Answer · Voynich Manuscript

Whatever the symbols are, the word sequence carries information the way a language's…

Whatever the symbols are, the word sequence carries information the way a language's does: knowing the previous words reduces the cost of the next by as much as it does in attested languages (the cross-linguistic law of Bentz et al. 2017 relating unigram entropy to entropy rate).

Ruled outAnswers 2 questionsDeductiveTested0

Where it stands

Ruled outNone pieces of evidence for, one against.

What it predicts

the manuscript's entropy rate lies within 2 sd of the line fitted on 103 languages at its unigram entropy; the gain from word order (compressed size of the shuffled text minus the text) lies inside the language range

Evidence none for · 1 against

Word order carries almost no information

Established · weighs heavily · F-017

AGAINST

Tested by 4 runs

Run	Measured	Result	Against	Decision	Date
RUN-028	bits per word saved by word order (random word ids)	0.418	102 languages with word spaces: 1.34-4.10, median 2.39	Outside the language range (below all)	22 Oct
RUN-017	residual from the H1 vs entropy-rate law (word level), sd units	h2: 1.8; compression: 2.86	103 languages, same length	Outside 2 sd	22 Oct
RUN-023	residual from the H1 vs entropy-rate law (word level), sd units	h2: 1.56; compression: 2.81	103 languages, same length	Outside 2 sd	22 Oct
RUN-027	residual from the H1 vs entropy-rate law (word level), sd units	h2: 1.95; compression: 3.65	103 languages, same length	Outside 2 sd	22 Oct

The questions it answers

Is it a cipher of a known language?

Part of What kind of text is it?

Most likelyNo answer ahead

Is it a natural language?

Part of What kind of text is it?

Most likelyNo answer ahead

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Whatever the symbols are, the word sequence carries information the way a language's… [Answer ANS0D8FZXDP5R7Z]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0D8FZXDP5R7Z

@misc{mysteriesdept_ans0d8fzxdp5r7z,
  title     = {Whatever the symbols are, the word sequence carries information the way a language's…},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Answer, catalog key ANS0D8FZXDP5R7Z},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0D8FZXDP5R7Z}
}