It's really not going to look like anything special tbh. The Vocab cards would just be the Spanish word on the front then, answer on the back with an example sentence and a contextualizing image or clip on the back... if relevant.
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But I wasted alot of time curating a personalized example sentence for (almost) every single vocab word I discover. Key word is discover imo.
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Right now my example sentences contain a simple concept I already comprehend, atleast within the context of that sentence, for the word that I am learning to be applied to. Like my lunes card is ´´lunes es antes martes´´. As I create the vocab cards I try to keep main vocab word part as the primary focus in usage and less that of the sentence itself for the sake of simplicity which means that the vocab card usually ends up as the first word of the sentence unless I personally see no reason actually care. Like another card I have that was luckily easy to make for desde is ´´el imperio de mongol duró desde a 1206 a 1368''. Every example I create is with words I already know or do not feel a remote need to understand - to understand the sentence. but IDK. Also I'm more concerned with audio than I am with imagery though. But If I could make the back into a really simple clip and very quickly that would be nice, but I dont care about imagery too much as most of it is going to end up in immersion anyways. Sound matters for me though. Sound is really so i can read something out loud before I hear what it sounds like, which helps me make comparisons and judge myself while I flag cards to make filtered decks out of later. And of course, for words that I already knew before starting studying I do not even consider making vocab cards out of as it will be fluff. completely random words like mañana or lanzar are weirdly glued to my head specifically because I have a specific memory with them. like for lanzar I watched a little game trailer and a text prompt showed up saying ''lanzar roca'' for this fucking kid to just launch a whole ass rock at a dude across a bridge. which is goofy as fuck. the game was called pedros adventures btw.
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Also on the back of one of my vocab cards for the word 4th... I literally just put ''cuarto y cuarto'' fucking 10 times. because if you say cuarto 10x fast, it sounds like Squidward in Japanese which is fucking HILARIOUS.
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But if I could imagine imagery in a specific way it would really just be for nouns and numbers... and anything that has a very concrete meaning with just an image. like for example, you could have a game where an image flashes on the screen and you need to translate that image in your head or if you want by typing it or speaking it out loud. And you get feedback for elements of the image relayed... but I haven't spent much time thinking about that kind of thing cos its not on any to do list, but it would be pretty cool.
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its quite easy to curate examples as I'm watching these dreaming Spanish videos which is why id like to make some kind of sentence cards out of the clips. this is really because there is like a mix in my head between a sentence card and an example sentence on the back of a vocab card. Vocab cards are really the gateway for sentence cards imo. For any vocab card that has multiple definitions I need only create 1 vocab card for its primary use, and create sentence cards for its primary use and its different usages as I discover them through immersion. I can work out the nuance as I watch, read and write. and then as i immerse and gain enough vocabulary i will eventually bury more and more vocab cards and instead replace them with sentence cards. But of course, still using both in a balance.
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And ideally, all of this comes from something I highly associate with in my head. As in English; for any single word and phrase and etc., I have in my subconscious a lil smth-smth associated with that word in so many ways that I do not even realize. But I do not care to understand the little neural networks, just as I do not care to actually develop some stupid ass grammatical understanding before I even begin speaking or listening. but only to just create a 24 7 immersive study environment conducive to an almost gamified consumption that gradually improves my abilities over time. Right now it feels like i'm just trying to make a build, and I cant even start grinding the way I want to. I have tidbits here and there but I haven't worked it out entirely.
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And I do apologize if I seemed like there was friction between me and watching the dreaming Spanish videos when you had brought it up. it was just that as of now; everything I've been doing is just thinking of how to make this situation fairly seamless without needing any weird in-between steps just to do a single repetitive task. Like tagging and flagging cards is something you dont want to do manually, you want to do it with a key stroke or command. Books are easy to get, and I will be consuming the dreaming spanish videos now that I'm feeling how helpful they are compared to what I was doing before... Spanish dubs... alot of scrolling in tiktok... ALSO that one Spanish youtuber for chess called rey engima. He's like gotham chess but for Spanish which i absolutely love because I love chess and I needed a spanish way to consume it. Ive made alot of Spanish accounts for things and translated alot of UI into spanish. and I also downloaded urban VPN but i think that part was unnecessary asf.
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But really the annoying thing was how to approach anki. also, that 4 hour video I linked is really just an oversimplified text book to just get a general idea of a concept. Which is all I care about. Things like grammar are terribly taught in classrooms and that video just goes about it in a way I really like, atleast compared to every other explanation ive seen. I planned to just do just 30 minutes per day on that video as I focused on other things. but I got caught up with other random shit and then I kind of just set that video to the side... which is why i only watched 20 minutes of it.
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I am a really slow thinker, and things get to expedited when I get a foundation.
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In regards to what I mean when I said 'gamified element'. I don't mean to say things like grind and such like this is some MMORPG. I mean gamified in the sense that I get some kind of gamified feedback or feeling in a dopamine inducing form that encourages me to do really weird things to lock in that I dont anyone actually does. Like if im at the microwave and the numbers are going down, im literally saying those numbers in Spanish as they go down because in the end the main goal is to entirely quit using English as a crutch for the language and reach a point where you need only convert your conceptualizations into language and vice versa i.e., other Spanish speakers. But gamified elements provide for me an extremely significant way for me to engage with the language that I also really enjoy... cos im a weirdo. Being able to see how long I've spent on each card and other visual inputs about the outputs of my efforts are also cool, especially if displayed in a consumable manner to increase my receptivity.
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Anyways, hopefully I could at least give you an idea of what's going on in my head and what my goals are. This process has been poopoo stinky, and my brain is very poo poo stinky.

Alright. I last discussed Câynqasang here, where I covered noun case and quirky subject. Also, here's the first overview post. This time, I'm going to give an overview of verbs in the language. I'll touch on the major points, but there might be a good deal of detail that ends up being beyond the scope of this. I intend to cover the auxiliary verbs, other methods of tense marking, and, by nature of the basic tenses, person marking. Also, I've already discussed the verb classes in a previous post because they're linked to some functions of the case system, but I'll cover that briefly again here. Participles and other features derived from them, however, are mostly beyond the scope of this post, though some will appear in example sentences because both can appear in constructions involving auxiliary verbs.

Verb Classes

Câynqasang verbs belong to four classes, largely (though not exclusively!) determined by their meaning. As I detailed in my most recent post, they trigger a good deal of quirky subject, which I will briefly touch on again here. All may take subjects in the vocative case for imperative constructions, and I will briefly detail other options below.
Action verbs include most verbs in the language. These typically deal in concrete actions and in senses which don't fit in one of the other three categories. The subject of a sentence containing them may take case marking for reflexive constructions or volition marking. Examples:

• nyu [ŋo] "to have" (This is the alienable form. The inalienable "have", ê [eː], is a stative verb.)
• gno [ɣno] "to drink"
• sman [smɐn] "to dig"
• cûl [t͡ʃɪːl] "to bite"

Motion verbs typically deal with motion, though this operates in some broad senses, as we'll see. The subject of a sentence containing them takes prepositional cases to indicate the direction of the motion. Examples:

• lan [lɐn] "to sit"
• ngûyinytinyu [ˈŋɪːjiŋtiŋu] "to inject"
• hînû [ˈxɪːniː] "to fight"
• lâmvu [ˈlɐːmu] "to cross, traverse"

Stative verbs most often deal with states of being, though some irregularity can occur within this class as well. The subject of a sentence containing them takes case marking to indicate volition. Examples:

• gla [ɣla] "to sleep"
• kalîng [kaˈlɪːŋ] "to hydrate" (This has an additional sense as a noun, "waterfall")
• îny [ɪːŋ] "to pray" (one of the wilder examples)
• calom [t͡saˈlɔm] "to rain" (also the noun "rain"; yes, weather is often handled with stative verbs)

Perception verbs typically deal with the senses, though especially this class has some unexpected things and fun exceptions. The subject of a sentence containing them is actually unable to take the nominative case, mandating other marking to indicate reflexives or volition. Examples:

• tiptâ [tiptaː] "to learn"
• sunyu [suŋo] "to love" (considered an act of perception rather than a state! Many emotional states are handled this way)
• tkâranco [tkɐːrant͡su] "to sabotage" (one of the wilder ones, this one explained by semantic drift from "to deceive")
• mngôny [mŋɔːŋ] "to know"

Agreement and the Basic Tenses

Verbs mark for singular, paucal, and plural number and first, second, and third person. Here is a table of the basic endings:
https://preview.redd.it/ndrsdre6l40d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=0164ebde6d9c6657589ea6422de9ae1a512d6ce2
The basic past and future tenses are marked with suffixes -tûl- and -nqi- respectively, attaching before the person agreement (and in some cases here, though not many in this case, sound changes have eroded the original form). The basic stem of verbs is considered to be perfective. The imperfective is marked with what once was a simple reduplication of the onset and nucleus of the first syllable, though that relationship has been heavily obscured by sound changes in many verbs. I'll give a few examples of reduplicated stems from the verbs I listed above, as well as one more:

• memngôny- [memˈŋɔːŋ] IPFV-know
• kakllîng- [kakˈlɪːŋ] IPFV-hydrate
• hîyînû- [ˈxɪːjiːniː] IPFV-fight

These are relatively straightforward reduplicated stems, though that last does retain a /j/ lost in the original stem and each example here has a vowel that's unpredictable from the remaining stem. However, a lot worse is possible. For example:

• ti [ti] "to dream" > koti- [kuti] IPFV-dream

Câynqasang's sound changes make things weird sometimes.
I'll give a couple quick example sentences to show how this all works in context:
Mka mngônytûlvu nê cêh. [mka ˈmŋɔːŋtiːlvu neː t͡ʃɛːx] 1S.DAT know-PST-1S DEF.SPEC.P 3P "I always knew these things against my will". (Dative case here means unwilling.)
Vo amdî titkârancomdû i êlak. [vo amˈdiː titˈkɐːrant͡sumdiː i ˈɛːlak] INDEF.NSPEC 3S.INS IPFV-sabotage-3S DEF.SPEC airlock "Someone is sabotaging the airlock." (Here, the indefinite nonspecific article means this is an unknown party; if it was one of a known group of people doing this, definite nonspecific ve would take its place.)
Moving on.

Auxiliary Verbs, Tense, and Other Stuff

Câynqasang has an extensive set of auxiliary verbs that handle more complex tense, aspect, and mood in addition to negation and the passive voice. These are one of the areas where the differences between the formal and informal registers are most visible. I'll give the formal and then the informal forms:
Formal:
Main Auxiliary
https://preview.redd.it/8mivjgfpp40d1.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7782643b3a8aa68519a94eda8ff3601295d910e
Negative Auxiliary
https://preview.redd.it/1hzmiy7tp40d1.png?width=1228&format=png&auto=webp&s=c74a5edcb34618b5c3da140763f07a72acd557e6
Passive Auxiliary
https://preview.redd.it/0atqspxwp40d1.png?width=1228&format=png&auto=webp&s=a8b8696f3d3996766dd49ef7c5f563907b9ae6bd
Main auxiliary (informal)
https://preview.redd.it/xmuvwfe0q40d1.png?width=1236&format=png&auto=webp&s=a705b0c340c5acfe2fd4d1d43daade0e75379348
Negative auxiliary (informal)
https://preview.redd.it/oglmiic2q40d1.png?width=1222&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6675c0f29082e79d2559c84bdd50e2803bede1b
Passive auxiliary (informal)
https://preview.redd.it/ssxjxya4q40d1.png?width=1211&format=png&auto=webp&s=651ad5fa11c313b54bc485c6b5a0a73ac6341044
Note the additional degree of fusion in the informal register, and the reduction of some syllables such that none of the informal register forms are more than disyllabic.
In constructions, these precede the lexical verb, and the lexical verb takes a participle or a converb. Again, couple of example sentences:
No ôngsa sîtêla no, nang ôngsa vînray kîvrongtadêv nê cêh. [no ˈɔːŋsa ˈʃɪːteːla no, nɐŋ ˈɔːŋsa ˈvɪːnraj ˈkɪːvruŋtadeːv neː t͡ʃɛːx] 2P.DAT NEG.2P see-CONV.GEN 2P.DAT 2P.INS NEG.2P HORT confirm-PTCP DEF.SPEC.P 3P "Not having seen these things for yourselves, you ought not to confirm them."
This example has one clause that uses a converb with the negative auxiliary and one that uses the present participle with the hortative form of the negative auxiliary, in the formal register this two-part ôngsa vînray situation. Another example:
Ye i côl sanqe kamesîtêl, yâkînghê ola lamnyunqicêh, [je i t͡sɔːl saˈɴe kameˈʃɪːteːl ˈjɐːkiːŋxeː uˈla lamŋuɴiˈt͡ʃɛːx] And DEF.SPEC 3P.GEN PERF.3P happen-CONV.GEN soul-P 1P.GEN peaceful-FUT.3P "And having felt all of these things come to pass, our souls will know peace,"
The broader work I pulled this from uses the informal register just about exclusively despite some of its other formatting. This example here includes a converb clause with an auxiliary.
So, that's a quick and dirty overview of verbs in Câynqasang, Sometime in the future I'll dive into converbs, relativization, derivational morphology, or some other feature of the language, or maybe I'll get more specific about the lexicon or about some of the uses of a feature I've already covered. Thanks for reading!

2.8. Saṅkhāra:

Saṅkhāra (Theravada glossary):
Formation, compound, fashioning, fabrication - the forces and factors that fashion things (physical or mental), the process of fashioning, and the fashioned things that result. Sankhara can refer to anything formed or fashioned by conditions, or, more specifically, (as one of the five khandhas) thought formations within the mind.

• Saṅkhāra: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and mental activities
• Saṅkhāra is construct. Construct is activity.
• Sight is a construct. Sight occurs as an activity composed of looking, seeing, light/image incoming, brain and mind functioning, etc.
• Sound is a construct. Sound occurs as an activity composed of listening, hearing, sound waves incoming, brain and mind functioning, etc.
• Smell...
• Taste...
• Touch...
• Thought is a construct. Thought occurs as an acivity composed of recalling memory, composing ideas, brain and mind functioning, etc.

Paramattha & Saṅkhāra

Existence is made of paramattha (reality, real things) and saṅkhāra (activity).
Four Paramatthas are Citta, cetasika, rūpa, Nibbāna.
Saṅkhāra is either natural or intentional.

The Four Noble Truths

The Catusacca (the Four Truths or Facts) are Ariya-Sacca (the Noble Truth, the Ultimate Truth). These four truths are the true nature (sbhāva) of paramattha and saṅkhāra.
The Catusacca Daḷhī Kamma Kathā composed by the Elder Revata (2491 Sāsanā Era) is a must-read:

The Buddha had to acquire the ten perfection (pāramis) over four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand kappas; a paccekabuddha, over two asankheyyas and a hundred thousand kappas; a Chief Disciple or Mahāsāvaka, over one asankheyyas and a hundred thousand kappas. To what end? To attain to the Four Noble Truths. Why? Because it is only knowledge of the Four Noble Truths that leads to the realization of Nibbana, which makes one secure against the hazards of repeated (birth), ageing, disease and death and the natural tendency of all worldlings to fall into the four miserable states (apāya). One should therefore follow the example of those Noble Ones who have entered Nibbana and strive for the knowledge of the Truth.

Two truths:

1. The paramattha-sacca (the ultimate truth, or reality that really exists in nature);
2. The samuti-sacca (the conventional truth, or the conventions and beliefs that really exist among us);

Sacca : truth; Truth also means a statement or speech is truthful or of a noble person.

TATHĀGATĀ
the Buddha uses to address himself. He is “thus come” (tathā āgata) in the sense that he is neither an emissary of any divine being (God, etc) nor prophets, but arises as the most highly evolved being amongst us as the natural process of spiritual evolution and awakening. He is “thus gone” (tathā gata) in the sense that, just like the truth he proclaims, he dies, thus authenticating the reality that he and we commonly are. (Sacca) Tathāgatā Sutta (Piya Tan)

Nāma and Rūpa

There are five aggregates of clinging.

• Nāma is the collective term for saṅkhata dhamma: citta (viññāṇa) and cetāsika (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra). Thus, nāma is the four mental componets (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra and viññāṇa). Citta is also known as mano and viññāṇa. Citta (mind) and cetasika (mental factors) rise and fall together.
• Rūpa is the four mahābhūta (solid, liquid, gas and heat) and space. Space is the gaps between the particles (mahābhūta). Thus, rūpa is the corporeal body. Rūpa is often translated as form; i.e. the biological body.
• A being is a nāma-rūpa complex or a metaphysical being.

Saṅkhāra as the three built environments:

• Satta-loka is lifeforms and their systems/activities—Avijja-paccaya sankhara (delusion conditions/supports constructs/activities).
• Okāsa-loka is large objects like plants, rivers, mountains, seas, oceans, rocks, galaxies, stars, planets, moons, etc. and their systems/activities. Okāsa-loka houses lifeforms.
• Saṅkhāra-loka is the particals (mahābhūta) and their systems/activities. Saṅkhāra-loka is of particle physics and chemistry existing inside and outside the biological beings (Satta-loka).
• The Satta-loka is made of the five aggregates. Okāsa-loka and Saṅkhāra-loka are made of matters (rūpa or mahābhūta).
• Everything in the three worlds (Satta-loka, Okāsa-loka, Saṅkhāra-loka) is saṅkhāra or a form of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch or thought.
• See Sabba Sutta (The All are these six senses only, no more.)
• Nibbāna is thus the other shore, relief from the burden of the natural activities (birth, aging, death) and intention (kamma saṅkhāra). Nibbāna is thus relief from the nāma-rūpa complex (the natural and intentional activities).

2.8.1. Three types of saṅkhāra:

• Mano-saṅkhāra (mental construct/formation/activity)
• Vaci-saṅkhāra (verbal...): words, comversation, cry, etc.;
• Kāya-saṅkhāra (bodily...): physical action and reaction (all physical activities, which are not vaci);
• These saṅkhāra can be natural or intentional.
• Kamma saṅkhāra (intentional activities) are led by the mind (viññāṇa and mano-saṅkhāra).

Kamma Saṅkhāra (Intentional Activity)

• Intention is kamma (mano-kamma).
• A mental activity with intention is mano-kamma.
• A verbal activity with intention is vaci-kamma.
• A bodily activity with intention is kaya-kamma.
• Intention forms in the mind, so it is a mano-saṅkhāra (mental construct).
• Intention is based on wholesome and unwholesome cetasika (mental factors)

In Samyutta Nikaya Sutta 12.25 the Buddha said “With ignorance as condition, either by oneself, Ananda, one wills bodily intentions (kāya Saṅkhāra), following which arises internally pleasure and pain; or, because of others one wills bodily intentions, following which arises internally, pleasure and pain.” [CONDITIONED ARISING OF SUFFERING (Ven. Dhammavuddho Mahāthera)]

• 'Bodily intention' (kaya-saṅkhāra): intention to act bodily;
  • Kāya: body, bodily;
  • Intention: mano-saṅkhāra
• Mental pain and pleasure; as intention is inside the mind, pleasure and pain are internal (inside the mind).

