I'm working on designing an international auxiliary language and could use some feedback and advice. I aspire for the typical goals of making it easy to learn and speak, but more ambitiously, I refuse to accept the conventional wisdom that it's impossible to effectively utilize an a priori language where the meanings of words are directly related to their spellings. I do, however, recognize that there are inherent challenges to such a language, and I want to minimize those as much as possible in order to ensure the language's practicality and widespread adoption. I think I have some good strategies to take on the challenges, but I think I need to get a little farther to make it able to stand up to the rigors of a global population that overall isn't interested in learning a new language.
I didn't think I'd be able to focus enough to get through a comprehensive post on my language, but after spending all day working on it, I think I got it all pretty much covered. There are quite a large number of thoughts on the language I've casually accumulated over the years, so I can't (and probably shouldn't) cover everything, but I got what's important and touched on some extra stuff as well. Get comfortable because I have a lot to say.

Key features and philosophies

1. Guiding principles: I see languages as a tool for communicating ideas. There are different things about languages which I can find interesting, and I endorse creativity in fantasy languages, but with something I'm going to be stuck using on a daily basis, I just want something that gets the job done completely and efficiently. This includes being able to be as clear or as ambiguous as I desire. The reason I'm making my own language is because I don't consider natural languages to sufficiently accomplish that, and constructed languages tend to have aspects which I think could be improved upon (although I could probably get over it if any constructed language was broadly accepted). Moreover, although some level of neutrality is required for an international language to achieve maximum adoption, I'm not particularly concerned with whether my language ends up somewhat paralleling an existing language group as long as it gets the job done. However, I don't think I'm in too much jeopardy of that, and I don't think it would be too big of a deal anyway if the language was easy to learn. The only statement I'm trying to make with this is, "Now we all can finally understand each other." ... Maybe a secondary statement is, "Let's hurry up and get something better before we're all stuck with English."
2. Syllable structure: Primarily C(C)V(C)C, with longer words incorporating repeated patterns of V(C)C. I'm open to other structures, but I'd really like to always be able to tell when one word ends and another begins.
3. Phoneme scheme: Part of the reason I chose my syllable structure is because of these sounds I chose to use in the language. I'm not super attached to these particular sounds, but I want them to be easy for the largest number of people possible while also allowing for the largest number of combinations possible.
   • Leading consonants: [b, v, z, ʒ]
   • Second phonemes: [∅, l, w]
   • Vowels: [e, a, ɑ, o]
   • Fourth phonemes: [∅, ɫ, j]
   • Ending consonants: [b, v, z, ʒ]
4. Sound preferences: I'm open to a variety of phonemes to use in the language, but I have some principles which I think would prove beneficial.
   • No differentiation between voiced and unvoiced consonants (can't tell the difference very well when whispering)
   • No differentiation between plosives (can't slow them down to say them more clearly). I'd actually prefer to not have any, but there are only so many sounds to work with.
   • No nasals (can't say them when sick and can't say them as loudly). At the very least, I don't want to differentiate between nasals.
