herbal A
Cosmo-Zodiac
Herbal B		edy		dy
Parma			e	oke
Nymphs	edy	edy	qokedy	qok
Stars	edy	qokeey	qokeedy		qok

Or, we could arrange them in order of the number of the benched glyphs [ch] and [sh], a mark of the CHOLDAIIN template:

Herbal A		ch	ch		sh
Herbal B		ch		ch
Parma		ch	ch
Nymphs	sh	ch
Stars	ch
Cosmo-Zodiac

The distribution of the glyph [a], however, produces a quite different order:

Cosmo-zodiac	a		a	a
Herbal B	a				a
Stars				a	a
Parma	a
Herbal A	a
Nymphs				a

The distribution of the glyph [d] - shared by both paradigms - is more interesting, elevating the Nymph section to top position: 

Nymphs	d	d	d
Herbal B	d	d		d
Stars	d		d
Cosmo-Zodiac				d
Herbal A	d
Parma	d

Finally, here is the distribution of plumes: glyphs with leftward curling upper strokes, including [n] and [sh]. 

These mark what I have called the counter-cycle. 

Cosmo-zodiac	n	r	r	n
Herbal A	n		r	s	sh
Herbal B	n		r		n
Stars				n	n
Nymphs	sh			n
Parma	n

* * *

Here I have mapped the activity of the CHOLDAIIN paradigm in its bifurcated state, and allowed that [s] and [r] are mutations of the paradigm. 

Herbal A	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL
Herbal B	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL	DAIIN
Parma	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL
Cosmo-Zodiac	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	DAIIN	CHOL
Nymphs	CHOL	CHOL		DAIIN	CHOL
Stars	CHOL			DAIIN	DAIIN

Of course, the actual frequencies are not flat. [daiin] constitutes nearly 5% of the Herbal A section and is by far the most common word. In Herbal B though [daiin] is most common only by a slender margin.   

In all sections, in fact, there is not much between the common words, except in Herbal A and the Pharm section, where [daiin] is dramatically more common than the next most common word. 

[shedy] is the most common word in the Nymph section, for example, with about 3.3% of the text, while [chedy] is about 2.8%. Not a stark difference, and if we round them out, about the same. Especially so since [sh] and [ch] are so similar, and we must allow for errors, miscountings etc. 

We should not place too much emphasis on the order of the words, but upon their general groupings. All the same, there are distinct groupings and patterns. 

* * *

We can summarize by identifying the following pairs:

Herbal A and the Pharmacological section clearly have an affinity. 

Herbal A	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL
Parma	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL

Herbal A = daiin, chol, chor, s, shol

Pharma = daiin, chol, cheol, okeol, ol

Similarly, the Nymphs and Stars sections have an affinity:

Nymphs	CHOL	CHOL		DAIIN	CHOL
Stars	CHOL			DAIIN	DAIIN

Nymphs = shedy, chedy, qokedy, qokain, ol 

Stars = chedy, qokeey, qokeedy, aiin, qokaiin

And the Herbal B section is aligned to the Cosm-Zodiacal folios:

Herbal B	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	CHOL	DAIIN
Cosmo-Zodiac	DAIIN	CHOL	CHOL	DAIIN	CHOL

Herbal B = daiin, chedy, or, chdy, aiin

Cosmos-Zodiac = aiin, or, ar, daiin, ol

****

The QOKEEDY paradigm presents slightly different pairs:

The Nymphs and Stars are still a pair, very clearly:

Nymphs	edy	edy	qokedy	qok
Stars	edy	qokeey	qokeedy		qok

Nymphs = shedy, chedy, qokedy, qokain, ol 

Stars = chedy, qokeey, qokeedy, aiin, qokaiin

But Herbal A and B are swapped. Herbal A has an affinity with the Cosmo-Zodiac section in that none of the most common words have any elements from the QOKEEDY template:

Herbal A
Cosmo-Zodiac

Herbal A = daiin, chol, chor, s, shol

Cosmos-Zodiac = aiin, or, ar, daiin, ol

This leaves Herbal B and the Pharma section as a pair:

Herbal B	daiin	chedy	or	chdy	aiin
Parma	daiin	chol	cheol	okeol	ol

Herbal B = daiin, chedy, or, chdy, aiin

Pharma = daiin, chol, cheol, okeol, ol

* * *

The upshot of this is that the Herbal A section is clearly dominated by the CHOLDAIIN paradigm. The Nymph and Stars sections are dominated by the QOKEEDY paradigm. 

The Herbal B, Pharma and Cosmological sections, however, are intermediate. The Cosmological section is more CHOLDAIIN and the Herbal B section more QOKEEDY, (which is against my expectations), but there is a mixture of the two paradigms in these sections. 

We can stylize the groupings between two poles as follows:

CHOLDAIIN

HERBAL A

COSMO-ZODIAC

PHARMA

HERBAL B

NYMPHS

STARS

QOKEEDY

R.B.