One casts three types of saṅkhāra (construct/activity) all day long.

• Kamma is volition, intentional action, which can be subtle or gross.
• The Buddha said, "Kamma is intention."

Saṅkhāra Examples:

Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra (ignorance conditions/supports construct/activity):

• Beauty is saṅkhāra (natural and with intent). Beauty exists because it is supported by other saṅkhāra-s, including but not limited to fashion, makecup, good health, young age, exercise, nutrition, perception, culture, cleanliness, and genetic conditions. Being propped up by various suitable supports, beauty exists. When suitable things come together, they create beauty. When these supports are affected, beauty is affected.

2.8.2. Cetasikas (Mental Factors):

Cetasika is a paramattha. It exists as it is.
A being is made of rūpa (solid, liquid, gas and heat), citta (viññāṇa) and cetāsika (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra). However, one does not need akusala-cetasika (avijjā). By removing akusala-cetasika (avijjā), one attains kusala-cetasika (vijjā) and the binding (saṅkhāra) is unbinded.

• saṅkhārakkhandha (m.) the aggregate of mental coefficients

Sankharakkhandha (the fifty cetasikas which are not vedana or sanna) is real; it can be experienced. When there are beautiful mental factors (sobhana cetasikas) such as generosity and compassion, or when there are unwholesome mental factors such as anger and stinginess, we can experience sankharakkhandha. All these phenomena arise and fall away: sankharakkhandha is impermanent. [Nina Van Gorkom. Chapter 2 - The five khandas]

• Cetasika are vedanā, saññā and saṅkhāra (feeling, memory/perception, and construct/activity)
• 14 kusala cetasika (wholesome) and 14 akusala cetasikas (unwholesome mental factors) associate with saṅkhāra and Kamma Saṅkhāra.
• Viññāṇa (consciousness) is citta, one of the four paramatthas. Citta and cetasika occur together and stated as Aññamañña paccayo (explained below);

Aññamañña Paccayo (PAṬṬHĀNA)

Aññamañña paccayo: Paccaya RECIPROCATES WITH paccayuppanna
paccayuppanna : (adj.) arisen from a cause.
paccaya : (m.) cause; votive; requisite; means; support.

• Citta and cetasika (saṅkhāra and vedana/ayatana) arise together or mutually supportive. Details can be read in Pa-Auk Sayadaw's Sampayutta Dhammayatana.
  • Ayatana: sense
  • Vedanā: feeling
  • saṅkhāra: construct
  • Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra
• No matter how one is well-behaved, these Anusaya Kilesās will not die out. Either kusala or akusala cetasika (wholesome or unwholesome mental factors) will arise when consciousness (citta) comes in contact with a convenience. Our problems are the unwholesome mental factors.

[Ledi Sayadaw] Lokuttara, or supramundane consciousness, is the noble mind (ariya-citta) which has become free from the threefold desire, and has transcended the three planes, kāma, rūpa, and arūpa. It is of two kinds, thus: noble consciousness in the path (of stream-entry, etc.) and noble consciousness in the fruition (of stream-entry, etc.). [Ledi Sayādaw Mahāthera. The Manual of Insight Vipassanā Dīpanī; The Wheel Publication No: 031/032]

• By means of practicing vipassanā, one can separate citta from akusala cetasika. When akusala cetasika are eradicated from the mind, ariya-citta arises.
• Anupàdisesa-Nibbànadhàtu is the final cessation of the five aggregates of clinging (Upādānakkhandha).
• Nibbànadhàtu: Santisukha (the ultimate-peace element); Nibbàna is an element (paramattha).

Akusala Cetasikas (unwholesome mental factors)

Abhidhamma (Ashin Janakabhivamsa)

• Factor 1 - Moha (delusion)
• Factor 2 - Ahirika (moral shamelessness)
• Factor 3 - Anottappa (moral fearlessness)
• Factor 4 - Uddhacca (distraction, restlessness, wavering)
• Factor 5 - Lobha (greed)
• Factor 6 - Ditthi (wrong view)
• Factor 7 - Mana (conceit)
• Factor 8 - Dosa (hatred)

Factor 9 - Issa (envy)
Factor 10 - Macchariya (jealousy, selfishness)
Factor 11 - Kukkucca (remorse)

• Factor 12-13 - Thina and middha (sloth and torpor)
• Factor 14 - Vicikiccha (doubt, scepticism)

Among the akusala cetasikas are the ten kilesā (akusala cetasika) shown with bullet points.

Hetu paccayo

Lobha, dosa, and moha are called akusala hetus and alobha, adosa, and amoha are called kusala hetus. These latter 3 hetus if they arise with abyakata dhamma they are called abyakata hetus. Lobha is also known as tanha, upadana, samudaya and so on. Moha is sometimes called avijja. Alobha is sometimes refered to dana or offering but it is non attachment. Adosa is metta or loving kindness. Amoha is pannindriya cetasika and simply called panna and is sometimes called vijja. Htoo Naing. Patthana Dhamma: Chapter 5 - Hetu paccayo (or root condition). Htoo Naing. Patthana Dhamma (a different book): Hetu paccayo (page 15)

Kilesā occur in three levels:

1/ anusaya-kilesa: low level, latent, like sediments waiting to be stirred up. 2/ pariyuttana-kilesa: medium level arising only in the mind due to causes and conditions. 3/ vitikkakama-kilesa: coarse level, manifesting in unwolesome speech or action, breaking precepts. [Defilements (kilesā) (Thanh Huynh - Honolulu Dhamma Community)]

Anusaya Kilesas (latent tendency):

If you don’t remove or destroy [latent tendency or defilements (anusaya kilesā)] with Path Knowledge, the khandhas and samudaya (i.e., taṇhā) are always sticking together. [Buddhavada (Mogok Sayadaw); also see 4.2. ANUSAYA]

• Cetasikas are embeded in the formation of a being, including the arupa-brahmas.
• When something convenient (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or thought) is present to consciousness (Viññāṇa), anusaya kilesā (the latent tendency) grows like seeds.
• At the contact with the convenience, Viññāṇa and the cetasika co-arise simultaneously according to Aññamañña paccayo (Mutuality or Reciprocity Condition)
  • To think, one must be conscious; and to continue thinking, one must be conscious.
  • To see a sight, one must be conscious...
  • To smell a smell...

Comparing with Mahayanist concepts:

• Anusaya kilesās are not based on discrimination and erroneous reasoning (Lanka)
• Anusaya kilesās are not in the Ālaya-vijñāna (the Universal Mind, storehouse consciousness), nor are related to the buddha-nature (Buddha-dhàtu, Buddha-svabhāva). The Mahayanist Ālaya-vijñāna and Buddha-svabhāva are neither citta nor cetasika known to the Vibhajjavadis.

2.8.3. The Role of Saññā

Saññā is a type of cetasika. Other cetasika are vedanā and saṅkhāra. Cetasika is a reality (paramattha).
Saññā is memory (events) and perception (a form of mano-saṅkhārā). However, saññā and saṅkhārā must be different. Saññā must not be saṅkhārā (construct). Saññā must be a raw material. Although saññā and saṅkhārā are similar, saññā must not be saṅkhārā or a product of saṅkhārā.
Saññā as the past events is memory. Events are not imagined. Events occur at the present are reality (not memory).
Saññā can exist as the future events or future memory, like a plan. If a plan is possible to be carried out, then some future events are predictable. In that sense, some future events are knowable.
A Buddha can analyse an individual's mentality and potentials. Based on that knowledge, a Buddha can know and prophesies some major events about an individual or the world. However, a Buddha cannot know the potentials of all the individuals with weak mind (Iddhipāda) and faculties (indriya) who travel randomly any direction into the dark.
This is what the Buddha said about those going into the dark:

The chance for a being in a hell to be reborn as a human is less than that of a blind turtle, surfacing once a century, to happen to put its head through a ring moved by the winds across the surface of the sea. Even if a human rebirth is attained, the person will be poor, ugly and ill, and will tend to do evil actions which will send him or her back to hell (M. iii.169; Bca. iv.20)

PETER HARVEY. AN INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHIST ETHICS: Foundations, Values and Issues. Page 30 University of Sunderland
The Buddha advised the monks to go into the relief from the burden of nāma and rūpa:

“Monks, that’s how rare it is to get reborn as a human being. That’s how rare it is for a fully enlightened Buddha to be born into the world. That’s how rare it is for the Dhamma and training taught by a Buddha to shine in the world. Now, monks, you have been reborn as a human being. A fully enlightened Buddha has been born into the world. The Dhamma and training taught by a Buddha shine in the world.

Iddhipāda

iddhiyā pādo iddhipādo, i.e., root or basis of attaining completion or perfection (success or potency). [79] [The Venerable Ledi Sayādaw. The Requisites of Enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dīpanī), Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy • Sri Lanka, The Wheel Publicaton No. 171/172/173/174.]
4. Iddhipāda Sutta.-The path mentioned above should be practised, accompanied by concentration and effort, compounded with desire, energy, idea and investigation. S.iv.365.

Indriya

1. Faculty of faith (saddh’- indriya) [Nyanatiloka Mahāthera. Guide through the Abhidhamma Piþaka, Page 18]

Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra; Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam;

• Avijjā and saññā condition the saṅkhārā. Avijjā is a type of kilesā cetasika (mental defilement). Avijjā exists in two forms: Delusion or the lack of right view; Heedlessness or the lack of mindfulness. Both forms of avijjā are always present in saññā (i.e. wrong view).

Saṅkhāra is construct and construction.

Mano-saṅkhāra can also be understood as percept.

• percept. noun. : an impression of an object obtained by use of the senses : SENSE-DATUM (Merriam-Webster)
• Percept: a mental concept that is developed as a consequence of the process of perception [Google/Oxford Languages].
• [percept:] Perception usually combines several sensations into one thought or percept. The percept, of course, is a mental state corresponding with its outside object. A Percept is the product of Perception, or in other words, our idea gained through Perception

Saññā and Vipassanā

Saññā can be understood as sense-datum, outside object, perception, and memory.

The sense-datum is an object immediately present in experience. It has the qualities it appears to have.
A controversial issue is whether sense-data have real, concrete existence. Depending upon the version of the sense-data theory adopted, sense-data may or may not be identical with aspects of external physical objects; they may or may not be entities that exist privately in the subject’s mind. Usually, however, sense-data are interpreted to be distinct from the external physical objects we perceive. The leading view, in so far as the notion is appealed to in current philosophy, is that an awareness of (or acquaintance with) sense-data somehow mediates the subject’s perception of mind-independent physical objects. The sense-datum is the bearer of the phenomenal qualities that the subject is immediately aware of. [Sense-Data (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)]

Lifeforms (nama-rūpa complexes) and the law of life (Paticcasamuppada) have existed in the past infinity. Saññā as memory can be recalled or accessed by anyone. Some arahants can recall the past 500 lives. Some arahants recalled several eons of the past Earths. A Buddha can recall with no limit in a very short moment. The Sakyamuni Buddha said, even if He spent His entire lifetime, He would not reach the beginning (of existence), which is considered non-existent.
Inthe Western thought, the natural memory can be improved by training [Javier Vergara / Procedia (Page 3513) - Social and Behavioral Sciences 46 ( 2012 ) 3512 – 3518)]. In the Theravada teaching, a liberated mind (which attained arahantta phala) can recall at least the past 500 lives.
Saṅkhāra and saññā belong to cetasika, which is a paramattha (reality). However, they are impermanent. That begs a question: How can the impermanent saṅkhāra and saññā be accessed? They are impermanent in theory, as they will be forgotten. The physical destruction of the memory of the past events might not happen.
As though written down into books, the memories (including sense-data) seem not to have disappeared. The fact is each of us can recall the memory, which stays with us for a lifetime. We are forgetful and cannot recall our memories whever we want to; however, they are present, and our minds revisit them sometimes. Our inability to explain how memories exist should not prevent us from admitting the fact that memories exist and can be recalled. These noble ariyas can know others' minds and access the past memories and forsee the future events.
Avijja-paccaya sankhara (ignorance conditions/supports a construct; e.g. sakkāyadiṭṭhi).

• Avijjā (ignorance) is saññā (as memory, misperception or wrong view).
• Saṅkhāra (as activity) is misunderstanding/misperceiving nama-rūpa complex as an I-being, I am, he is, she is, it is, they are... Misperceiving the nama-rūpa complexes as individuals or as beings (I-beings).
• Saññā and saṅkhāra are always together as one's problems.
• Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam: when saṅkhāra (e.g. idea) is present, consciousness arises. One begins to know the construct. Saññā-Saṅkhāra are the subject to know (be conscious about).
• Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam: Saṅkhāra bridges between saññā and viññāṇa—perceiving is made of saññā, saṅkhāra and viññāṇa.
• Sabbe saṅkhāra anicca—all constructs are impermanence;
• Construction: Saṅkhāra as activity (intentional or unintentional):
  • sankhara-paccaya vinnanam (Dependent on reaction (conditioning), consciousness arises);
  • Mano-saṅkhāra (Citta-Saṅkhāra), vaci-saṅkhāra, kaya-saṅkhāra—mental, verbal and bodily construct/activity which a being performs intentionally or unintentionally;
  • Cetana is also intention (volition).

Saññā (memory) is like the soil and fertilizer. Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or thought acts like a signal (reminder).

• In vipassanā, one puts effort to block the reminder reaching the memory (saññā)—like a responsible person kills the fire before it reaches the gunpowder. Once a sense reminder (ayatana) reaches saññā, they give birth to kamma sankhāras. The sense reminder (ayatana) is too fast for the untrained minds to block. So one does not block it but avoid it. One must develop the mind to have this avoiding ability and skill through a gradual training which comprises the indriya-samvara-sila and vipassanā. Basically, it means to prevent mano-saṅkhāra (thought) because it leads vaci-saṅkhāra and kaya-saṅkhāra.
• As the kilesā are not fed or fertilised, they will become weak and suitable for jhāna development; however, they will remain as Anusaya Kilesās. Only the vipassanā-ñana can totally eradicate Anusaya Kilesās.

Indriya-samvara-sila and Vipassanā

"In seeing there is merely seeing. In hearing there is merely hearing. In sensing there is merely sensing. In cognizing there is merely cognizing. In this way you should train yourself. "Bāhiya, when there is only seeing in seeing, hearing in hearing, sensing in sensing, cognizing in cognizing, then you will not be 'with that.' When you are not 'with that,' you will not be 'in that.' When you are not 'in that,' you will be neither here nor beyond nor in between the two. Just this is the end of suffering." [The Bāhiya Sutta (Douglas C. B. Kraft)]

Four Types of Capacity for Path Attainment

It is stated in the Puggalapaññatti (the “Book of Classification of Individuals,” (p. 160) and in the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 4:133) that, of the beings who encounter the Sāsana, i.e., the Teaching of the Buddha, four classes can be distinguished, viz.:
A padaparama is an individual who [...] cannot obtain release from worldly ills during this lifetime. If he dies while practising samatha (tranquillity) or vipassanā (insight) and attains rebirth either as a human being or a deva in his next existence, he can attain release from worldly ills in that existence within the present Buddha Sāsana.
niyata : one who has obtained a sure prediction made by a Buddha.
aniyata : one who has not obtained a sure prediction made by a Buddha.
aniyata neyya individuals can attain release from worldly ills in this life only if they put forth sufficient effort [...] within the present Buddha Sāsana.

(The Venerable Ledi Sayādaw. The Requisites of Enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dīpanī))

2.8.4. Our concern:

Our concerns are our own mental, verbal and bodily activities:
Due to delusion (avijjā), we do not know where we have been and what we should do during this lifetime. The purpose of life in general is to practice selfishness to ultimate level.
One builds a life only to lose it to the death. Nobody can reclaim his/her previous life, properties, wealth and works. Rebirth in dugati-loka does not allow rebuilding life. One must get another opportunity in sugati-loka.
Due to clinging (upādāna) to self, one cannot separate from the new life, which is now. One always clings to the new life because of sakkāyadiṭṭhi (sakkāya-diṭṭhi). The past life is like yesterday.

• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi: clinging to nāma-rūpa as I am—i.e. this body is me, mine; the major wrong view (mano-saṅkhāra)
  • Nāma: the four mental khandas (vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra and viññāṇa).
  • Rūpa: the corporeal body or the four mahābhūta.

Remember the following:

• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi is ego, egocentric and a very heavy burden to carry and climb uphill.
• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi extends beyond one's five aggregates.
• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi extends to others' five aggregates as well. So we can hear people say, this is mine, and that is also mine.
• Sakkāyadiṭṭhi only helps one to fall downhill.
• A chance of getting relief from this burden is rare.
• A chance to know true dana, sila, bhavanā is very rare.
• One day this body will be thrown away or buried somewhere; and that body, too.
• Truth is painful as long as one is clinging to the five aggregates.
• Thus, our true concerns are our own mental, verbal and bodily activities.

The Buddha warns us to reflect the following:

"The five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained..."
'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.'
'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.'
'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.'
'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.'
'I am the owner of my actions,[1] heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.'

[Upajjhatthana Sutta— AN 5.57 (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

Upādāna (clinging) manifests as mano-saṅkhāra (mental activity/construct):

We cling to live body and dead body. We have seen enough pain in society in good time and bad time.
Upādānakkhandha：[m．] the factors of clinging to existence．
The five upādānakkhandha: rūpakkhandha, vedanākkhandha, saññākkhandha, saṅkhārakkhandha, viññāṇakkhandha

We take the body for self; thus we cling to rupakkhandha. We take mentality for self; thus we cling to vedanakkhandha, to sannakkhandha, to sankharakkhandha and to vinnanakkhandha. If we cling to the khandhas and if we do not see them as they are, we will have sorrow.

Saṅkhārakkhandha (m.) the aggregate of mental coefficients

• Saṅkhāra among the five aggregates is mano-saṅkhāra. Saṅkhārakkhandha is also designated as upādānakkhandha as there is clinging.
• The upādānakkhandha rises from sakkāyadiṭṭhi (clinging to self and the five aggregates).
• Most beings cling to all these five. Some cling to either rūpa or nāma and are reborn in the arūpa-brahma worlds.
• Will is the intention to get a desired object. To will means to get something one desires. One wills, and as one is willing, one acts. In this process, will and dukkha (suffering) rise together spontaneously.

In Samyutta Nikaya Sutta 12.25 the Buddha said “With ignorance as condition, either by oneself, Ananda, one wills bodily intentions (kāya Saṅkhāra), following which arises internally pleasure and pain; or, because of others one wills bodily intentions, following which arises internally, pleasure and pain.” [CONDITIONED ARISING OF SUFFERING (Ven. Dhammavuddho Mahāthera)]

• 'Bodily intention' (kaya-saṅkhāra): intention to act bodily;
• Kāya: body, bodily;
• Intention: mano-saṅkhāra
• Mental pain and pleasure; as intention is inside the mind, pleasure and pain are internal (inside the mind).