   • I don't like considering affricates to be a single unit of sound, but I'll indulge it if it improves the quality of the language.
   • Maybe only sounds present in English? I don't want to be that person who models their constructed language off of their native language, but English has many phonemes to choose from, and it's the most spoken language in the world, so it shouldn't be difficult to find someone to teach the sounds to new learners if they don't know them already, and since I'll surely be the only one creating content for quite a while, it seems sensible to choose sounds which I'm sure I can pronounce well.
5. Semantic spelling: This is the big one. Most languages that associate the spelling of the words to their meanings inevitably arrive at the situation where similar concepts sound similar, and then you get irritated when you have a hard time determining whether someone is talking about a horse or a donkey because the words are hard to differentiate, and the context can apply to either. I don't want to be that donkey (and a language like that would never be adopted), so I came up with the idea of attaching the meaning to sequences rather than the actual sounds and grouping the sounds/letters together. In essence, a group of related ideas would go through the alphabet, and a separate group of ideas would offset the letters and go through the alphabet again. Since this is a difficult concept to explain, here are some example groupings for what a word ending consisting of two sounds would be like: [eb, av, ɑz, oʒ], [ev, az, ɑʒ, ob], [ez, aʒ, ɑb, ov], and [eʒ, ab, ɑv, oz]. Within each group of related meaning, the words would have rather distinct endings (e.g. "tree" and "bush" would sound sufficiently different despite referring to similar things), and the other groups with the similar-sounding endings would refer to concepts that aren't likely to be confused (e.g. "tree" and "treat" may sound similar, but no one mixes them up because they refer to two completely different things).
6. Isolating language: I prefer to have concepts stand on their own and to have additions to the concepts be separate. As such, I would want aspects such as tense and number to be separate words (which can be omitted).
7. Dividing up words: I also kind-of like the idea of using multiple short words to describe a complex idea rather than one long word, but I don't want to go crazy with it like Toki Pona which only has 120 or so words; I want words to be able to be long if necessary. Shorter words would have an easier time sounding distinct, though.
8. Shortening words and pronouns: Once a topic was established, further discussion could refer back to the topic using only the first one or two syllables. (e.g. If you were talking about a banana and a window, you could later say how you threw the "ban" out the "win".) I'd like to largely replace pronouns with this, but I'd have to be careful not to introduce confusion.
9. Prepositions and conjunctions: I would have a typical array of prepositions and conjunctions, but I would allow optional additions at the end of or after those words to specify exactly how the clause relates to the rest of the sentence. I hate seeing things like "shortening words and pronouns" and having no way of determining whether it's "shortening [words and pronouns]" or "[shortening words] and pronouns". (It's supposed to be the second one.)
10. Miscellaneous: Subject-verb-object unless prepositions indicate otherwise; no gender, cases, or tones (as if anyone thought otherwise); adjectives after nouns; no agreement between nouns, verbs, adjectives, or anything; initial syllable stress if people feel like stressing a syllable; Latin alphabet without any accent marks, although I have aspirations of sneaking in my own script.

