# The departures from language are not layout effects > Disputed: The text's departures from language are not an effect of the layout layer: glyph entropy below every language, word order worth less than in… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/answers/ANS0DCBK9EC66BZ/the-departures-from-language-are-not-layout-effects Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) --- [Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Voynich Manuscript](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript)[Is it a natural language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG27P80HMJ/is-it-a-natural-language)Answer Answer · Voynich Manuscript # The departures from language are not layout effects The text's departures from language are not an effect of the layout layer: glyph entropy below every language, word order worth less than in any language, form-function coupling above every language and the absence of repeated four-word phrases all survive when the line-edge spellings are normalised and when the line-edge words are cut away. **Disputed** Answers **3** questionsAbductiveTested0 ## Where it stands **Disputed** One piece of evidence for, one against. It needs two reviews to be accepted. ## What it predicts - On half C, under both the normalised and the interior versions, conditional glyph entropy stays below the lowest of the reference languages cut to the same length, word-order gain stays below the lowest language, form-function coupling stays above the highest of the twelve languages tested, and repeated four-word phrases stay at two or fewer. ## What would rule it out - Any of the four signatures crosses into the language range under either version. ## Evidence 1 for · 1 against [Entropy, word order and phrases are not layout effects](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/evidence/EVD0DCC13365Q8C/entropy-word-order-and-phrases-are-not-layout-effects) Established · weighs heavily · F-121 FOR [Form-function coupling is uneven across the book](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/evidence/EVD0DCC13B05SYC/form-function-coupling-is-uneven-across-the-book) Supported · weighs some · F-122 AGAINST ## Tested by 1 run | Run | Measured | Result | Against | Decision | Date | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | RUN-252 | four departures from language under raw, normalised and interior versions of half C | raw: h2 2.13, gain 0.31, coupling 0.086, 4-gram repeats 0; normalised: h2 2.08, gain 0.34, coupling 0.059, 4-gram repeats 0; interior: h2 2.04, gain 0.27, coupling 0.045, 4-gram repeats 0 | Languages at the same length: h2 min 2.51, gain min 1.11, coupling max 0.096 (interior 0.059) · Latin in the same lines 233 4-gram repeats | Not supported (coupling is inside the language range on raw half C already) | 28 Oct | ## The questions it answers [Is it a natural language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG27P80HMJ/is-it-a-natural-language) Part of [What kind of text is it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG1S1G6D9T/what-kind-of-text-is-it) Most likelyNo answer ahead [What did the line and page add?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG78TG4W5X/what-did-the-line-and-page-add) Part of [How was the text produced on the page?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG6BH02GE7/how-was-the-text-produced-on-the-page) Most likely-m is a line-final form of -in / -n [What kind of text is it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG1S1G6D9T/what-kind-of-text-is-it) Most likelyA notation or memory system ## Cite it ``` Mysteries Department. (2026). The departures from language are not layout effects [Answer ANS0DCBK9EC66BZ]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DCBK9EC66BZ ``` Key **ANS** 0DCBK9EC66BZ Kind Answer · hypothesis Origin Abductive, from the diff method Checks 3 of 3 passed Proposed [Session 10](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/sessions/SES0DCB54T02Y53/session-10-the-layout-layer-literature-and-question-audit) · 28 Oct 2026 Version 1 Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) The record Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history. [JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ANS0DCBK9EC66BZ)