Anusaya Kilesas: Bhava-Taṇhă to Bhava-Saṅkhāra

Three types of taṇhă: kama-taṇhă, bhava-taṇhă, vibhava-taṇhă.

'Wherever in the world, there are delightful and pleasurable things, there this taṇhă (craving) arises and takes root.' [...] By 'taking root' is meant that, failing to contemplate on the impermanent nature of pleasurable things, craving for them lies dormant, taking root to arise when favourable circumstances permit. This latent craving, lying dormant in sense-objects which escape being contemplated on, is known as ărammananusaya. [U Ko Lay. Discose on the Wheel of Dhamma - Part 5: Maha Satipatthăna Sutta. SukhiHotu Dhamma Publication,1998)]

The Effect of Anusaya Kilesās: Kāmataṇhā and Kāma-loka:

After the destruction of a world of beings, either by a cosmic fire, flood or storm, only darkness remains in space, completely empty and void.
After forever and an aeon, and after cosmic condensation and precipitation, at the same place another human world will be reborn as a body of liquid just like the previous ones. This water body, as big as a planet, will gradually become suitable to support life.
Some of the Brahmas, who have lived their lifespans, will be reborn as humans in that new human world. The first-ever generation of humans are sky-dwellers, with brahma-like body, brahma-like rays, brahma-like lifespan and brahma-like lifestyle. Their auras can shine like the moon and the sun.
Gradually, after passing forever and an aeon, the water mass will condense into physical nutrition. Seeing that beautiful physical food and breathing its nice smell for forever and an aeon, these beings will eventually lose control due to their anusaya kilesa stirring and rising in their minds.
One of them will taste it, eat it and persuade others to do the same—that is how eating is the first religion and politics.

1. ... It was endowed with colour, smell and taste. It was the colour of fine ghee or butter, and it was very sweet, like pure wild honey. [Aggañña Sutta (DN27 On Knowledge of Beginnings) (Pali Canon Online)]

All things must come to an end one day. This is the impermanent nature of everything, anicca. So also the world [...] During the destruction of the world, all living beings become Brahmas and dwell in Brahma which is not affected by [the destruction.] [Ashin Janakabhivamsa. Part 2 - How The World Came To An End.]

I have been learning Latin for 5 years and then stopped for almost a year because I didn’t expect to progress to higher education. Now I’m planning to actually do my A Levels, I need to be back at the level I was by September but I’ve forgotten basically everything. I find that learning all the noun endings, verb conjugations, etc. is so time consuming that I feel like I’m barely making any progress despite spending an hour every day on Latin.
I know it’s probably just because I’m not structuring my learning especially well, etc. but I’m looking for concrete advice on how to fix this problem. Is it worth using a beginner book like Latin Per Se Illustrata or one of the many other books frequently recommended here, considering I am already familiar with a lot of the grammar? It’s not like I’m starting from nothing and when I went back to the start of the CLC (which was how I learned), it wasn’t worth the time because I already know most of the basic concepts.
TL;DR: How do I structure my learning to get back to a GCSE level of Latin?

The Arabic definite article (ال)

• In Arabic, indefinite use of nouns—whether in the singular or plural—is very straightforward and follows one general rule: first mention of a specific entity or entities in the discourse, such as:(ثعلب) a fox (غابة) a forest, (شجرة) a tree (صوت عظيم) great sound”.
• Once nouns are re-introduced into the discourse, they become defined as old or already known information. Therefore, when such nouns are re-introduced, they exhibit definite use, such as the three nouns used again (الشجرة) The tree (الثعلب) a fox.
• By the same token, nouns that involve shared knowledge among speakers (i.e., nounsthat are easily/uniquely identifiable by speakers and hearer or writer and reader)exhibit definite use within a certain context. Such nouns include (المنزل) The House (المبنى) the building (الجامعه) university.

The above rule does not apply to unique nouns such as :

• ( الريح) the wind Such nouns are instead used with the definite article even if they are introduced for the first time in the discourse. Similar nouns include:(الشمس) the sun (القمر) the moon (الشتاء) the winter ,
• Other nouns include: days of the (الخميس) Thursday”),
• ordinal numbers (السادس عشر) the sixteenth
• time and hour (الساعة) the hour (الثامنة) the eighth hour
• and time period (الظهر) the noon.

Similarly, Nouns:

Similarly, nouns (whether concrete or abstract and whether singular or plural) having a generic meaning/reference (i.e., not referring to any specific entity/entities but rather to all members of the class/set or category of such entities in general) are expressed in the definite. For example, consider the following examples:
أحب السباحة – I like [the] swimming.”
أحب اللحم – I like [the] meat.”
where “swimming” (which is a verbal nounمصدر ) and “meat” are used with the definite article, since both are used to refer to “swimming” and to “meat” in general. Hence, (اللحم) the meat.

To avoid confusion:

To avoid confusion, in part due to the complexity with which the concept is expressed in English, consider the following four sentences expressing a general statement about foxes (i.e., with no particular reference to any particular fox or foxes) being smart animals, where only the first two are grammatical (the ungrammatical sentences are marked by an asterisk):
​
he last two sentences are ungrammatical, since a statement is made about all foxes in general, but “fox” and “foxes” are used in the indefinite. (Note, in addition, MSA does not allow indefinite subjects.) On the other hand, consider the following four sentences expressing the same general statements about foxes, but only the first three are grammatical, and the fourth is not, since definiteness use in English is not as transparent and straightforward:
the fox is a smart animal. A fox is a smart animal. Foxes are smart animals. The foxes are smart animals.
​

Greetings, my fellows! Word detectives, archaeologists who shelter circles of words under the canopy of their libraries.
I am in search of special dictionaries.
After a long journey through the internet, unable to find the resources needed to address my specific tasks, I’ve decided to consult those who know dictionaries by every speck and blot on their pages.
Here is what I am looking for:

1. I am searching for something akin to a dictionary of polysemy where only words with multiple meanings are compiled.
   
2. I am also seeking a dictionary that exclusively collects specific verbs and nouns—words that are easily imaginable, which you can touch, smell, and see.
   

Online, I found various lists of concrete nouns, but they are too limited.

1. I am interested in whether you know of any dictionaries where words are grouped specifically by parts of speech—for instance, one volume for nouns, another for verbs, rather than mixed as in traditional dictionaries.

It is important to mention that such resources need not necessarily be dictionaries; they could simply be books of word lists in the style of word game word finders, anagram books, or online resources and so on.
I would be very grateful if you share what you know and what might help in my search, and I also welcome interesting recommendations that may not be directly related to my search, something about which I am unaware. I welcome any help.
Thank you all.

A story inspired by WH40K (specifically the good books aka anything penned by Dan Abnett), Halo (back when it had an actual plot) Starship Troopers and the philosophical writings of Karl Jung (who has always been good)
--Synopsis--
In the galaxy-spanning Empire of the Lyken race, pure tranquility has been achieved. Under the guidance of their esteemed leaders and prophets, known only as The Empaths, the Lyken have secured a lasting coalition between all known species of the galaxy under their religion known only as 'The Path', and are currently embarking on their next crusade to bring the light of their benevolent rule to the rest of the stars. This war Restoration, however, has been put in jeopardy by the arrival of a particularly troublesome new species: Homo Sapiens.
Lokan Kathos Ikson, a soldier in the army of the 5th Restoration Fleet, finds himself suddenly thrust into the forefront of this conflict that has him questioning the civilization he knows and loves as well as his faith in himself. In a war where the lines between aggressor and defender seem to be increasingly blurring, Kathos will discover a secret that could change not only the outcome of this conflict, but the fate of the universe itself.
[Dramatis Personnae]

The Fifth Restoration Fleet

~Fleet Command~
Resarion Xotyl – Empath, Fleet Overseer
Akageme Itnosis – Fleet Sheloth

~The 15\**^th Harmonizer Division, Squad Sigma~
Gemor Boreallis – Osirion
Kathos Ikson – Lokan first class
Sekris Aumenar – Lokan first class
Malik Nostrom – Lokan second class

~The 1\**^st Fabricator Division~
Mishka Metsumi – Koveth
Gor’Karliah – Lokan first class
Mor’tarlok – Lokan first class

Homeworld Civilians
Kithis Niketa
Tavek Millieus
Dreksis Aurelia - Keeper, Kindergarten #403

Homo sapiens
Emmanuel August – Commander-in-Chief, A.C.D.F
Sasha Daniels – Sergeant, A.C.D.F
Thomas Graham – Designation Classified
---Chapter 1: Contact---
Think of darkness.
The most empty void imaginable.
Your only companion is the sound of your quiet, fragmented breathing. And the uncontrollable shaking of your hands.
You’re hurtling through space.
Strapped inside a pod that’s been spewed from the ship which, only moments ago, made you feel so secure.
Keep your eyes straight. Focus on the darkness that surrounds you. Know that it is both the beginning and the end.
I thanked the Meshen pod quickly for its mantra intended to inspire, though its words did little to dissuade me from my peril. Suddenly I felt my weight shift, a sign of my pod’s safety maneuvers to stabilize itself against atmospheric pressure. For a moment I felt a pang of regret for the creature that was delivering me to an almost certain death. But it was only for a moment.
After a while, you can pinpoint the exact instant your Meshen pod hits a planet’s atmosphere. The heat around you starts to burn away at your suit, the internal pressure of the chamber starts to constrict – and you become acutely aware that it’s a living, breathing organism you’re encased in. It will take the pain of their artillery, sacrificing itself for the good of the warrior it harbors within. Before an assault even begins, you know already that you have a duty to a being besides yourself for your continued existence.
You are reminded that The Path is right and good so that, if necessary, you can die for it.
My slow, mute descent was abruptly halted and the reality of the situation opened to my consciousness as the hatch of the pod exploded and flew away. As my visor adjusted to my new surroundings, the firing started.
Contact! was bellowed through the squad Transmission. As I felt bullets whizz past the shell I was encased in I could make out only transitory images of the verdant green field that had opened out before me and the surrounding darkness of the night sky. Tendril –like fauna climbed towards the clouds that we had just burst through and from behind their thick stalks I could make out shadowy shapes barking in a vicious, guttural language and pointing their metallic-grey long barreled rifles at me.
I started to regain my composure as my shell released its combat stimulants into my bloodstream. Instinct took over. My Tranq rifle appeared in front of me as though possessed and began to vomit its pale, sinuous innards at the targets. I saw one of them fall, then I quickly engaged my suit thrusters and leaped forward to strike another one of the creatures across its face with my open gauntlet. As it fell to the ground it twitched only for an instant before its form stiffened, paralyzed. I heard more of the figures encased in their bulky suits of onyx fall before the rest of the squad. The long thin lines their Tranq shots cut through the air afforded a momentary glimmer of light in the darkness of the valley in which, to my surprise, we had successfully made landfall. The muffled screams of the resistance we’d met couldn’t have been heard by anyone more than a mile away and, to our knowledge, their sensory systems still had no means with which to detect an assault drop by Meshen pod. As the last black form before me fell to the ground, trapped in stasis, I allowed myself a moment to comprehend the sheer luck of it all.
We had arrived.
I quickly Transmitted to the rest of the squad as my visor’s holographic sensors updated its readout of the valley floor. To the top right of my field of vision a small three dimensional image sputtered into view, spinning 360 degrees. The image then zoomed out to reveal a small arrow that marked our position and then traced a line on the tiny map of the valley that was being updated with every breath we took on this alien world. That line was our recommended route to our destination.
‘Lokan’, Osiron Gemor transmitted in a voice that reverberated off the walls of my brain like a tremor. ‘Regroup on me at coordinates X-20 Y-743.’ The tiny map quickly pinpointed this position for our convenience.
‘Lokan Sekris acknlowedges, my Osiron,’ boomed a voice from within my consciousness.
‘Lokan Malik acknowledges, my Osiron’, came another, lighter but much more tense.
After a brief period of silence that dragged on for what seemed like an eternity, I realized the final response was to be my own.
‘Lokan Kathos acknowledges, my Osiron,’ I hastily transmitted. ‘No drop casualties to report. Now calling for Cradle uplift of fallen targets.’
I nodded, more to myself than anyone else, and began brushing through the crisp foliage, crouched low in anticipation for any more sentries. We’d been reminded before the drop that a night operation like this wasn’t likely to meet much resistance – especially not from the local population. Fleet knew that Alphus didn’t have a chance at posing a significant threat to the rest of the campaign. As far as Sheloth Akagame was concerned, the Restoration of Alphus was in its end-stages.
The question was: did the humans living here know that?
I checked the flickering indicator and noted Osiron Gemor’s position – about two clicks North of where I landed on one of the mountains overlooking the valley floor. My suit’s sensory readout conveyed no heat signatures within the immediate radius. All I could see was the lush vegetation that stretched on for miles and then abruptly halted at the edge of the mountain. It fell off into a river that spanned the gap between our squads landing point on ‘Mount A’ and Osiron Malthus’ position on ‘Mount B’. As I ran I was aware of no sound but that of the rustling leaves as they grazed my suit and the calm stillness of the water below. Evidently the valley was devoid of any nocturnal life.
Eventually I came to the mountaintop’s edge and crouched low, hidden by long stalks of swaying grass that were being gently nudged by an ethereal wind suddenly blowing through the valley.
I waited.
I took the time to check the sensory readout again – a blaze of scarlet sweeping over the whole mountainside and then stuttering away, revealing nothing. I checked it again to be sure. Nothing.
I peered out from my position to take at look at what was nestled below, on the valley floor, on either side of the winding river. Perhaps 60, no, at least 100 concrete blocks. Tiled roofs. Windows. Stone paths that connected them. Bridges that stretched across the river. Trees dotted here and there throughout – the parts of the forestation that had not been completely removed from the area in which they had chosen to dwell. The heart of the valley they had carved out for themselves by right of conquest and by right of technological superiority. They had destroyed the trees and reshaped the land. The river they had harnessed to power their homes, and to ferry their troops.
The infrared readout on my visor showed me the little dots of blurred red that moved around outside or lay indoors, their forms hazy and shimmering. They were alive. They were right down there.
It was a town.
Our objective.
Suddenly a hand grabbed my shoulder. I spun round, dropping the Tranq and readying my gauntlet to discover it was only Sekris, and you could tell he was grinning away from under his visor.
‘Caught you off guard, eh, my Kymore*?’ Sekris chuckled, as he and Garthur formed up on the ridge of the mountain. Their silent laughter produced a raspy, ghostlike echo in the Transmission.
I laughed with them, if only to keep the tension at bay. ‘Your talents always did lie in sneaking around, Sekris’, I grinned. ‘Malik, be sure to check your rations back on board the Lumera, you never know what this master of stealth has made off with.’
More chuckling, tempered by Sekris’ temporarily hurt pride. ‘Kathos, just because you pissed your pants, it doesn’t give you the right to hurl insults,’ he said, wiping a tear from his visor in pantomime.
‘I would recommend you remain cloaked, Sekris,’ Malik piped up from beside us, crouching down and scanning the field with his scoped rifle. ‘There may be snipers within the village on lookout.’
‘Pfft!’ Sekris scoffed. ‘Too much negative energy from you, Malik. Where is your confidence in me, your most beloved Kymore?’ He blew him a mock kiss, to which Malik simply shook his head.
‘What?’ Sekris kept on with it. ‘Is this the wrong time for romance?’
The presence of our last team member suddenly became known to us. We shifted round to see our Osiron towering above us. Even crouched down, she was a sight to behold. A titan of a Lyken – her name ‘Gemor’ itself suggested as much, being an ancient word adapted from the Klethtonen after their Restoration to The Path. Loosely translated, it meant ‘One who rises.’
‘The greenest of the green,’ she said, probably grinning from inside her helmet. ‘Sheloth Akagame must think me a worker of miracles if he expects me to make real Lokan of you.’
‘Osiron! You wound us!’ Sekris merely laughed in response. ‘With Malik’s eye, my brains, and Kathos’ aptitude for pointing his rifle in the general direction of things that move, our enemies stand no chance!’
Amid more laughter from us, Gemor only shook her massive skull. Eventually we subsided into silence and waited in trepidation for Malthus’ squad. I could feel the cold night air of Alphus biting at my skin again, and in a way I was thankful for the darkness just as I was thankful for Sekris’ dry humour. The cloak of night was an extra promise of safety, and even encased in the bulwark that was my suit – the very pinnacle of the armourer’s craft on Homeworld, and the most exquisite melding of form and function known to Lyken military engineering – I still felt naked. An alien on an alien world fighting against a race I still felt ill equipped to face. Even as we were told it was in its death-throes.
How’s your humour, Kathos? Gemor’s voce whispered in my mind, quiet even though it was safely burrowed within my own conscience.
I looked at the others, then back at Gemor, and I smiled. She must have known my hesitation. This was a private Transmission. Either my fellow Kymore didn’t hear it, or she was pursuing, simultaneously, her own conversations with them inside their own minds. I wouldn’t put it past our commander.
I’m holding steady, thank you, my Osiron, I replied.
She nodded. What is your drop number, Lokan?
This will be my eighth, my Osiron, I replied*.* Then I added, putting a lighter inflection on my Transmission, I am told it gets better with time.
Is that so? Gemor’s voice remained hard, stern. Which part specifically?
I could have been honest.
The fear, I lied.
Gemor seemed to understand that. Yet still her voice was grave. A reminder of the reality we all volunteered for.
Better? I don’t know about that, she said. Would it be better if we did this without fear, without thinking? She paused, as our suit readouts displayed the heat signatures of Malthus’ squad appear on the ridge of the opposite mountain.
Hold on to that fear, Kathos, Gemor transmitted as she waved to her fellow Osiron. That fear will keep you alive.
He severed our link, and then opened up the squad general Transmission once more. We all faced forward as he spoke, Tranq rifles trained on the village below.
A recap of the briefing, Lokan, Gemor intoned. For those of you who may have ‘missed’ certain details on board the ship.
I knew Sekris was smiling beside me.
From intercepted Comm. transmissions we know that the settlement below is designated as ‘Henshu’. Primarily an agricultural base, Henshu also serves as a vital logistic position for the Alphusarians. From data recorded by our Wayfinder drones in the area, it is known that the enemy have been moving troops and supplies to and from the last resisting Capital of Alphus’ Western Hemisphere, Kodakis, for the past seven months. Electromagnetic carpet scanning of the area from orbit has also revealed several stockpiles of ballistic devices that have been employed by the enemy in greater quantities these last months – primarily projectile rifles and explosives. The greatest concentration of these weapons has been located in a silo on the Western bank of the river that cuts through the village. But we can also assume that housing throughout the settlement contains concealed weaponry of the same caliber.
On each of our visor map readouts the village was highlighted, enlarged, and key positions marked for us as Gemor pointed them out. Most notably the silo on our side of the river and several houses throughout the village were marked as containing explosives.
The highest concentration of troop support the enemy maintains here can be seen on the river’s Eastern bank. Around 30 moving targets were now highlighted on our screens. I breathed a sigh of relief as, thankfully, it seemed Malthus’ squad would be primarily dealing with them.
Let me put this in context, Lokan: Henshu must be neutralized so that Sheloth Akagame’s encirclement of the Capital can be completed. Cutting them off from their final pool of resources will lead to stagnated resistance attempts and effectively provoke the enemy’s surrender. They will be receiving no munitions, no food, and no communication with the outside world – and the starved predator quickly yields to its captor.
To this end, our primary objectives are thus: My squad stationed on Mount A will advance towards the weapons silo and contain it. Osiron Malthus’ squad will simultaneously advance at pace from their position on Mount B and neutralise all hostiles on their side of the bridge. Each group will clear each building they come to as they make their advance – Cradle uplift of both civilians and soldiers are ready and waiting.
Gemor paused as we digested her orders.
This is an urban combat situation, Lokan. Though Malthus will take the brunt of the defenders’ firepower, expect some resistance on our side of the bridge. Remember – humans like to conceal weapons. That’s their way.
We each nodded our assent, though I was only listening in part - far too intent on beginning. I looked over every one of those buildings and realised that soon, we would be inside each one. Soon I would see the faces that I couldn’t stand. I would see the faces I hated again.
The darkness, Kathos. I said to myself. Over and over. It was becoming mechanical. It was becoming a separate piece of me that awakened before any assault and whispered in my ears, stronger than any Transmission I’d ever felt. Be the Darkness. There is only Darkness. Then, you can’t see their faces. In the Darkness you can live.
Gemor stood, cutting off her Transmission and motioning to us to proceed.
‘May The Path guide us, my Kymore,’ she said.
Then the running began.
*Kymore. Noun. The closest human approximation of this common Lyken phrase would be 'comrade', but with a more familial edge. 'Kymore' is a word that is used for both family and friends interchangeably. It is an almost subconscious marker of basic respect in the Lyken language.
Thanks for reading. Note: the following chapters of this story should be considered proof of concept only. I am interested in feedback on this but will be focusing on my other works before committing to this story fully.