Remaining challenges

I think I've set my language in a pretty good direction, but there are still some shortcomings that need to be addressed, and I think I'm pushing the limits of what I'm able to accomplish without input from anyone else. Armed with the knowledge of my language (if you were able to get through it all), I'm hoping you could provide your advice on how I might be able overcome these shortcomings.

1. Settling on phonemes and word structure: I don't think my current system is too bad, but it only allows me to make 576 single-syllable words, and some of those words are kind-of cumbersome. I'm shooting for close to 1,000 single-syllable words which are all fairly easy to pronounce.
2. Phonetic Distinctiveness: I think my method of grouping the sounds and meanings is a good tactic, but as words get longer, it becomes less effective because the differences become subtle enough that it would be possible to mistake the word for one that differs on the next level above. For example, "tree" could be distinguished from "bush", but what if the similar-sounding word was "flower" instead of "treat"? That would be fine for, "I climbed a [tree or flower]," but it would be hard for something like, "Look at that beautiful [tree or flower]!" I've brainstormed a number of ways to account for this such as conditionally devoicing the preceding syllable or adding a plosive to it or structuring the distribution of words to always sound like very different things (e.g. living things always sound like nonliving things or verbs always sound like nouns or something), but it's a tricky issue, and I don't want to make the rules so complex that people would prefer everything to be arbitrary.
3. Distributing and categorizing concepts: This problem is two-fold: deciding how to categorize every thought imaginable and making sure that every category has an even distribution of easy and harder-to-pronounce words. Although I may make some controversial choices, I feel like I'm capable of taking this on; it would just be difficult, and I've been held up by the first two issues. However, I could surely benefit from other opinions, and certain word structures might make it more difficult for me. I've also considered making everything after a certain point completely arbitrary because ideas don't like to fit into a set number of categories, and I suppose it wouldn't be too bad if the most obscure word could still have 75% of its meaning known from the spelling.
4. Accommodating borrowing: I don't want to borrow anything from any language; I'd much rather have a new word or phrase with the same meaning be added to my language's dictionary. However, it's hard to keep up with that stuff, and if people don't have suitable way of describing that concept with my language, they'll just bring the original word into my language and destroy all of my careful planning. I'd like to have some way bringing those words into the fold just enough that they don't stick out like a sore thumb but can still be recognized as loanwords which need a more conventional designation. Maybe adapting the phonology and adding a loanword prefix? Maybe adding an adapted word directly to a category if the categories aren't too deep and arbitrariness is allowed after that? What about technical terms? What about names? I have some ideas, and I'm not afraid to go against the grain, but I'd much rather get something that works as opposed to try to strongarm the world into my ideology (not that fitting the world into my ideology isn't appealing on some level, though).
5. Anything else: Have I overlooked anything? There must be something. What do I think is no big deal but actually matters a lot to other people? I'm only one person, and I'm a freak of nature on top of it, so I'm bound to be out-of-touch with the general population on some things. What else do I need to do to make sure my language is a success (besides popularizing it)? It's not possible to satisfy everyone, and I reserve the right to take my language in whatever direction I feel like, but if I don't want this to be a huge waste of my time, it would make sense for me to carefully consider what other people have to say.