I've seen a lot of posts on here asking whether or not X is relapsing. Or I relapsed because of Y. And this is something I want you to ask yourself. Do you actually know who you are?
If your answer is yes. Write it out. Who are you when you wake up? What time do you wake up? What is the first thing you do after you wake up? Do you wash your face, brush your teeth, or do you use your phone? What do you do at 10AM, 11AM, 12PM? Where are you at every hour of the day? Who are you with the most? What are you doing most frequently per hour of your day on average? Where do you spend the most time throughout the day? In your house? Where in your house?
Here's the thing. Most of us want to get better. But that requires knowledge. 90 days No Fap is a nice goal but its not a clear goal. Yeah, 90 days not jerking off, thats sounds awesome and straightforward! That is until you realize your entire day has been completely unanalyzed outside of the shame you feel immediately after relapsing. You don't know who you are because outside of the day counter you have no measurement of what you do, where you do it, with whom you do it with and when and how frequently its being done. Or in other words, you have no idea who you are.
You need to set clear goals. I'm talking to myself as well. Goals are things that can be broken down into achievements. Achievements can be measured using concrete nouns. Its not enough to say I want to study more. When do you want to study? Where do you want to study? Why do you want to study? How many hours do you want to study? Then when you figure all that out, create achievements. How many chapters a day do you want to study? How many topics a day do you want to study? How many vocabulary terms do you want to study?
The great part of breaking down your life, your goals and your achievements into these blocks; is that you now will get a constant iterative feeling of accomplishment. That feeling will keep you busy and motivated. That feeling can be tracked by how much you are getting done in concrete terms. And it is the act of doing, not resisting or mindless distracting but actively doing that will give your brain the dopamine it craves from a stimulus other than porn.
Our brains, especially as addicts are warped from the stimuli of easy to obtain material. Achievements are also easy to obtain, but your brain has tricked you into thinking its not and you and I have settled for the cheap crap instead. Its the margarine instead of the butter, the half and half instead of the sugar, its the dots of light perfectly arranged on your screen instead of the confidence and self assuredness that will attract real people (not just women but everyone you desire) into your life. People that value you BECAUSE you put in the work. Why should anyone, let alone a women you lust after give you any time of day when you are a reflection of someone who clearly does not value their own time? How is refraining enough? How is not putting poison into your brain enough? In this context the answer is obvious. You are what you do, not what you don't. Not jacking off isn't a clear goal, not relapsing isn't a clear goal. What you do with the time you're not fapping is a clear measurement of what you value most, and THAT is a reflection of who you are.

Agyharo hit the 300 word mark last night, my lexical benchmark for a conlang that's survived the sketch phase, so I figured I'd celebrate with a little deep-dive. Last year I already wrote about its morphophonological mutation system, which I consider one of its more unique features, another being the focus on today's post: the number system.

Core Numerals

Agyharo has 6 core numerals, all derived from body part words. This isn't dissimilar to having 'thumb' mean 'one' and 'index' 'two', etc., but the speakers of Agyharo are derived pterosaurs, and only have 4 digits. The other 2 are for 'half' and 'zero' using body part words along the arm. These 6 numerals are as follows:

• 0 - Yho /ʝɤ/ - This is the word for 'shoulder', the point from which the arm with its digits, and thereby positive numbers, extend.
• 0.5 - Gcu /ɢɯ/ - This is the word for 'pteroid', a small bone pterosaurs had on their wrists to control their propatagia that also happens to be about halfway between the digits and the shoulder.
• 1- Hal /ɦaʎ/ - This is the word for the first digit, and it was stolen from hallux, the technical term for the big toe. (Although, it does just now occur to me, years after the fact, that pollex may have been the more accurate term to use...)
• 2 - Ubr /ɯʙ/ - This is the word for the second digit. It was derived by putting *aʟba through some sound changes. I believe this was originaly borrowed from Arabic, like many other of the number words as soon you'll see, but the origin of this one's been lost to time.
• 3 - Ugv /ɯgβ/ - This is the word for the third digit but also refers to the hand as a whole, or rather, all 3 non-wing digits as a set. It descends from *ɢaβ, a borrowing of Arabic كف 'palm', albeit with some errant metathesis.
• 4 - Elnyo /eʎɲɤ/ - This is the word for the fourth digit or the wing as a whole. It descends from *ɟ͡ʝanaʁ, a borrowing of Arabic جناح 'wing'.

Numeral Nouns

Before getting stuck into more complex numerals, let's first go over how these basic 6 numerals are used to count. Whilst the lexical origins of the numerals are not so weird, they act more like nouns than true numerals, hence "Numeral Nouns": rather than simply being in juxtaposition with the nouns they quantify, they are instead used as the head of the noun phrase with the rest of the noun phrase being genitivised. To illustrate, compare "eggs" → "three eggs":

engyeny → ugv engyeyo eggs hand eggs.GEN "eggs" "a hand of eggs" 

Quantifying nouns with genitives by themselves aren't so weird, take for example English "a handful of rice", but what makes this unique for Agyharo is the fact that nearly all nouns are treated as collective or mass nouns, bar the numeral nouns, and that the count nouns themselves carry specific integer values and are not semantically related to the nouns they quantify. It'd be like if besides a handful of rice in English, you could also have a handful of bears, or mountains, and that a handful of bears or mountains is specifically 5 bears or mountains. There are 2 other features that make numbers in Agyharo unique, though: base-2 and numeral verbs.

Further Binary Numeral Nouns

After counting to the 4th digit, one logical step might be to start counting on the opposite hand, and this could then conceivably extrapolate into a base-4 system. This is not what I elected to do, though; instead, I chose to continue in an exponential fashion using unique body terms. If elnyo refers to a single wing, then the next step would be to refer to both wings: a wingspan or fathom. Rather than a fathom meaning 5, however, it instead means 8, because a wingspan is naturally worth two wings or two 4s. This extended into a binary system where rather than only having basic numerals for 0 and 1, each order of magnitude gets its own basic numeral, at least to a point: Agyharo only has basic numerals up to 4096¹⁰ or 1000000000000². These further binary numerals are as follows:

• 8 En /eŋ/ - This is the word 'fathom' as described above. It descends from *ɛɴɑ, ultimately borrowed from Arabic أَجْنِحَة 'wings'.
• 16 Ellom /eʎʎɤm/ - This is the word for ‘body’ in the sense that doubling the area of the wings roughly gets you the area of the entire body (nevermind that pterosaurs are way more wing than anything else). It descends from *aʎɟ͡ʝɯma, ultimately borrowed from Arabic الجسم 'the body'.
• 32 Yhal /ʝaʎ/ - This is the word for ‘pair’: doubling a body, or an individual, gets us a pair of individuals. This descends from *ʝaɰaɟ͡ʝ, a borrowing of Arabic زوج 'pair'.
• 64 Var /βaʀ/ - This is the word for ‘team’. A team is comprised of 2 pairs working together, similar to a detail or crew in (para)military organisation. The rest of the terms I used for the count nouns are loosely based on unit names in military organisation. Var is descended from *βaʀɛɢ, borrowed from Arabic فريق 'team'.
• 128 Yhob /ʝɤb/ - This is the word for ‘squadron’. It's descended from *ʝiʀab, borrowed from Arabic سرب 'squadron'.
• 256 Er /eʀ/ - This is the word for ‘flock’, based on Italian stormo. It originally descends from *ig͡ʟ̝aβ̞. I don't have any note on the original source for this one, but I think I generated it when testing to see much my historical sound changes could erode a word down.
• 512 Gyeyar /ɟejaʀ/ - This is the word for ‘group’. It descends from *ɟajaʀ, a borrowing of Arabic طيران 'flight'.
• 1024 Gyub /ɟɯb/ - This is the word for ‘division’. It descends *ɟiba, borrowed from a clipping of Arabic كتيبة 'battalion.
• 2048 Gyel /ɟeʎ/ - This is the word for command ‘command’. It's descended from *ɯɟ͡ʝɯʟ, borrowed from Arabic أسطول 'fleet'.
• 4096 Ugyh /ɯɟʝ/ - This is the word for ‘force’, descended from *ɟɛʝ, borrowed from Arabic جيش 'army'.

These are all used in the same way as the first few core numerals. If you wanted an entire air force's worth of over four thousand eggs, you'd say:

ugyh engyeyo moyh lanov force eggs.GEN desire EA\1s.ERG "I desire a force of eggs." 

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Indefinite Numerals

Besides the binary numeral nouns, there's also a small class of indefinite numeral nouns. This class of indefinites accomplishes the same function as indefinite articles in other languages. Unlike the other numeral nouns, though, these are all verbal nouns, which has a few morphosyntactic ramifications. The indefinite numeral nouns are all descended from the various verbs for 'to pluck', and each is used in semantic agreement with the content noun they're paired with:

• Cerral /k͡ǂeʀʀaʎ/ - This is used with abstract concepts and it derives from gerral ‘to pluck from debris’.
• Brobv /ʙɤbβ/ - This is used with concrete aerial nouns and it derives from robv ‘to pluck from the air’.
• Gcel. /ɢeʎ/ - This is used with concrete terrestrial nouns and it derives from lel ‘to pluck from the ground’.
• Yha. /ʝa/ - This is used with concrete aquatic nouns and it derives from nya ‘pluck from the water’.

These indefinite numerals and their semantic divisions are a reflex of generation 2 of the noun class system I use in Varamm, if any readers are at all familiar with anything I've written therefor.
Let's compare the last example, which uses a definite numeral, with one of the indefinite numerals, and maybe count something besides eggs whilst we're at, too (never mind the aforementioned morphosyntactic shenanigans beyond the scope of this post):

ugyh engyeyo moyh lanov force eggs.GEN desire EA\1s.ERG "I desire a force of eggs." "I want thousands of eggs." yhan moyh gcelegy engyeyo 1s desire [TR]plucking.ACC [TR]eggs.GEN "I desire a plucking of eggs." "I want some eggs." yhan moyh yhagy negyyo 1s desire [AQ]plucking.ACC [AQ]shellfish.GEN "I desire a plucking of shellfish." "I want some shellfish." 

​

Numeral Verbs

Because numeral nouns weren't enough, I also included a system of ternary-ish numeral verbs: ternary-ish in that it's based on 3, but each order of magnitude is a double, like with the binary nouns, rather than a triple. Conceptually, the verbs I chose have a progression of doubling like in the numeral nouns, starting with the verb 'to wave':

• 3 Lalgyer /ʎaʎɟeʀ/ - 'To wave' is equivalent to three because it's an action done with just the one ugv or 'hand'. It descends from *ʎiʎɟalβ̞iɦ, which I believe is a borrowing of Arabic للتلويه 'to twist'.
• 6 Log /ʎɤg/ - This is the word for 'to flap'. In the case of pterosaurs, waving only really means moving the arm half-extended; a wave with a full extended wing finger is a flap. Log is descended from *ɟ͡ʝag, though its Arabic origins have been lost to time.
• 12 Yanyyar /jaɲjaʀ/ - This is the word for 'to fly': you need pairs of flaps to fly. It's not ultimately borrowed from Arabic and is instead an original coinage from when I was testing grammar. It also has the distinction of being, I believe, the only word entirely unchanged from its proto-form.
• 24 Bonyh /bɤɲʝ/ - This is the word for 'to whirl'. 'To whirl' here refers to nuptial or courtship flights, that is, a flight display involving a pair of individuals, hence the double of yanyyar. And like yanyyar, bonyh is also an original coinage descended from *bɤɲɟa.
• 48 Gen /geŋ/ - This is the word for 'to mate' in the sense that mating is the logical next step after a courtship flight. It's descended from *ɢɯŋ and may be borrowed as a clipping of Arabic يَكُونُ 'to be'.
• 96 Yhal /ʝaʎ/ - This is the word for 'to spawn', continuing the trend from mating. This one's particularly fun because its modern root is homonymous with the numeral noun for 'pair'. In actual use this doesn't lead to any confusion because these verbs never appear in their lemma form when used as numerals, never mind the different syntactic and morphophonological mutation patterns. This yhal descends from *g͡βag͡ʟ̝, ultimately borrowed from Arabic يكون a form of 'to bring forth'.
• 192 Robay /ʀɤbaj/ - This is the word for 'to raise', the logical conclusion to the progression of the previous 2 short of dying after rearing all the children. It's descended from *ʀabaj and is ultimately borrowed from Arabic ربى 'to raise'.

Where the numeral nouns take on the role of head nouns with what it's quantifying being made adjectival, numeral verbs work the opposite: numeral verbs quantify nouns by being relativised. If you were to lay a spawning's worth of nearly 100 eggs, you'd say:

yhagv ceny bal lanov spawn.REL EA\eggs PFV.spawn EA\1s.ERG "I laid eggs that are laying." "I laid 96 eggs." 

The numeral verbs can also be nominalised and function just like the indefinite numeral nouns. Using a verbal noun, the above example would look like:

yhan bal balagy engyeyo 1s PFV.spawn EA\spawn.ACC eggs.GEN "I laid a laying of eggs." "I laid 96 eggs." 

​

Compound Numerals

Numerals for binary orders of magnitude are all well and good, but how do the numerals between the orders of magnitude work? There's a couple ways the numeral nouns can interact to produce both multiplicative and additive constructions. Additive constructions are formed through conjunction and compounding, whilst multiplicative constructions are formed through genitive relationships of numeral nouns. Verbal numerals, meanwhile, always function multiplicatively.
For additive constructions using conjunction, the largest numeral always appears first with the quantified noun in the genitive following it, exactly as I've illustrated above; any further numerals appear compounded together highest to lowest with an interceding 'r 'and' clitic after the quantified noun. For example:

elnyo engyeyo 'r ugv wing eggs.GEN and hand "a wing of eggs and a hand" "four eggs and three" "seven eggs" en engyeyo 'r elnyo-ugv body eggs.GEN and wing-hand "a body of eggs and a wing hand" "eight eggs and four three" "fifteen eggs" 

Multiplicative numeral noun constructions appear similar to additive constructions, at least the compounded part following the quantified noun, but they appear in a lowest-to-highest order and always preceding what they quantify. Nominally such a construction is a multi-genitive construction, but only the last noun in a genitive complex actually gets marked in the genitive. Compare simply just saying "twelve" and counting "twelve eggs":

ugv elyo hand wing.GEN "a hand of wings" "three by four" "twelve" ugv elnyo engyeyo hand wing[GEN] eggs.GEN "a hand of wings of eggs" "three by four eggs" "twelve eggs" 

Additive and multiplicative numeral nouns can co-occur:

ugv elnyo engyeyo 'r ugv hand wing[GEN] eggs.GEN and hand "a hand of wings of eggs and a hand" "three by four eggs and three" "fifteen eggs" 

Numeral verbs modify the entire noun phrase:

elnyo engyeyo yanyyanv wing eggs.GEN fly.REL "a wing of eggs flying" "four eggs by six" "twenty-four eggs" yanyyanv yho engyeyo fly.REL EA\wing eggs.GEN "a flying hand of eggs" "six by three eggs" "eighteen eggs" 

Now Let's Count to Ten

Some of the above examples are more illustrative than anything else--you'd sooner use the numeral verb for 24 instead of saying 4 by 6--but it should be clear to see that there's no one set way to say each number. With this in mind, let's count to 10! I'll offer a few options for each value, but I won't be maximally exhaustive:

1. Hal first_digit, gcu uro pteroid second_digit.GEN
2. Ubr second_digit, gcu elyo pteroid wing.GEN
3. Ugv hand, nalgyer VN.wave, lalgyenv wave.REL, gcu gyolo pteroid VN.flap.GEN, gcu logv pteroid flap.REL
4. Elnyo wing, gcu ero pteroid body.GEN
5. Elnyo 'r hal wing and first_digit
6. Elnyo 'r ubr wing and second_digit, logv flap.REL, gyog VN.flap, ubr lalgyenv second_digit flap.REL
7. Elnyo 'r ugv wing and hand, gyog r hal VN.flap and first_digit
8. En body, gcu ellobro pteroid pair.GEN
9. En 'r hal body and first_digit, ugv nalgyelo hand VN.flap.GEN, ugv lalgyenv hand flap.REL
10. En 'r ubr body and second_digit

Janko, I already gave you the early stages of this, but update your list however you please with this information!
All the variation in even just the sampling above, as well as some of the illustrative examples further above, would come down to three things: poeticisms, regional variation, and context. Some of the most esoteric constructions, like the ones with gcu, would realistically only be used for poetic effect. Some of the options that in strong contestation, like which of the two roots for 3 to use, would likely just come down to regional variation. Meanwhile, context might invite all of these to be used as amendments on what's already been said: a vendor might charge a flapful (6) and you retort with an offer of a half flapful (3) rather than saying a handful (3); you might tell someone to get a wingful (4) before saying they ought to get three wingfuls (12) instead, rather than a fathomful (8) and a wingful (4); etc.
​

Comments or Questions?

I'm happy to answer any below! I glossed over some of the grammatical rules but I hope that doesn't detract from showing off how the number words go together; if it does, let me know and I can amend as necessary.
If you were kind enough to read this all the way through and make it to the end, I hope it was an enjoyable read and that you maybe learned something or felt inspired. If Agyharo's numbers remind you of a system in another language, natural or constructed, please let me know, I'd live to read up on it.
Do any of your conlangs not strictly use numerals for its number system? Can you think of any numbers you think might be challenging to say in Agyharo? Let me know down below!
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Nyayh ger lanov!
/ɲaʝ geʀ ʎaŋɤβ/

nyayh ger lanov 2s defer_to EA\1s.ERG 

"You are deferred to by me!" ~ "Thanks (for reading)!"

https://imgur.com/a/i1288kr Curator Comments: the choice of positioning of the words in the non verse in fact it seems casual but dictated by a desire to emphasize the words key to the text so as to arouse and draw the attention of the passer-by: see the example,the separate provision, at opposite edges of the hexameter, of Aeolidis,proper noun expressed in the genitive case, and catellae, noun to define the-little dog‖; the word tumulum, "burial, sepulcher", is instead framed from the name indication and from the adjective festive and attributed to the animal.The adjective festivus is not found in other carmina5 and it is evident that it is here used to emphasize the playful liveliness of the animal. The second hexameterit ends with the noun fate, a term left deliberately isolated and centered in the last line to give prominence and depth to the concept of the transience of lifes object to the inevitability of the fatum6. The latter is also characterized from the adjective, in the ablative case, praepes-etis,which gives the lexical binomialan almost epic solemnity and gravity.The expression praepete fato does not occur elsewhere in the carmina: it is preferred, albeit rarely, and in high diegetic contexts, the equivalent formula properantia fata7.While the first verse focuses on the invitation to the viator (viathe imperative cerne) to look at the sepulcher of the jubilant dog14(topos also intensely exploited in funerary epigraphy) that it seems almost revived in the bas-relief, the second verse is instead characterized by boundless pain of the master for this death8. The choice of the verb dolēre(constructed with the accusation of the thing for which one feels suffering, in this case the relative pronoun quam), of the adverb in modice, and of the participle raptam contribute, albeit with extreme synthesis, to strengthen and enhance the deep sense of despair and helplessness that assails the master of Aeolis9. Aan interesting aspect is also constituted by the choice of the monumentum: it is in fact of a funerary altar on whose side faces urceus and patera are sculpted.This support, frequently used to house sepulchral inscriptions intended for humans, is used here for a little dog denoting inin the first place the economic possibility and the cultural stature of the client,moreover anonymous, and, secondly,what could be defined as the"Humanization process" that involves the animal both in life and in death. The symbolic and ritual value linked to this choice therefore emerges with clarity and is further corroborated by the relief on the forehead of the aretta depicting the animal approaching a table set with food offerings. The bas-relief seems to recall the funeral banquet, practical central to the Roman funerary tradition. In fact, death and banquet are two strongly interconnected aspects and full of concrete and symbolic values: to such Aeolis, a little dog, takes part in the meal and therefore does not seem excluded from the ritual dimension reserved for men

It seems that reddit lacks a real comprehensive look at the Quran’s style and its claims to divinity. I’m going to do my best to detail the Quran’s divine literary characteristics concretely, so that you can judge for yourself where it came from.
I like to think about the Quran’s qualities as a house of cards. The top of the structure is the Quran’s “end product”, i.e. its effect on the hearts and minds of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and its ability to spiritually refresh and guide those who adhere to it. This quality, however, is the culmination of other characteristics below it. Those characteristics are then made up of even more characteristics.
In this post/piece I will be making a large claim: the Quran excels beyond human capacity in its characteristics, and I will be focusing on just 3 of its aspects! Of course, I cannot prove anything to you empirically, but I will try my best to lay out the Muslim claim using logic. So, let’s get started.
—-
Whether you are muslim or not, it’s clear that the Quran is a phenomenon worth explaining. From Orientalists who rave about its literary Quality, to Muslims who dedicate their lives to following it, there is *something* here. One possible explanation is that people just clung onto Islam because that’s how religions work - if it was any other book, people would still believe. Or that it’s a good book, just not divine level good.
I would argue that the Quran’s transcendent quality is the foundation of Islam’s growth and zeal, both in the past, and as it continues to grow today. So, what do Muslims claim about the Quran? It has unmatched beauty and, at the same time dense, masterful argumentation and meanings, and it does these things in a manner beyond human capacity. I believe I can demonstrate this to you, even if you don’t know Arabic.
To start, I will be focusing on beauty, which consists of two parts. First is the rhythm of the recitation. Second is the beauty of the language itself. Part 1 Rhythm of Recitation: For this section you have to know what the Quran sounds like, so here is a short example of a recitation of a Surah. Close your eyes and focus on the rhythm and sounds you are hearing - ignore the translation for now, that’s for part 2.
Short Chapter
Medium Chapter
I strongly suggest you listen to both without reading the onscreen translation.
Hopefully you are able to see the immediate appeal of the Quran. To put it simply: it sounds good. To most Muslims, and even some non-muslims, the sound of the Quran is unmatched. People feel a type of calm they have never felt from it. Some are driven to tears by it. Others have literally died during the climax of a recitation! Now, how does the Quran achieve this effect? Why does it sound the way it sounds? To answer this, we have to zoom in.
The vocal melodies you just heard are not inherent to the Quran, they are improvised by the reciter. However, if you were to listen to another recitation, you would feel a different dimension, and a different sound of the Chapter, but you may notice that the rhythm is similar. Example:
Short Chapter, different Reciter
This similarity is a result of tajweed, which is a complex set of rules that forms the rhythmic skeleton of the recitation of the Quran. These are either hard rules, such as the rules on how to pronounce certain combinations of letters and diacritics, or flexible rules, such as elongation of vowels, in which the reciter can select the length of elongation, and more.
(I’ve linked a “tajweed guide” to demonstrate the idea that tajweed rules are fixed - that they are a part of Quranic grammar and construction, rather than something muslims imposed onto the Quranic text to make it sound pretty - or something that you can apply willy nilly onto your text. This guide is on one rule which is the elongation of vowels: )
Understanding Tajweed is key to understanding the Quran’s sound, but it’s notoriously hard to explain without auditory help. If you listened to the two recitations of the same Surah and focused specifically on the elongated sounds and nasally sounds, you would find that they match across both reciters, but the reciters may choose different lengths and emphasis for each sound. This will be hard to hear for the untrained ear, but most people with medium knowledge of tajweed would be able to emulate and guess the two reciters’ rhythms and recitation, provided they memorized the chapter.
Now why is tajweed a part of the Quranic miracle? Take this verse: فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا۟ لِلَّهِ أَندَادًۭا وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ. Look at the little marks on top of and below these letters. These marks are diacritics - grammatical facts. They cannot be altered without destroying the meaning and grammatical integrity of the sentence. Within a word, they are responsible for word definition. At the end of a sentence, they are used to denote word moods (nominative, accusative, etc.). Or they can connect phrases together. Or they denote gender. Or all three at once. There are way more rules, I just can’t recall them/don’t know them.
In the Quran, certain combinations of diacritic and consonant have special pronunciations that imbue certain words with specific sounds and emphasis. These points of emphasis are the source of Quranic rhythm. For the sentence above, it means that its meaning, word arrangement, word choice and context all influence its rhythm. Let’s dive into this deeper to see its implications.
Anyone who knows the Quran’s recitation rules will pronounce the above verse with the same emphasis on the second letter in the second word, the same lengthening and “lightening” of the second letter of the fourth word and the second letter of the fifth word. They would also elongate and slide together the last letter of the fourth word and the first of the fifth word. The reader may choose to elongate the second last letter of the last word. Anyone from a 5 year old child in a Quran school to a 70 year old reciter will read it this same “Quranic sounding” way. The combinations of diacritic and letter ensure this.
Now, the Quran writes in consistent grammar (in fact, the rules of Arabic grammar were extracted from the Quran), meaning the Quranic text’s grammar, sentence construction and word choice are meticulously crafted to create the rhythm you hear.
What this also means is that you can apply tajweed to any piece of Arabic text. Its sound would be fixed to the sentence’s grammar. If you wanted to compose Quranic Arabic, you wouldn’t be able to just change diacritics until your poetry sounds right; you’d have to craft your sentence around tajweed - if your rhythm is off, you’d have to change the meaning of the entire sentence.
Therefore, part of the Quran’s challenge is using a similar system (and maybe making one of your own) to produce something as rich and satisfying as the Quran rhythmically. This is difficult because it is essentially a triple constraint: the lexicon of the Arabic language, the language of tajweed and Arabic grammar rules. You would probably have to rewrite your paragraph a thousand times to get its inherent grammatical structure to flow with tajweed. Once you do that, you’d have to make it rhyme, and then mean something. If you don’t like a final rhyming phrase or a specific word, you would have to rewrite anything from entire verses to entire chapters.
This is why all Quran “challengers” take Quranic phrase-structures and just change the words. They cannot meet the challenge of Tajweed with original composition. It’s beyond human ability, as you would have to orchestrate the grammar of your sentences as much as the words themselves. And Arabic grammar is notoriously complicated and rigid. —- So, the beautiful cascading rhythm of something like Surat An-Najm, which I linked above, is not a product of the reciter, nor is it a product of the simple end syllable rhyme. It’s the result of a complex symphony where every preposition, noun, phrase, adjective, etc. are in their proper position to play a certain role in the rhythm. Another aspect of the Quran’s inhuman creativity is that each and every Surah has a different “feel” and sound, despite the same ruleset applying equally across the whole Quran. This means that the author had to come up with 114 different, complex grammatical-rhythmic meters. If you don’t believe me on this point, just go and listen to the Quran’s last 15 chapters. They’re very short. They will all sound distinct, and are just as distinct beyond their rhythm (more on this later).
This is why the Quran challenges readers to produce 10 surahs like it. That would entail 10 distinct grammatical-rhythmic pieces, which may take someone a lifetime of wordsmithing and grammatical finagling. To then imbue these with meanings as rich as the Quran’s would be stretching human creativity beyond its capacity.
The key takeaway here is that the Quranic challenge is actually not that nebulous! Any Arabic speaker or learner can learn the rules of Tajweed and create their own sentence constructions. The challenge would be to create something cogent, eloquent, grammatically correct, rhythmic and fluid. From where I’m standing, it’s not humanly possible to juggle these four constraints for a short chapter, let alone 114 unique ones. Any attempts have failed miserably and end up proving the Quran’s miracle by constantly borrowing its constructed phrases! —-- To drive this point home, we have to answer the question of where this Tajweed system came from. As far as we know, this system came about with the Quran. The Muslim narrative is that this is how the angel Gabriel recited it to the Prophet, which he taught to his companions. If it is true that such a system and method of composition isn’t present in any Arabic text before or after, then this is a strong proof for divine inspiration.
These rules are self-consistent and applicable to any Arabic text. You can read Arabic news with Tajweed, it just won’t sound very nice. Whoever authored the Quran would have had to create this grammar-based pronunciation system before Arabic grammar was even written down! Or, they would have had to somehow intuit this ruleset and impose it onto what they produced.
This is impossible on two counts: the author would have had the ability to never misapply their own rules through 23 years of revelation (any inconsistencies would be carried into the Quran today - as far as I know, there are none), and they would have had to compose (in their head!!!) tens of thousands of rhythmic-grammatical phrases within this rigid system.
You might say, these rules may have been retroactively imposed on the Quran. You would be in contradiction with historical facts and logic. If you open any Quran, you will see at the end of it a list of names. This is an authentic chain of narration of the specific oral recitation of the Quran that you have in your hand, going back to a companion of the Prophet who recited it exactly in that way. These recitations were spread to millions by the time any centralized council took charge of the Quran’s codification, and the chains, verses, and recitations were rigorously scrutinized by the Quran experts selected by Caliph Uthman when the Quran was codified. Any attempt to redo or overhaul the Quranic recitation system would be akin to asking everyone to start pronouncing the letter “a” as “o.” It would be met with fierce pushback, and would be documented.
So, as far as we know, the Quran was recited with this set of rules from the very beginning, which Muslims later extracted and codified into actual rulebooks post-revelation. So whoever wrote the Quran knew intimately the rules of Arabic grammar, and remained acutely aware of them as he composed his work over 23 years, never breaking from it once. I’ll leave you to judge the plausibility of that.
In sum, Quranic rhythm exhibits the excellence required of a divine text. Unlike selecting the words to a song, where you are free to mangle words and syllables to fit your rhythm and melody, the Quran’s rhythm is a complex interplay between grammar, rhyme and the static tajweed system. To compose like the Quran, you must choose carefully your words and the sentences they are a part of. Your meaning and rhythm are tied to the very grammatical rules of your language.
The flexibility, creativity, and ease with which the Quran plays with these rhythms is sublime. While human poets carefully select words to fit into set meters and rhyme schemes to produce beautiful meanings, the Quran simultaneously selects sets of meanings and their grammatical constructions to produce rhythm, and then breaks that rhythm as it pleases for reasons of emphasis, and then easily returns to the old phrases, most of the time with a new spin. This level of manipulation of language is not possible for human minds. This is one half of the beauty of the Quran.
Part 2:

📚✨ Embark on a grammatical journey with our "Kinds of Nouns" lesson! Perfect for 5th graders looking to master their noun knowledge. 🏫
🔍 What you'll learn:
- The difference between common and proper nouns
- Identifying concrete vs. abstract nouns
- Fun activities to solidify understanding
Let's turn grammar into a game! #5thGradeGrammar #Nouns101 #GrammarGames #LanguageArts
https://www.elafree.com/2022/07/kinds-of-nouns-5th-grade-grammar.html

TL;DR

Great community. Excellent at expressing "math". Very fast language. Almost great REPL. Immature ecosystem. Inconvenient debugging. Bad code organization.

Background

Recently I finished a decently sized Julia project (~3100 LoC), and I'd like to share my experience of using the language. It's mostly about developer experience, so I hope these will provide insights for language developers and users.
Before this project, I've already used Julia plenty of times, mostly to analyze some experiment data generated by other programs. They are generally fairly clean, because I want the data to be as easily usable in as many languages as possible, but they can be very large. I would generally implement some sort of streaming analysis, then generate various summary tables or plots.
I think Julia is pretty good in this kind of tasks (with some caveats, see later section on IO), but this project is different. All data are generated within Julia and analyzed in Julia, requiring more careful planning.

Project Overview

What I am building is a "one-off" racing game simulator. I have pre-made a set of rules, a definition of the racing track, two characters, and their skills. I have a fairly peculiar goal for this game: I will roll up some sort of AI for each character, then iterate through a set of random seeds, and I will see if Player A beats Player B, ever. Then I visualize the results and shelf the project. Therefore, I am writing code that only needs to be generic enough for this one specific match, and I don't intend it to be usable in any other situation.
There are four significant tasks of the project. First, I must import data of race tracks and characters into Julia. Second, I need to implement the rule sets of the game. Third, I need to implement AI for each player. Fourth, I need to visualize a finished game. Each of these tasks gave unique challenges and stresses different Julia features.
The race track is defined as a triangle outer bound, and Bezier curves on each corner. I did not use any existing Bezier libraries, but implemented the Quadratic Bezier formulae directly. To make it usable in a game, I must implement several data conversions: track position to world coordinates (i.e. arc-length parameterize), altitude, gradient, and curvature. Due to Bezier curves don't really have a closed-form solution of arc-length parameterization, I ended up using a numerical solution and just cached the results at 0.1mm precision and lerp in game (which turns out to be a bit bugged if the input is exactly on top of a sampled point... but thankfully it didn't happen in game). Resulting "acceleration structure" took about 760MB in memory.
The rule set of the game is implemented in a large Game structure with several layers of state machines, not unlike any other game. There are two tricky parts in this process: the game must take snapshots every turn for replay, and there must be an extensible API to code the interaction between players, their AI, and their skills, all of which are stateful. Everything in the rule set is implemented in base Julia. Sanity check is provided by having the same methods on each structure meant to represent the same thing (e.g. track definition, bezier representation, and acceleration structure), and overlay them on the same plot. Not the most robust method, but for a one-off program it's fine.
The AI is a substantial part of the project. An early attempt was to use ReinforcementLearning.jl to train the AI, but it was too complicated for the project scope, and thus I ended up tailoring hard coded AIs for each player. These hard coded AI command nearly 20 different skills, and themselves have multiple stages, feedback loops, and "mind-reading" (i.e. accessing another AI's internal state due to... narrative reasons). At the end, each AI is its own finite state machine, using various algorithms, closed-form formulae, heuristics, and PID control to make decision about what speed and what lane it wants to go in this turn. It's only two outputs and the code is already very complicated! Thankfully I decided against allowing the AI to decide which skills to fire... For something so entangled, I want Julia to catch as much mistakes as possible. I used abstract classes to implement AI and their skills.
The visualization has multiple purpose. It plots the track to show if there's any data import errors. It shows how each state variable change during a race. It generates an animation as if we are actually watching the game in real time. This tool is indispensable not only because it helps debugging, but also keeps me motivated as I see each milestone is reached, the data shows. I used CairoMakie extensively for visualization.
This is not all the details of the project, but those are not important. Let's start talking about Julia!

TTFX

Time-to-first-X, an ancient problem in Julia due to its JIT compilation. With Julia 1.9 and 1.10 (I started with 1.9, and later 1.10 released and I upgraded), TTFX is not a big problem. It will still take a few seconds to recompile the package or when plotting the first figure, but long gone are the days when I needed to wait for minutes to start the REPL. I'd say, TTFX is not a big issue now.

Community

The community is awesome. I received so many help from Discord channel and Discourse that without them, I would have never... actually, I would still have finished the project, but with a lot more hurdles. Counterintuitively, questions on Discourse get responses much quicker than Discord, so I recommend using that. The forum format also allows any questions to persist so others can find an answer later.

Code Organization

Ok...
Code organization needs to be explained in much, much more detail by official documentation. Whatever that's in there is nowhere near enough, as it took me a long time just to figure out how to have both a package and a top-level script. I also disagree with some of the advice in official documents:

• I advice against using include. Use single-file modules and Reexport.jl instead.
• I strongly advice against using nocase naming. Please use snake_case instead.

Read these methods generated by Makie's @recipe:
julia trackbounds!(ax, track) trackcornerhandles!(ax, track) trackdefinitionvisual!(ax, track)
You get the idea.
For those interested, I use VSCode. I have a package set up, whose source file are under src/, and top-level scripts under scripts/. During development, I activate the environment of the package and evaluate code cells in these top level script. It served me well so far, except for one issue: I cannot specify development-time dependencies and required dependencies. Therefore, the package's Project.toml gets littered with unnecessary deps like benchmark tools.
That's only the first problem.