If you've gotten all the way down to this part of my post, you already have my appreciation. If you want to be a real rockstar, though, I would be even more appreciative of any assistance you can offer. The rest of my life doesn't put me in a good position to get language advice from people, and it would be nice to get meaningful feedback on my thoughts rather than blank stares followed by questions of why I would want to pursue such a thing. I eagerly await your comments.

Inscriptions made by sailors wishing for safe voyages in ancient Greece often included the words eúploia ‘good sailing / fair voyage’ or eutukhía ‘good luck’ and variants. Thus, the roughly 2,000-year-old inscription cut into a cliff on the desert islet of Vryonisi in Eastern Crete which contains euplous ‘good sailing’ (an adj., not a noun) should be easily regarded as another example. However, Martín González takes it as a name (since some people were named Euplous) because there is “a crucial obstacle: there is no parallel for the use of the adjective eúplous, instead of the ubiquitous substantive eúploia, among the related inscriptions”. Now, many words known from inscriptions only appear once, yet they still exist. Since most inscriptions were probably lost, it is not odd that, even if many of this type once existed, only one (or none) of its kind might now remain. For instance, if only 20 welcome mats remained 2,000 years in the future, how many would have ‘welcome’ vs. ‘we welcome you’? If only one verb remained, would some future linguist say it was impossible because “there is no parallel for the use of the verb welcome, instead of the ubiquitous interjection”? I see no reason to take this as evidence against the obvious. For her reading:
​
Euthu-
timos
Khrusip-
pos
[dolphin]
Nikanoros
euplous
​
I would translate it, “Euthutimos (and) Khrusippos (wish) a fair voyage for Nikanōr”. This would be a very simple and undestandable expression of good wishes, whatever the frequency of one of the words.
​
​
This still leaves the question of the meaning of the carving of the dolphin (see image in the link below). It is directly among the words, not above or below, so it’s not certain that it is merely an addition used because dolphins were said to save sailors in need (Apollo’s connection with dolphins is probably folk etymology, really from Delphi). It seems like it might be homophone used in a rebus, since the Greek word for ‘dolphin’ was delphī́s (from *gWelbhiHn-s, derived from délphax ‘pig’, formerly ‘*young animal / piglet’ < delphús ‘womb’, probably related to Go. kalbo, E. calf, and maybe also E. whelp) it would start with the same syllable as :
​
*(e)gWela > Mac. izéla ‘good luck’, G. bále ‘oh that it were so!’
​
Though this alone is possible, there is more to my idea. It is possible that the entire pronunciation of ‘dolphin’ in Crete might have additional meaning. The origin of *(e)gWela is not clear, but it greatly resembles
​
*gWhel()- ‘wish / want / will / be/make willing’> OCS želja ‘wish’, ON gilja ‘allure/entice/seduce/beguile’, G. (e)thélō ‘be willing’, (e)thelontḗn ‘voluntarily’
​
Not only is the meaning the same, but the optional e- matches optional 0- vs. i- in Macedonian (which might come from *gWhelH1- > *H1gWhel-). The difference in *gWh vs. *gW could come from a dialect with PIE *gh > g, etc. (like Macedonian). Such variation is seen on Crete (G. dáptēs ‘eater / bloodsucker (of gnats)’, Cretan thápta, Polyrrhenian látta ‘fly’), so the needed features all exist there. Also, words like (e)thelontḗn often appear in inscriptions as formal parts of various requests or sacrifices. These supposedly show that the deed was done ‘voluntarily’ or ‘of one’s own free will’, but some might also retain the older meaning ‘wishing (that it comes to pass / that it is pleasing (to the gods)’, etc. This allows further comparison to be made for *(e)gWhelont-s ‘wishing’ and *gWelbhiHn-s ‘dolphin’. Since these words are already quite close (with regular *-nts > *-ns), and I suspect that the changes in *(e)gWela > Mac. izéla were matched in parts of Crete, other changes in dialects might have made them even closer. Some have alternation of ph / w, like *swe-es > spheîs ‘they / themselves’; the centaur Márphsos & the satyr Marsúas (Whalen 2024a). This could produce *gWelon-s and *gWelwi:n-s, possibly with later *on > *un (which might be supported by the lack of Linear A syllables with Co vs. many with Cu, see Chiapello) and *wi > *wu (then *Cwu > *Cu). With this alone, *gWelun-s and *gWelu:n-s would be nearly identical, and maybe exactly the same if *-onts became *-o:ns first (attested as -ōn in the nominative for nt-stems). I would ask for all such images to be examined carefully, and considered in the context of known changes in Greek dialects, even down to Cretan Hieroglyphs (Whalen 2024b). Younger’s claim that the cat’s head symbol stood for MA (compared to Linear A and B signs for the syllable MA) is supposedly imiation of “meow”, but many IE words for ‘cat’ and other noisy animals come from *maH2- ‘bleat / bellow / meow’ (Skt. mārjārá- ‘cat’, mārjāraka- ‘cat / peacock’, mayū́ra- ‘peacock’, māyu- ‘bleating/etc’, mayú- ‘monkey?/antelope’), and it would not be possible to name all symbols after the sounds made by the things represented (like mountains, stocks). It seems many of these symbols start with the sounds found in the Greek words for them, and continuing to examine the evidence could lead to proof of their Greek origin.
​
​
Chiapello, Duccio (2024) The Linear A inscribed idol of Roccacasale: authentic, forgery… or both? An analysis based on the “Minoan Greek” hypothesis
https://www.academia.edu/112932884
​
Martín González, Elena (2017) A Sailors' Inscription Revisited
https://www.academia.edu/33135646
​
Whalen, Sean (2024a) Linear B *79, e-wi-su-zo-ko, e-wi-su-79-ko
https://www.academia.edu/114741659
​
Whalen, Sean (2024b) The X’s and O’s of Cretan Hieroglyphic (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/114973571
​
Younger, John (2023) Linear A Texts: Homepage
http://people.ku.edu/~jyoungeLinearA/
​