Code Structure

The official recommendation of organizing modules, is to have a module file include multiple "sub-files":
```julia

ModuleA.jl

module ModuleA include("./a.jl") include("./b.jl") end ```
In my opinion, this is just not a good idea. I use it in this project because it's the most convenient, but if this of all things is the most convenient organization method in Julia, the language can use some better module system.
The main problem is that, Julia code can break due to the order of definition. With this scheme of direct include, the order of inclusion critical. In fact, plenty of errors I encountered were due to seemingly unrelated code in another file. Especially if somewhere there's an unmatched end, I could have to go through every single file, spotting line by line, manually, to fix an error that's reported nowhere close to its origin. Due to how include works, the scope of an unclosed end could leek beyond file boundary, and cause problem somewhere completely unexpected.
Another problem is that when reading another person's code, especially on Github or other places where an LSP is not available, it's very difficult to find where a symbol is defined: if I am reading b.jl, anything there could be defined in ModuleA.jl or a.jl.
I'll just straight up say that it's worse that #include in C. In C, there's at least forward declaration that allows me to break cycles without shuffling stuff between files. Unfortunately, Julia doesn't have that.
An alternative is to use one module per file and import by using. I think this is better, as it keeps related definition close to each other, and while using doesn't show what symbols are imported, at least I know that something is being imported from a specific module. Unmatched end also tend to get caught at module boundary. However, when using small modules, Reexport.jl is pretty much mandatory, otherwise it'd be extremely tedious to specify everything that needs to be exported on every level of imports.
Another alternative is to break up code into separate packages. It might be a me problem, but I find this very tedious to set up. This is especially true because this is a one-off program: I don't know the best structure of the code beforehand. This is also similar to research code: I won't even know what code to write until I run some experiments. Packages are quite inflexible due to how manifests work. I can't safely rename packages without breaking not just the current project, but the entire local cached registry, due to duplicate UUID and such. It might be a good idea for a large library, but for something in early development, I don't think packages are a good idea.

Naming

Naming is hard [citation needed]. Let me reiterate: use snake_case for functions and PascalCase for types. Please don't use nocase, even though the official docs recommend it.
One of Julia's most powerful tools is multimethods. Multimethods that natively supports auto-vectorization. I use these extensively, from defining formal (i.e. abstract class) or informal (i.e. a collection of methods) interfaces. I enjoy the ability to just vectorize a function I wrote, such as:
julia curves = curvature.(Ref(t), xs)
There are a few caveats related to naming. That is, it is quite easy to accidentally not just shadow, but also change a global definition, if I don't name stuff right.
Take the following example:
```julia

a.jl

function curvature(...) end

b.jl

function some_other_function() ... curvature = ... end ```
Well, apparently after this executes, curvature's definition is overwritten and every other code is broken. The LSP doesn't catch this very often (see later section: LSP), but if you see that a variable's color is strange, check immediately. Also for this reason, I start to think that get_something() is a better method name than something. Or maybe something_of() and verb_noun().
Related, it is pretty easy to make a mistake when defining multimethods:
```julia module A method_a(a::AbstactA) = error("method_a() is not defined for $(typeof(a))") end
struct ConcreteA <: AbstractA end method_a(a: ConcreteA) = ... ```
This method_a is not the same as the one in the module, because the correct way is to define A.method_a. LSP will not catch this error. I do not really have a solution for the this problem, because the ability to define such multimethods is a major feature of Julia. The best suggestion I have, is to write clear runtime error messages like the one above, so if I encounter an error, I know immediately which method and which type is the culprit.
Finding symbols in Julia is... hard. The ? command will show every method with the same name, and I haven't found a way around it. VSCode's LSP also doesn't reliably find the correct definition. For a dynamic language, it is probably inevitable. I wouldn't say that it is more difficult than, say, Python, unless you deal with a mess of include.

Enums

I used the @enum macros a few times in my code.
Don't use them, really. They are not namespaced, there's no multi dispatch, and there's no pattern match. Abstract classes are more powerful.

Ecosystem

It's not very mature. The package manager is pretty good, especially when coming to native libraries (*_jll). However, pretty much in every aspect I attempted in this project, I have to use some half-dead semi-documented packages. They are so prevalent that there are only a few packages that I would say are not half-dead and are adequately documented:

• Base
• Makie
• DataStructures
• Random
• JSON3
• DataFrames

And... that's about it. Reading code is absolutely required, and good luck with all the include messing with scopes. Julia is surprisingly lacking in the more basic mathematics department. The first open source numerical software I used was Octave, and it had many packages implementing features of Matlab. Then there's Scipy and Sympy that almost reach feature parity to both of them. And then Julia's equivalent are consist of a bunch of zombie packages, with nowhere near their feature sets. I am talking about basic stuff like statistics, distributions, symbolics, signal processing, etc.
When I was implementing the first version with reinforced learning, I had to dig through 10 different packages and locating symbols that cross using, include, native code, and Pycall. Later, I encountered a bug in Makie, and its code is no easier to navigate due to the proliferation of macros and kwargs. For lower-level packages, I can probably work around by implementing parts with my own code, but Julia packages tend to be overabstracted. If there's a problem in a package, that's it: it has to be fixed in that package. There's no way to circumvent them, only hoping that either I can learn the package enough to fix them, or hope that a fix will be provided soon. These are the experience that made me want to never use Julia again (don't worry, I'll still use it).
I might sound harsh here, and I shouldn't be. Julia is mainly a community project, with many contributors donating their free time maintaining the ecosystem that allows me to just ]add Package. However, I really do not feel safe using many libraries, especially when basic functionality isn't endorsed by some core team that guarantees their stability.
This is especially true for IO.

IO

Being a math language, Julia needs to work with data a lot. Unfortunately, I think the I/O landscape is a mess. There is no official implementation of CSV or JSON, which are pretty much lingua franca of data exchange. Well, there's DelimitedFiles in standard library, but it doesn't work with anything slightly more complicated. There's TOML, but it's limited to simply parsing and printing, plus TOML is not a good data exchange format anyways. Tar, while it exists, is nowhere close to Python's equivalent.
The two libraries that I end up using, were CSV.jl and JSON3.jl. They are pretty much universally recommended, so for these particular formats, Julia's IO is good. I still think something like these need to be in stdlib.
For other formats, Julia significantly lags behind other languages like R or Python. Recently popular are Parquet and Arrow IPC, which provide efficient binary formats for exchanging large amount of data. However, Julia's support for either is terrible. Despite being under JuliaIO organization, these important (I think) libraries remain unmaintained and unfinished. This really tanks my confidence on the organization, honestly.
I know better to not use Arrow or Parquet in this project, because I know how bad their support are in Julia, but the primary reason I got rid of Julia from all my research code, was that it cannot work with these files properly. Even then, there are some minor issues, such as JSON3 + StrucTypes clashing with ProtoStruct.

LSP

LSP is slow to update definitions and can't reliably find definitions. This is to be expected from a dynamic language. Sometimes I just have to wait or poke around. The LSP won't show any information if there's any type ambiguity. However, there are some places where type annotation is impossible (like loop variables), meaning that the LSP will leave some black holes that require manual tracing. Symbol finding in VSCode is also limited, as it only shows which file each symbol is from, but not their type signatures.
Again, this cannot always be avoided for a dynamic language. Try to annotate as much as possible to alleviate. Otherwise, the vscode plugin is decent.

REPL

REPL is almost great and lisp-like. Evaluating code cells, redefining functions, etc. are part of my workflow. It is always nice to see immediate effect after change, keeping some application state around. For research code, REPL is great.
...except for struct redefinitions. ProtoStruct and the like cannot always be used, as it causes problems if I have custom constructors, @kwdef, or StructTypes (which is needed for JSON3). This means early in development, restarting the REPL is a frequent requirement.
Another problem I have is that there is no easy way to drop into a debugger from an existing REPL session. I can't just evaluate one code cell and debug another. I can't type an expression into the REPL window and enter a debugger. I can only run an entire file. This is very annoying when I have a mysterious stack trace that involves a lot of states and corner cases, because accessing a debugger is inconvenient. I either rerun the whole script, which removes the REPL all together, or litter the functions with print statements. Thankfully both approach work for this project, but I doubt they will be scalable.
I can dream of something like "Debug Code Cell in REPL". Or even better: have something like the Common Lisp language, where a sub-REPL is provided on an error, where class redefinition prompts you to update existing instances. These will probably be a lot of work, though, so I don't expect much from these directions.

Revise

Revise is what makes this project possible. If I need to rerun the whole script after every single change I will die of old age before I finish this. However, there are some minor issues.

• Struct and constant redefinition, which are Julia's limitations
• Changing export list does not reflect in Revise, and require a restart

Under the limitation of Julia, Revise is doing very well. Especially helpful is that it removes stale definitions, which greatly reduces the probability of making a mistake. In fact, I think Revise is better than something like Jupyter notebook because of just this point. Less mistakes, but imperfect.

Makie

Makie is very powerful and very fast (once warmed up), but not mature. I know it well enough to navigate its documentation, but when I started out I had no idea how to read its documentation. Especially problematic is all those kwargs used in its API, which require a lot of digging to figure out. I think its documentation needs some reorganization. It is, however, a very powerful library, allowing me to make very complex plots.
I hit a bug related to RichText, which are mostly undocumented and have no workaround. I also encountered a mysterious stack overflow in one specific REPL session, but it went away after I restarted, so I never understood what happened. There was no backtrace. In more normal errors, Makie also tend to generate backtraces at strange places not helping with debugging, and using its Observable interface require quite a bit of care. In general, if Makie has a problem, it is impossible to work around, because its API is wrapped in so many layers of abstraction.
I don't think Makie is an easy API to learn, because there are just so many interconnected components. Its documentation needs to be as good as Matplotlib's to be really effective for newcomers, because the LSP and REPL will not be of any help in finding what those ; kwargs are.

Conclusion

Julia is fast, and has many features that I like, such as a powerful REPL, automatic vectorization, concise function definitions, multimethods, etc. However, I just feel like its still immature, despite having 11 stable versions. What truly worries me are the following:

• Official documentations recommending use of footgun
• Official organization (is JuliaIO official?) not exactly maintaining important packages
  • They certainly are maintaining some other packages, like a bunch of compression algorithms etc. It just happen that what I needed to use was not maintained
• Proliferation of underdocumented, unmaintained, half-finished zombie packages
• Such packages taking up canonical names, forcing the real maintained packages to use Name2.jl, etc.
• Tendency to encounter overabstracted packages

Will I continue to use Julia, then?
Before this project, I'd say, yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have attempted it.
Right now? Uh, I will use it if I have to, but no more Julia projects from me. Here's the thing:

• Python has vastly better IO support, both in stdlib and from third party support.
• Python's plotting libraries, or many other libraries I tend to use, have better documentation.
  • Although Python's package management and module loading is horrible
• Rust is as fast as the fastest type stable JIT-compiled julia, but has a much better LSP, out-of-this-world module system, much better automatically generated documentation, safer types, and just as good a package manager as Julia.
  • Of course, no REPL or interactive plotting.

Then when is Julia actually good?

• When user-defined functions are used extensively, for mathematics, and performance critical
• When Jupyter makes sense, but turns out to be too messy. Code cells + Revise beats Jupyter all day
• I suppose when macro magic is required, like autodiffing user-defined functions. I have no idea how Flux does it.

Most of what I do is just none of these things.

I am not a native speaker, so it is a little hard to understand some sentences in this book, especially words with multiple or uncommon meanings.
Sorry, this list is long, and ther might be some speculations that do not match the meanings of the words. I want to list all my doubts and ensure the accuracy of my understanding. Please check if they are correct or not.
The list is in the order of the original text.

The Monomyth

Origin text (especially bold text)	My understanding	Question part
Sithis is the Corrupting Inexpressible Action	Change by making errors or unintentional alterations.	The word "Corrupting". My understanding is taken from Google dictionary. The dict explanation surprised me because its meaning is almost completely different from the translated word in my language.

The Dragon God and the Missing God

Origin text (especially bold text)	My understanding	Question part
Others remain as concepts, ideas, or emotions.	The self-form process of others has stopped/not finished yet.	Which one is correct? "stopped" here, I mean the process is stopped by themselves, or due to external forces, like the other spirits or the universe simply doesn't support their evolution, they will remain as concepts forever. And "not finished" I mean they are still self-forming, but at this time, they are just concepts.
One of the strongest of these, a barely formed urge that the others call Lorkhan	The urge here means the desire of Lorkhan to do something. Describes his nature of change. And the barely formed means his form is unstable, or he is just born and is still the strongest.	Is my understanding of urge correct? Which meaning of barely formed is correct?
an enlightenment whereby lesser creatures can reach immortality		I don't understand. Lorkhan didn't bring any immortality to mortals. They still die.

The Myth of Aurbis

Origin text (especially bold text)	My understanding	Question part
It quietly avoided any blame or bias against the Lorkhan	The blame and bias comes from Aldmeri culture, not Psijic.	Am I correct?
For some this was an artistic transfiguratio ... (whole paragraph)	This paragraph is reviews from mortals (maybe historian/scholars). "Some" and "other" means different people.	Am I correct?

Lorkhan

Origin text (especially bold text)	My understanding	Question part
Doom Drum		The translated version of the word Doom in my language, means "the end of the world" or "the end day". And I search the English dictionary, it also means "any very bad situation that cannot be avoided", which I think this meaning probably equals "unchangable bad fate" or "predestined" in a myth context. Is the word here more of the "end" of the world, or does it tend to mean "predestined" in the sense of fate or destiny?
Lorkhan is separated from his divine center, sometimes involuntarily, and wanders the creation of the et'Ada..		I don't understand. In my understanding, the passive word "is separated" already expressed that he was forcely separated from his divine center, but why it says sometimes? Why it says involuntarily? Doesn't the passive voice already contain that meaning? Or should the sentence read "Lorkhan is sometimes involuntarily separated from his divine center"? Because of this, I can't correctly understand the next sentence. He can only wanders the creation all the time because he is eteranlly separated, or he wanders only during separations because the separation is not eternal.

Yokudan, "Satakal the Worldskin"

Origin text (especially bold text)	My understanding	Question part
Satak was First Serpent, the Snake who came Before		The Before is capitalized because it is a proper noun, or just for emphasis it is the very first of everything, or the entire "the Snake who came Before" is another title for Satak.
This practice became so easy for the spirits that it became a place, called the Far Shores, a time of waiting until the next skin.	The behavior "Walkabout" is widespread that it formed a specific realm on spiritual level. Not a location in the concept of material world. This may also imply that time and space here are not yet separated.	The hard part here is the Far Shores is created by a behavior, and it simultaneously represents a place but also time. Am I correct?
But grim Ruptga would not	The grim here means a temporary state of Ruptga, doesn't mean he is always grim.	The word is not particularly common and I can't exactly understand the emotion it expressed here. Does it mean merciless?
If they could not, then they must live on through their children, which was not the same as before.	The live here means continuing their bloodlines, it doesn't imply they can (still) have immortality by doing something to their children. not the same as before describes the loss of their immortality.	Am I correct?
a hungry void	The void describes the state of being unable to think clearly due to hunger. Or, like the previous text said, "The hunger fell out of Sep's dead mouth and was the only thing left of the Second Serpent", Sep remains nothing but hunger, implying he is actually replaced by the hunger.	My question here is, this is describing Sep himself, or the remain part of Sep - the hunger?

Cyrodilic ""Shezarr's Song""

Origin text (especially bold text)	My understanding	Question part
moved them beyond mystery and tears	The gods are touched and tears for the vision described by Shezarr, and because they now have emotions, they are no longer mysterious beings. It describes their transformation from being godly emotionless to having emotions like mortals.	My question here is "beyond mystery and tears (noun)" or "beyond mytery, (and then) tears (verb)". Actually I don't know how to understand beyond tears (noun), so I picked the verb version.
the Aedra gave free birth to the world	The free here means they didn't set any restrictions on the reproduction of creatures.	At first I didn't understand why they use the word free here since I thought all creatures were created by themselves. I once thought it might mean they create things without constraints. But I think the current version makes more sense, am I correct?
we can do is teach the Elven Races to suffer nobly, with dignity, and chastise ourselves for our folly, and avenge ourselves upon Shezarr and his allies.		Who does "ourselves" refer to here? I have two understandings. The first is that the self-chastise is also a lesson for Elven Races, where folly is a concept, meaning Elves should always remind themselves not to be complacent, stay humble and need to reflect constantly. They also need to avenge Shezarr. The second is that the teaching for Elves is only "suffer nobly with dignity". So ourselves represents Auri-El themselves, and the folly here is explicitly describes their behavior (creating the world). The self chastise and revenge are only for all gods.
the Elves ever dissatisfied with mortality	The mortality here means "being a mortal", "will eventually be death".	Given the context and background of the game, while it doesn't precisely match the dictionary definition, it seems like it could also be understood as "other mortal races", they hate all mortals because this is their revenge against Shezarr?
Men and Beast Folk great in heart for joy or suffering	Describing humans like to experience a variety of different emotions.	It seems that this can also be understood as "enjoying joy and face suffering with strength", instead of experiencing multiple emotions. And I think it is more reasonable.
we will create a new world out of ourselves	They will use something else as material.	My question is whether it refers to specific other materials (such as other unformed spirits), or purely using their own power but without cutting themselves.
Thus do the Daedra Lords court and seduce certain amusing specimens		Does these words here have any sexual connotations? Because some Daedra are just like that.

Altmeri "The Heart of the World"

I don't understand the "limitations" of this chapter.

Origin text (especially bold text)	My understanding	Question part
he might know himself he created Anuiel, his soul	His self-awareness is Anuiel, which is created by him and is his soul. Or, in order to know himself, he created "Anuiel," his soul.	Which one is correct? I prefer the second one.
who was the sum of all the limitations Anuiel would utilize to ponder himself.	Literally and neutrally expressing "cannot", "unable to". Not implying "flaw" or any other negative connotation.	I don't think this is correct. This story in my imagination, "all souls" as a bundle of threads, and Sithis representing the gaps (the void) within the threads, hence allowing the distinction between different threads. Maybe it is incorrect to understand the word "limitation" literally. It likely means the void, where Anu "can't touch", and because these voids cannot be touched by Anu, they can be described as limitations of Anu.
Anuiel, who was the soul of all things, therefore became many things, and this interplay was and is the Aurbis.		I have two understandings. The first is that this "process of interaction" itself represents Aurbis. The second is that the "result" of this (Anuiel became many things), where "many things" constitute Aurbis. I prefer the second one. At the same time, this "many things" may also imply that they are transformed from "all souls."
they might enjoy themselves a little longer outside of perfect knowledge	enjoy means self-reflection.	Am I correct? And what is perfect knowledge? Previously mentioned perfect stasis?
Aspects of the Aurbis	"Aspects" here refers to the "many things" generated by Anuiel in the previous text.	Am I correct?
began to understand their natures and limitations	As mentioned above, it represents the natural attributes of something, "forms, attributes, intellects".	Does it have an implicit "power", or represent a concept within the universe?
Lorkhan, was more of a limit than a nature, so he could never last long anywhere.		I don't understand. According to the previous text, each aspect with self-awareness (named ones) has both natures and limitations. So my understanding is that among the elements that make up Lorkhan, limitation far outweighs nature. I have several versions of the second part. The first one is that he cannot exist in any place for a long time, meaning he disappears and reappears. This understanding contradicts with the later part "he entered every aspect," so I think it's wrong. The second one is that he may subjectively not prefer to stay in one place for a long time (related to his nature). The third one is that he may passively be rejected due to being composed more of limitation, making it impossible for him to stay in one place for long. It's also possible that the second and third scenarios occur simultaneously.
he entered every aspect of Anuiel, Lorkhan would plant an idea that was almost wholly based on limitation	Lorkhan communicated with all aspects and shared with them an idea, which was entirely composed by limitation.	Due to the mention in the previous text that aspects have self-awareness, the word "enter" here may be a figurative expression, not literal enter. In my imagination, as they may not exist in physical forms, this communication might resemble the mixing of two different clouds, perhaps for this reason, the author used the word "enter". And "plant", seems to be a part of Lorkhan (composed by a lot of limitations) left in other aspects, or perhaps transforming a part of others into a form containing a lot of limitations.
their own aspects might live, and became the et'Ada		This process is somewhat like what was mentioned earlier, as if the aspects cut off a part of themselves and left it in Mundus.
this world contained more limitations than not		What is the meaning of "than not"? Does this imply that the aspects believed, or that Lorkhan deceived them into believing, Mundus would be a world without limitations?
Mundus was the House of Sithis.	Indicates that Mundus is filled with the limitations represented by Sithis.
that is why there are no limitations to magic		In this sentence, compared to the previous abstract concepts, the word "limitation" seems to become more concrete, making me feel that my understanding is incorrect (I even feel that the meaning of "limitation" here is different from the previous "limitation"). Does it literally mean "no restriction" or "can achieve anything", or is it still an abstract concept here (I actually still don't understand what "limitation" represents in this paragraph)? I still don't know why, in Mundus, a world made of limitations, magic can still exists without the magic aspect Magnus. Even then, it has no limitations. This sounds like there are only benefits and no drawbacks.
Some had to marry and make children just to last	Like in the Satak chapter, here "last" represents the continuity of their concepts or existence, or something like bloodline.
Lorkhan made armies out of the weakest souls and named them Men		What are the 'weakest souls' referred to here? Based on earlier understanding, it should be the various aspects that belong to "all souls" of Anu, and perhaps aspects of aspects will have souls. Does this mean that the et'Ada that vanished in Mundus, who had souls, reassembled to another forms with souls?
Some had already fallen, like the Chimer, who listened to tainted et'Ada, and others, like the Bosmer, had soiled Time's line by taking Mannish wives.	In this sentence, terms like "fallen" and "tainted" may be spoken from Auriel's perspective, indicating the betrayal of these et'Ada. And here "line" refers to lineage or bloodline.
This Heart is the heart of the world, for one was made to satisfy the other.	This indicates that Lorkhan once had no heart, and its heart was created to make Mundus. Or, this description is bidirectional. The Lorkhan Heart and the World Heart, are bound, closely linked, and inseparable.	I prefer the second one.

I was considering making some comprehensible input videos for beginners or maybe low intermediate learners in my native language, English, about some topics I think are interesting and would work well for beginneintermediate materials. It surprises me how little of this sort of material there seems to be for English - I have found it very useful for Spanish, and obviously there is immense interest in learning English. I have experience with video creation and all that, plus presenting stuff simply and have some ideas about CI, but I'm not totally sure what is best to do for them.
I notice for beginner CI videos they use very simple sentence construction, generally in present tense, speak slowly, clearly separate words and enunciate, reduce unique dialect/accent features, stick to more concrete nouns/verbs, exaggerate facial expressions, and use drawings/pantomime, all that kind of thing. But I feel like there's more to it I probably don't know. Are there writings or resources on this anywhere, or is everyone who makes these videos just basically winging it? I have been searching and haven't found anything.

Hi, because my mocks are approaching soon, I have completed a question 4 response for the June 2022 English language paper 1. I was wondering if anyone could let me know how many marks I would be looking at for this.
I agree with the statement that the writer presents two very conflicting responses to the danger that faces baby Coyotito and the family and these individual emotions are carefully cultivated to fully immerse the reader in the peril.
Juana’s reaction to the ill-fated attack is rapid and strictly calculated as she ignores external stimuli such as Kino as he “hovered”. Immediately, the use of matter-of-fact language instead of over-the-top descriptions signifies to the reader the true gravity and severity of the predicament as the writer seeks to focus their minds on only Juana’s desperate aid. In an exhaustive effort to save Coyotito, “She put her lips down over the puncture”. The concrete noun “lips” is commonly a tool of affection, often synonymous with a loving kiss from mother to baby, however, this familial comfort is quickly destroyed as this doting is harshly juxtaposed by the way that Juana is putting all of her reservations aside, going against the common expectations of a warm and calm mother. As a result, we begin to feel disillusioned by how frighteningly medical such a gesture has become. Moreover, the writer’s use of the preposition “over” could also be used to highlight her skill as she has quickly taken control of the situation, a response that is, from the perspective of Kino, very “surprising”.
Alternatively, while Juana leapt into action, Kino is instead enraged by the attack, so much so that rapidly, a point is reached at which he is unable to control his “fury” and chooses to irrationally destroy the “enemy”. He “beat it into the earth floor with his fist, and Coyotito screamed with pain”. Syntax is carefully crafted to provide a fascinating insight into Kino’s character and the way in which he responds to stress. The sound of his son’s struggle is purposely following the description of his feverish attack, signifying that, deep down, saving his child is not his biggest concern. Instead, his dominant aim is to take revenge against the creature that has caused it, however, the writer’s use of the concrete noun “earth” is symbolic of nature, which suggests that the scorpion was only following natural impulses by stinging Coyotito, as it was merely protecting itself from a potential threat. By acquitting the scorpion of complete liability, the writer is able to warn the reader of the risks that come with allowing emotion to take over you in dangerous situations, although, I do not believe that they are successful in this, as through their depiction of Kino, a large sense of frustration is felt by the reader, which inevitably inhibits their focus on the logic-based events of the plot. This, in turn, disrupts the unbiased and sometimes cold tone of the piece.
Jauna is a protective figure in the events of the extract and quickly abides by her pre-established responsibility as a mother. As she instructed her husband “She looked up at him, her eyes as cold as the eyes of a lioness”. This simile clearly portrays how impulsive Juana’s actions are, represented by an animal that is fierce and protective. Like a lioness, Juana eagerly takes on an active role in protecting and nurturing her child and views it as her role as a mother. The reader feels conflicted by the use of the adjective “cold”, which signifies that she is unemotional, harsh and unaffected, as in this context, it is surrounded by references to “her determination” as her innate and instinctual desire to protect her “world” shines through, however, I believe that this is the writer attempting to convey that in order to really do a good thing, you must make have control. Alternatively, by the writer describing Juana’s eyes as “cold”, they may be making a light criticism towards Kino, specifically regarding his lack of action, as through the use of speech that comes in the form of simple imperatives, Juana appears to be growing more and more frustrated by Kino’s unhelpfulness. As readers, we gain a fondness towards Juana as the author strengthens her by comparing her to such a strong and self-assured creature.
Kino becomes merely an extension of Juana as we approach the end of the extract as his uncertainty begins to hinder the cause that the parents are fighting for. “Kino followed her” as they left the house to go to the doctor and the use of this simple sentence highlights how very little thought was needed to convince him to join her. The past tense verb “followed” references how Juana has now taken control of the situation and is leading and making all of the most impactful decisions. Because of this submissiveness, the reader becomes gradually more and more fearful for baby Coyotito as it foreshadows that Kino’s inexperience will likely become an obstacle. Moreover, as Juana endeavours to save her son, Kino is “in the way”. The writer structurally positions this denunciation following a description of Juana’s actions to reflect the fact that he is a hindrance, trailing behind and both literally and figuratively dragging her down. Kino remains greatly emotional, and this builds tension for the reader, as his inability to act allows them to easily empathise with him and view the events from his perspective very easily. A tone of detachment and passiveness is created surrounding him, while he “wondered”, and he appears to feel emasculated as instead of him, it is his wife who is like “a strong man”.
In conclusion, a strong dichotomy is created between Kino and Juana as Kino is overcome with rage and frustration, limiting his ability to aid his dying son, while Juana is empowered, using her rationality and logic in a desperate attempt to save her son’s life.

==BACKGROUND==

Valtamic, Ѣлıѣмхор /ˈæʎæmxɔ [ˈæˑʎɛm̥ˌχɔ̞ɾ̥] natively, is a naturalistic Italic language spoken in the Baltic, in the Republic of Valtamia. Itˈs primarily written in the Cyrillic Script, drawing from the early Cyrillic script specifically, yet it does have a romanization system drawing from Polish orthography.
===ETYMOLOGY OF VALTAMIC===
"Valtamic" comes from Late Latin vāltamicus ("Valtamic"), from Proto-Valtamic \βältämu, from *\βältä*** ("strange") + \ämu* ("man, human"), a theorized calque of a Finnic exonym.
It is unrelated to native Valtamic Ѣлıѣмхор (Äljämhor), the native name of the language, which comes from Proto-Valtamic \βärjämu, from *\βäre*** ("foreign") + \ämu* ("man, human"), + Modern Valtamic -кар (country-forming suffix), back-formed from Алфакар ("Germany"). It's also a theorized calque of another Finnic exonym.

==PHONOLOGY & ORTHOGRAPHY==

Consonants	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Dorsal
Nasal	/m/ ⟨м⟩	/n/ ⟨н⟩		/ɲ/ ⟨н⟩ ⟨њ⟩	(/ŋ/)
Plosive (Voiceless)	/p/ ⟨п⟩	/t/ ⟨т⟩			/k/ ⟨к⟩
Plosive (Voiced)	/b/ ⟨б⟩	/d/ ⟨д⟩			/g/ ⟨г⟩
Fricative (Voiceless)	/f/ ⟨ф⟩	(/θ/) ǀ /s/ ⟨с⟩	/ʂ/ ⟨ш⟩	/ɕ/ ⟨з⟩	/х/ ⟨х⟩ ǀ /ɦ/ ⟨һ⟩
Fricative (Voiced)	/v/ ⟨в⟩	(/z/) ⟨з⟩	/ʐ/ ⟨ж⟩
Affricate (Voiceless)		/t͡s/ ⟨ц⟩	/t͡ʂ/ ⟨ч⟩
Affricate (Voiced)		(/d͡z/) ⟨дз⟩	(/d͡ʐ/) ⟨дж⟩ ⟨ж⟩
Trill/Tap		/r/ ⟨р⟩
Lateral		/l/ ⟨л⟩		/ʎ/ ⟨л⟩ ⟨љ⟩
Approximant					/w/ ⟨ў⟩

• /d g ʐ/ are nonnative phonemes that gained phonemic status due to Russo-Finnic loans.
• /m n ɲ r l ʎ/ are devoiced [m̥ n̥ ɲ̊ r̥ l̥ ʎ̥] syllable-finally.
• /t d l/ are dental [t̪ d̪ l̪] while /n/ is true alveolar [n].
• /s/ is apical/retracted [s̺~s̠] while /t͡s/ is, like /t/, dental/laminal [t̪͡s̪~t̻͡s̻]. This gives rise to an apical/laminal distinction [s̺] [s̻] in unstressed syllables.
• /ŋ/ is an allophone of /n/ before /k g/ in nonnative words. The sequences //nk ng// do not appear natively.
• /f v/ are more accurately approximants [ʋ̊ ʋ].
• /θ/ only appears in /θr/ ⟨тр⟩.
• /z/ appears in modern loanwords but is, in practice, in free variation with /ɕ/. This also means /d͡z/ is in free variation with /d͡ʑ/.
• the pronunciation of /z/ tends to vary by speaker, ranging from [z̪] to [z̠] to even [ʑ].
• /x/ is pronounced [χ] near back vowels and [x̟] near front vowels.
• /t͡ʂ/ is in free variation with /t͡ɕ/.
• people who pronounce ⟨з⟩ as /z/ (instead of /ɕ/) may also pronounce /ʂ t͡ʂ ʐ d͡ʐ/ as /ʃ t͡ʃ ʒ d͡ʒ/.
• /r/ is pronounced as a tap [ɾ].
• /l/ is pronounced [ɫ] near back vowels
• /w/ is pronounced [ɥ] near front vowels.
• /ɲ ʎ/ are written in to waysː

1. if preceding a vowel, they're written as ⟨н л⟩ with an iotated vowel ⟨ıѣ я є ıэ ё ӥ ю юу ıъ ıь⟩.
2. otherwise they're written as ⟨њ љ⟩.

​

Vowels:	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/ ⟨и⟩ ǀ /y/ ⟨ъı⟩	/ɨ/ ⟨ьı⟩	/ɯ/ ⟨у⟩ ǀ /u/ ⟨оу⟩
Mid	/e/ ⟨е⟩		/ɤ/ ⟨э⟩ ǀ /o/ ⟨о⟩
Open	/æ/ ⟨ѣ⟩		/ɑ/ ⟨а⟩ ǀ (/ɔ/) ⟨о⟩

• More accurately, the vowels come in pairs based on stress:

[Stressed] Vowels:	Front	Central	Back
Close	[iˑ] ⟨и⟩ ǀ [yˑ] ⟨ъı⟩	[ɨˑ] ⟨ьı⟩	[ɯˑ] ⟨у⟩ ǀ [uˑ] ⟨оу⟩
Mid	[e̞ˑ] ⟨е⟩		[ɤ̞ˑ] ⟨э⟩ ǀ [o̞ˑ] ⟨о⟩
Near-Open	[æˑ] ⟨ѣ⟩		[ɑ̝ˑ] ⟨а⟩

• [æˑ] [ɑ̝ˑ] may alternatively be pronounced as true open [æ̞ˑ] [ɑˑ]
• [ɤˑ] may be alternatively pronounced as front [ø̞ˑ], even though it messes with the harmony of inflectional endings.

[Unstressed] Vowels:	Front	Central	Back
Near-Close	[ɪ] ⟨и⟩ ǀ [ʏ] ⟨ъı⟩	[ᵻ] ⟨ьı⟩	[ω] ⟨у⟩ ǀ [ʊ] ⟨оу⟩
Open-Mid	[ɛ] ⟨е⟩		[ɜ] ⟨э⟩ ǀ [ɔ] ⟨о⟩
Open-Mid Mk.2	[ɛ] ⟨ѣ⟩		[ʌ] ⟨а⟩ ǀ ([ɔ̞]) ⟨о⟩

• In the case of true open [æ̞ˑ] [ɑˑ], [ɛ] [ʌ] are alternatively [ɛ̞] [ʌ̞].
• [ɜ] can alternatively be central [ə], merged with [ʌ], or in the case of stressed [ø̞ˑ], front [œ]
• [ᵻ] may also alternatively be central [ə].
• [ɔ̞] only exists due to vowel harmony and isn't recognized as phonetic in it's own right. Its pronunciation can range from [ɒ] to [ɔ].

===IOTATED VOWELS (+ /wɯ/)===

Cyrillic	Romanization	IPA
Я я	Ja ja	/jɑ/
Є є	Je je	/je/
Ӥ ӥ	Ji ji	/ji/
Ё ё	Jo jo	/jo/ ǀ /jɔ/
Ӱ ӱ	Uu uu	/wɯ/
Ю ю	Ju ju	/jɯ/ ǀ /ju/
Юу юу	Jou jou	/ju/
ІЪ ıъ	Jy jy	/jy/
ІЬ ıь	Jü jü	/jɨ/
ІѢ ıѣ	Jä jä	/jæ/
ІЭ ıэ	Jë jë	/jɤ/

===COGNATE CHART===

Proto-Italic	(Classical) Latin	Umbrian	Valtamic
*duō	DVO [ˈduɔ]	𐌕𐌖𐌚 (tuf)	тоу [ˈtuː]
*kʷenkʷe	QVINQVE [ˈkʷiːŋkʷɛ]	𐌐𐌖𐌌𐌐𐌄 (pumpe)	пѣмѣ [ˈpæˑmɛ]
*θēmanā	FEMINA [ˈfeːmɪnä]	⸺	семэн [ˈse̞ˑmɜn̥]
*wiros	VIR [u̯ɪr]	𐌖𐌉𐌓𐌏 (uiro)	ъıлур [ˈyˑlωɾ̥]
*agros	AGER [ˈäɡɛr]	𐌀𐌂𐌄𐌓 (ager)	клор [ˈkʟo̞ˑɾ̥]
*salawos	SALVVS [ˈsäɫu̯ʊs]	𐌔𐌀𐌋𐌖𐌏𐌔 (saluos)	ралор [ˈɾɑ̝ˑɫɔ̞ɾ̥]
*waðom	VADVM [ˈu̯ädʊ̃ˑ]	⸺	вам [ˈʋɑ̝ˑm̥]

==Grammar==

Valtamic exhibits simple vowel-height harmony:

• Low: ⟨ѣ⟩ ⟨а⟩ (⟨о⟩)
• Middle: ⟨е⟩ ⟨э⟩ ⟨о⟩
• High: ⟨и⟩ ⟨ъı⟩ ⟨ьı⟩ ⟨у⟩ ⟨оу⟩

===NOUNS & ADJECTIVES===
Nouns decline for 2 numbers and 12 cases. Grammatical gender does exist but no longer serves a grammatical role, except for pronoun agreement (even then it is no longer observed in an increasing amount of speakers)
Adjectives decline just like nouns, but not for number.
​
====Type I Paradigm====
Corresponds with the Proto-Italic o-stem & Latin 2nd declension. True-type I nouns (those being mono-syllabic none-affixes & none-generalized nouns) exhibit all 3 levels of harmony throughout the paradigm. The Chart is shown with Клор (masc, "Land, Territory"), ultimately from Proto-Italic *agros.

Type I paradigm (Dynamic-Harmony)	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Клор	Клон
Accusative	Клом	Клон
Genitive	Клош	Клом
Dative	Клоуљ	Клол
Lative	Клоуњ	Клоунюљ
Locative	Клѣљ	Клѣлıѣљ
Separative	Клот	Клодэл
Essive	Клонэ	Клоно
Translative	Клоц	Клоцэ
Privative	Клодек	Клодок
Comitative	Клонек	Клонок
Instrumental	Клоной	Клономи

​
====Type II Paradigm====
Corresponds with the Proto-Italic ā-stem & u-stem and Latin 1st & 4th declensions. Type II nouns can also be declined with the regular paradigm. The Chart is shown with Цуцу (masc, "a Prussian"), ultimately from Proto-Germanic \þeudō*.

Type II paradigm (High-Harmony)	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Цуцу	Цуцур
Accusative	Цуцум	Цуцун
Genitive	Цуцур	Цуцузум
Dative	Цуцуљ	Цуцул
Lative	Цуцуњ	Цуцунюљ
Locative	Цуцуљ	Цуцулюљ
Separative	Цуцут	Цуцудул
Essive	Цуцуну	Цуцуноу
Translative	Цуцуц	Цуцуцу
Privative	Цуцудик	Цуцудоук
Comitative	Цуцуник	Цуцуноук
Instrumental	Цуцую*	Цуцуӥми

\⟨ю⟩ here is pronounced as /jɯ*/
​
====Type III Paradigm====
Corresponds with the Proto-Italic consonant-stems & i-stem and Latin 3rd declension. Nouns that used to exhibit stem mutations in proto-Italic still do in Valtamic. Some cases also feature differing declensions that vary by region. The Chart is shown with Нъıр (fem, "thing, stuff"), ultimately from Proto-Italic \sniks*.

Type III paradigm (High-Harmony)	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Нъıр	Нъıўир
Accusative	Нъıӱм	Нъıўин
Genitive	Нъıўир	Нъıўоум
Dative	Нъıўиљ	Нъıӱһ ǀ Нъıӱл
Lative	Нъıўъıњ	Нъıўъıнюл
Locative	Нъıўъı ǀ Нъıўъıљ	Нъıўъıлюљ
Separative	Нъıӱт	Нъıӱдул
Essive	Нъıӱ ǀ Нъıўну	Нъıӱноу ǀ Нъıўноу
Translative	Нъıўц	Нъıўцу
Privative	Нъıўдик	Нъıўдоук
Comitative	Нъıўник	Нъıўноук
Instrumental	Нъıўоум	Нъıӱми ǀ Нъıўоуми

​
====Regular Paradigm====
A regularized paradigm for non-generalized loanwords (and sometimes type II nouns). The Chart is shown with all 3 vowel heights.

Regular Paradigm	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-	-ир, -ер, -ѣр
Accusative	-ум, -эм, -ам	-ун, -эн, -ан
Genitive	-ир, -ер, -ѣр	-оум, -ом, -ом
Dative	-иљ, -ељ, -ѣљ	-уљ, -эљ, -аљ
Lative	-уњ, -эњ, -ањ	-уњуљ, -эњэљ, -ањаљ
Locative	-уљ, -эљ, -аљ	-уљуљ, -эљэљ, -аљаљ
Separative	-ут, -эт, -ат	-удуљ, -эдэљ, -адаљ
Essive	-ну, -нэ, -на	-нуноу, -нэно, -нано
Translative	-ц	-цу, -цэ, -ца
Privative	-дик, -дек, -дѣк	-доук, -док, -док
Comitative	-ник, -нек, -нѣк	-ноук, -нок, -нок
Instrumental	-ю, -ё, -ё*	-ӥми, -єме, -ıѣмѣ

\⟨ю⟩ here is pronounced as /ju*/
​
===VERBS===
Weirdest thing about Valtamic is that all the Proto-Italic conjugations merged into a single paradigm, shown with Селэлё (stem селэљ-, "to perform oral sex"), ultimately from Proto-Italic \θēlājō*.
====Indicative Paradigms====

ACTIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present	Future
1.sg	Селэлєм	Селэлё	Селэлємбэн
2.sg	Селэлєр	Селэлıэр	Селэлєрбэн
3.sg	Селэлєт	Селэлıэс	Селэлєтэбэн
1.pl	Селэлємер	Селэлıэмэр	Селэлєсэбэн
2.pl	Селэлєсер	Селэлıэсэр	Селэлєсэбэн
3.pl	Селэлєнт	Селэлıэнс	Селэлєсэбэн

​

ACTIVE IMPERATIVE paradigm	Present
sg	Селэлє ǀ Селэлєљ
pl	Селэлєлєц

​

PASSIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present	Future
1.sg	Селэлєл	Селэлёл	Селэлєблэн
2.sg	Селэлєз	Селэлıэсэл	Селэлєзбэн
3.sg	Селэлєсел	Селэлıэсэл	Селэлєсэбэн
1.pl	Селэлємел	Селэлıэмэл	Селэлєрмењ
2.pl	Селэлємењ	Селэлıэнсэл	Селэлєрмењ
3.pl	Селэлєнсел	Селэлıэнсэл	Селэлєрмењ

​

PASSIVE IMPERATIVE paradigm	Present
sg	Селэлєлєз
pl	Селэлєлємењ

​
====Subjunctive Paradigms====

ACTIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present
1.sg	Селэлёром	Селэлём
2.sg	Селэлєрер	Селэлıэс
3.sg	Селэлєрет	Селэлıэт
pl	Селэлıэрэнт	Селэлıэмэт

​

PASSIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present
1.sg	Селэлёрол	Селэлёмол
2.sg	Селэлєрез	Селэлıэш
3.sg	Селэлєресел	Селэлıэрэл
pl	Селэлıэрэнсэл	Селэлёнсэр

​
====Participles====

PARTICIPLES
Present	Селэлєнєн
Past	Селэлєте

​
====To be====
The verb Рам ("to be") is suppletive irregular in the active voice, regular in the passive, and dynamic (i.e has a dynamic stem but regular endings) in the past passive specifically.

1. The infinitive, active present, past, and imperative forms are from native Proto-Italic \som*.
2. The active future is from Proto-Baltic \kļūti*, cognate with Proto-Slavic \kľuti*.
3. The Passive stems are from late Proto-Balto-Salvic \wártīˀtei*.
4. The Subjunctive stem is a regularization of the infinitive.

=====Indicative Paradigms=====

ACTIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present	Future
1.sg	Уљ	Ѣз	Хруш
2.sg	Ут	Ѣр	Хруш
3.sg	Ут	Ѣц	Хрур
1.pl	Умур	Ѣрѣм	Хрушум
2.pl	Утлир	Ѣтлѣр	Хрушур
3.pl	Улс	Рѣнс	Хрубун

​

ACTIVE IMPERATIVE paradigm	Present
sg	Ѣр
pl	Ѣц

​

PASSIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present	Future
1.sg	Уљил	Ултил	Ултиблун
2.sg	Утлиз	Ултисул	Ултизбун
3.sg	Утисил	Ултисул	Ултисубун
1.pl	Умил	Ултимул	Ултирмињ
2.pl	Утлимињ	Ултинсул	Ултирмињ
3.pl	Улсинсил	Ултинсул	Ултирмињ

​

PASSIVE IMPERATIVE paradigm	Present
sg	Ултилӥз
pl	Ултилӥмињ

=====Subjunctive Paradigms=====

ACTIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present
1.sg	Рамором	Рамом
2.sg	Рамѣрѣр	Рамас
3.sg	Рамѣрѣм	Рамам
pl	Рамарант	Рамамат

​

PASSIVE VOICE paradigm	Past	Present
1.sg	Раморол	Рамомол
2.sg	Рамарѣз	Рамаш
3.sg	Рамѣрѣсѣл	Рамарал
pl	Рамарансал	Рамонсар

​

==VOCABULARY==

Valtamic Vocabulary can be split into 2:

1. Native, Italic Vocabulary
2. Borrowed Vocabulary

The 2nd can be further split into:

1. Proto-Finnic loanwords (Proto-Valtamic)
2. Proto-Slavic Loanwords (Proto-Valtamic)
3. Proto-Baltic Loanwords (Proto-Valtamic)
4. Proto-Germanic/Old-Norse Loanwords (Proto-Valtamic)
5. Very late Proto-Balto-Slavic loanwords (Proto-Valtamic)
6. Low German Loanwords (Valtamic, Teutonic Period)
7. Polish Loanwords (Valtamic, Commonwealth period)
8. Lithuanian Loanwords (Valtamic, Commonwealth Period)
9. Swedish Lutheran Loanwords (Valtamic, Swedish Period)
10. Russian Loanwords (Valtamic, Russo-Soviet Period)
11. Latin Loanwords (Valtamic, Teutonic Period -> Post-Independence)
12. Modern Loanwords (Valtamic, Modern Period)

Most Proto-Valtamic -> Commonwealth Valtiamic Loans generalize to one of the 3 paradigms, Swedish -> Modern Loans take regular inflection.
===PRONOUNS===
Valtamic Pronouns are a Italo-Finno-Slavic mess, due to the acquisition of the modern Valtamic case system from a plethora of languages that donated their pronouns aswell. I guess a fun challenge is to try to figure out the origins of them!

1st Person Pronouns	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Ѣк	Ноур
Accusative	Мѣ	Ноур ǀ Һѣ ǀ Вѣ
Genitive	Мѣм	Насам
Dative	Мѣљ	Нэм
Lative	Мьıлуњ	Мѣлѣњ
Locative	Мьıнуљ	Мѣл
Separative	Мѣт	Нѣљ
Privative	Мьıнут	Мѣц
Comitative	Мьıљун	Мѣњѣх
Reflexive/Disjunctive	Мѣрѣһ	Нѣрѣһ

​

2nd Person Pronouns	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Оур	Һэ
Accusative	Оур ǀ Цѣн	Һэ ǀ Цѣт
Genitive	Ѣсѣм	Һэљэм
Dative	Һэм	Һэр
Lative	Цъıньıњ	Цѣљѣњ
Locative	Цъıньıљ	Цѣљ
Separative	Оуљ	Цѣзѣ
Privative	Цъıньıт	Цѣц
Comitative	Цъıньıх	Цѣњѣх
Reflexive/Disjunctive	Ѣрѣһ	Һэшл ǀ Һэреһ

​

3rd Person Pronouns	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	ЪІ	Ѣ	О	И
Accusative	Нъı	Нѣ	Но	Ни
Genitive	Љѣк	Љѣк	Љѣљ	ЪІх
Dative/Instrumental	ЪІм	ЪІм	Ѣљ	Им
Lative	Нъıм	Нъıм	Нѣљ	Нѣх
Locative	Ѣнѣл	Ѣнѣл	Ѣнѣл	Ил
Separative	Ѣнѣс	Ѣнѣс	Ѣнѣс	Ис
Privative	Ѣнѣсц	Ѣнѣсц	Ѣнѣсц	Иц
Comitative	Ѣнѣх	Ѣнѣх	Ѣнѣх	Их
Reflexive/Disjunctive	Љѣһ	Љѣһ	Љѣһ	ЪІриһ

​
===DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES===
As of late I've developed 12 derivational suffixes for Valtamic, shown here with middle harmony:
1- ⟨-елэр⟩ dimunitive suffix (Type I)

• From Proto-Valtamic \älår, from Proto-Italic *\-elos***. Cognate with Latin -ulus.

2- ⟨-о⟩ verbal infinitve suffix

• From Proto-Valtamic \-u, a merger of proto-Italic *\-āō**, *\-ēō**, and *\-eō***. Cognate with Latin -ō and -eō.

3- ⟨-хор⟩ noun -> adjectival suffix (Type I)

• From Proto-Valtamic \-kxår, from Proto-Italic *\-kos***. Cognate with Latin -cus.

4- ⟨-ељ⟩ verb -> abstract nomial suffix (Type III)

• From Proto-Valtamic \-ɨľ(ä)*, loaned from Proto-Slavic \-ьje*.

5- ⟨-цэр⟩ adjective -> nomial suffix (Type III)

• From Proto-Valtamic \-tsa(të)r, from Proto-Italic *\-tāts***. Cognate with Latin -tās.

6- ⟨-тло⟩ verb -> concrete nomial (Type III)

• From a merger of Proto-Valtamic \-tľo* and \-tlo, from Proto-Italic *\-tjō*** and (by metathesis) \-tōr* respectively. Cognate with Latin -tiō and -tor.

7- ⟨-эр⟩ verb -> masculine agent suffix (Type I)

• From Proto-Valtamic \-ľër, from late Proto-Balto-Slavic *\-āˀjas**. Related to Latvian -ājs & Lithuanian-ojas, and technically a doublet of previous *-о**.

8- ⟨-цер⟩ general feminine suffix, verb -> feminine agent suffix (Type III)

• From Proto-Valtamic \-tsixr, from Proto-Italic *\-trīks***. Cognate with Latin -trīx.

9- ⟨-цэм⟩ general neutegender-neutral suffix, verb -> neutegender-neutral agent suffix (Type III)

• From Proto-Valtamic \-tsåm, from Proto-Italic *\-trom***. Cognate with Latin -trum.

10- ⟨-онэр⟩ adverbial suffix

• From Proto-Valtamic \-onrår, from Proto-Italic *\-owonssos***. Cognate with Latin -ōsus.

11- ⟨-цэх⟩ ordinal number suffix

• Backformed from Фрэлцэх ("first"), Фацах ("second"), Тръıцух ("third"), and Пѣцах ("fourth"). Specifically from the Proto-Valtamic \-cakx, from earlier *\-cakxår**, part of their Proto-Valtamic forms, a fusion of Proto-Italic *\-tāts*** + \-kos*.

12- ⟨-фрэ⟩ adverbial number suffix

• Backformed from Рѣнһѣфра ("once"), Тѣлафра ("twice"), Тръıлоуфру ("thrice"), and Пѣцафра ("four times"). Specifically from the Proto-Valtamic \-uloɸrår* part of their Proto-Valtamic forms, a fusion of Proto-Italic \-elos* + \-plos*.

I've been using a process for flashcards over the last 2 years of learning Kurdish. I don't think it's earth-shattering, but it's been working well for me, and I thought I would share it here (a) to force myself to describe it clearly (b) to see if anyone has advice for ways to improve it and (c) in case others find it useful.

Card Design<sup>[1]</sup>

One side of each flashcard is the Kurdish side, where I put all of the synonyms for a certain concept. If a word can mean more than one thing, it will usually end up on more than one card. This is also where I put the gender of nouns, and the present tense stem of verbs if it's not regular. This is all the information I'm expecting myself to call to mind / produce when I see the other side of the card.
On the reverse side (the prompt), I draw an image that represents the meaning of the word. I try to immerse myself as much as possible without English. For concrete nouns this is usually pretty easy, but for more complex actions or abstract nouns, I have to get creative.<sup>[2]</sup>

Practice

My cards are divided into three categories.

1. Daily. These are newly learned, which I try to practice twice daily, morning and evening. Sometimes I do once a day or go a few days between practices though.
2. Weekly. After I know a card fairly well I start practicing it once a week.
3. Long-term. Cards that I've known for a while and don't need to regularly practice. I practice a selection of these (200) along with the weekly cards, on a rotation so that I get to each of them once every few months.<sup>[3]</sup>

I modeled this off of my vague understanding of spaced repetition, but I didn't want to overcomplicate things with too much overhead, so I just used those three categories.
I only practice in one direction (seeing images & producing Kurdish words). I was worried at first that I would have trouble recognizing words, since I wasn't practicing that direction. But this issue never actually materialized.<sup>[4]</sup>

Moving Categories

When I get a card wrong, it goes to the more frequent study category.
A card moves to less frequent study when I feel it's ready. I don't really have a rule about this, I just get a sense of "yeah, I've got this word."
Typical number of cards per pile:

• Daily cards: ~20-60
• Weekly cards: ~100-200
• Long-term cards: Whatever's left. Currently ~1,400

New Words

When I encounter new words, I put them into two lists: Synonyms for words I already have, and new concepts. When I have some time and inclination, I make 10-20 of the new concepts into cards, and learn them as follows:

1. Go through the cards as I would practice them, dividing into two piles: ones I remembered, and ones I didn't.
2. Repeat (1) with only the cards I didn't remember, dividing into two more piles. Do this until I have remembered every card at some stage.
3. Now I have a series of piles corresponding to "remembered after N attempts"
4. Combine the last two piles together, and go through them again.
5. Go back to (2) if there are cards I forgot. Go to (4) if there aren't.
6. Now I've repeated (5) until I've combined them all back into one pile. Mix this pile with my usual "daily" pile and practice them.

This helps my brain break up all the new cards into manageable sets, and causes me to repeat the ones that clicked poorly (ended up in the later piles) several times before setting them aside.

Synonyms

This is probably the weakest part of the system. When I encounter words that I don't know, but where I have a card for the concept (or a similar enough concept), I will write them down in a list, and then wait until I encounter the card in my usual practice. I'll then add the new word to that card and move it back down to my daily cards.
This requires that when I'm practicing, I glance back over my list every once in a while to review the synonyms I still have to add. That adds a small but noticeable amount of time and cognitive overhead that doesn't feel like it adds anything useful. You might think reviewing that list repeatedly would help me remember the new synonyms, but I haven't found that.
Let me know if you have any questions, found this useful, or have advice about improving any part of it. =)
[1] I use physical flash cards (I find index cards are way bigger than I need, so I cut them in fourths). There are definitely advantages to digital systems like Anki (portable, searchable, statistics, etc), but I spend so much time on the computer it's nice to have something physically in my hands, it's easier to draw pictures, and I like tangibly feeling the progress I'm making.
[2] I've developed a sort of symbology, which makes sense to me and helps depict things. Three lines tapering in represents any kind of action (like motion lines in a cartoon). An elongated oval represents a location or position (it looks like a circle on the "ground" with perspective). I use arrows to point at the element of the image that I'm trying to get at. Etc. Sometimes it helps to image search + "icon" for ideas about how to represent it.
[3] For a while, I didn't need category (3), I would just go through all of my cards every week. Eventually I got too many cards for that, though.
[4] Not only do I recognize words easily, but I associate the words with (a) the concept (b) and abstract representation / drawing and (c) synonyms for the word in the target language, but not with English words.

Please answer what you can, even if you can't answer them all!
1) Is there a way to like a word to two definitions without choosing the word ahead of time? For example, I want the word for beige to be the same as the word for sand.
2) Is it possible to apply a sound change to an unstressed syllable? I have “ʌ → ə / _#” for when it’s at the end of a word, but I would also like to change it if it’s in an unstressed syllable.
3) Should I add inflectional morphology in the same section as derivational morphology? Or should the different things have their own grammar boxes. For example, he/she/it is gender neutral, but there will be an affix for if someone needs to specify the gender for whatever reason.
4) Is there a way to add 0 to the number chart?
5) Some of the derivational morphology seems the same thing. PRODUCT.OF and ACT.OF in both cases make a noun out of a verb. If you draw, you have a drawing. If you advertise, you have an advertisement. Same with HAVING.QUALITY.OF and RELATING.TO. In both cases it's a noun to an adjective and they don't seem different to me. At first I thought maybe one was more concrete and one more indefinite, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Is there a reason to have both of a pair listed for derivational morphology.
6) For derivational morphology can you have more than one affix generated in a specific category. For example, you can be a dancer or an artist. Two different affixes that indicate the same thing.
7) For secondary spelling, do you only need to add ones that will be different from the primary spelling?
8) Is it possible to choose how many syllables most words will be? I've been generating to see how my inputs are working and most of the time I feel like I end up with too many one syllable words.
9) Ha ha, I'm sure I'll think of others at some point.