I'm thinking of a protolang mixing PIE with Proto-Taqva-miir.
PIE Consonants: m, n, p, b, bʰ, t, d, dʰ, kʲ, gʲ, gʲʰ, k, g, gʰ, kʷ, gʷ, gʷʰ, s, h1, h2, h3, r, l, j, w
Proto-Taqva-miir Consonants: m, n, ɲ, b, t, tʼ, d, c, cʼ, ɟ, k, kʼ, g, q, qʼ, ɢ, ʔ, s, z, ɕ, ʑ, ç, ʝ, x, ɣ, ħ, ʕ, h, r, l, ʎ, j, w
PIE Vowels: e, eː, o, oː(Though a, aː, i, iː, u, uː might've also existed with them.)
Proto-Taqva-miir Vowels: a, aː, i, iː, u, uː
For the consonants, I added the two amounts from each language, then divided by two, meaning that 29 consonants should be the amount for this protolang. Matching them, I could add whatever consonants from each set correspond the most neatly with whatever consonants from the other. PIE's syllable structure was (C)CVC(C), which allowed nasals and liquids in the nucleus alongside the vowels. PTM's structure was (C)V(R), meaning that only nasals and liquids, grouped as resonants, can end syllables and words. In terms of stress, PIE used a pitch accent, while PTM's stress system was the same as Finnish at first, with stress falling on the first syllable all the time, with the modern language's system being the same as Latin, meaning that stress falls on the third-to-last syllable by default, with the second-to-last one being stressed instead as long as it contains a long vowel or is closed.
For syntax, PIE word order is debated. Mixing the two hypotheses could lead to PIE having used a free word order still classified as strictly subject initial. PTM would utilize SOV as the word order, utilizing postpositions derived from verbs. PIE used prepositions, and adjectives before nouns, while PTM's adjectives are also derived from nouns. In terms of grammar, both PIE and PTM were going to share the same grammatical number system: singular, dual, and plural, though PTM, in the end, used singular and plural, which evolved into a singulative/dual/plural system with an inverse marker. I'm considering this mixture using an inverse marker alongside singular, dual, and plural markings.
Regarding the tense systems, PIE is said to have two tenses: past and present. It might've used an auxiliary as an indicator of the future tense. It also used three aspects: imperfective ("present"), perfective ("aorist"), and stative ("perfect"). There were also four moods, or five: indicative, subjunctive, optative, and imperative. An injunctive mood might've also been possible. PTM utilized an unmarked imperfective, a marked perfective via reduplication, and an infinitive. Reduplication plus the [i] vowel was used for the perfective converb, and an -in suffix was used for the imperfective converb, the -su suffix marking the infinitive. The standard copula, derived from "live", and the locative copula, derived from "stand", would be utilized to create a new tense system:

1. Imperfect + Standard Copula = Continuous
2. Perfect + Standard Copula = Past Continuous
3. Imperfect + Locative Copula = Future
4. Perfect + Locative Copula = Future in the Past

(A negative copula was also used.)
PIE only utilized one copula: h1es-. They might've also used others like the following: bʰuh₂-(maybe "grow" and "become"), h2wes-(maybe "live"), h1er-, and (s)teh2-("stand").
Regarding valency-changing operations, PIE is said only to use a causative, while PTM utilizes a mediopassive derived from "take/get" and a causative/commitative derived from "lead". At least that was the original plan. The modern form uses the following operations: detransitive, causative, reflexive, reciprocal, mediopassive (detransitive + Dative), and antipassive (detransitive + Genitive). And via morphology.
And speaking of morphology and synthesis, while Proto-Taqva-miir is somewhat agglutinative, the eventual modern language being fusional, PIE was fusional. At least I think so, though I need better clarity. PIE lacks a dominant order regarding comparatives(superlatives, sublatives, etc.). However, PTM utilized auxiliaries and later a morphological system to indicate everything: comparative, superlative, sublative, intensive, excessive, equative, and contrastive. Unfortunately, there is no paucative marking as far as I'm aware. I'd need to look at the other Conlang Case Study videos. Let me make a list, and I keep the following distinct and antonymous with augmentatives and diminutives, which relate to size descriptions of nouns unrelated to other nouns.
Comparative: ???
Superlative: highest degree
Sublative: lowest degree
Equative: equal value
Contrastive: different value
Intensive: stronger
Excessive: too much of something
???: weaker
Paucative: too few of something
What is supposed to go where the triple question marks are? I'd like to know. Here's a bonus question: Which of these have been reconstructed and are theorized to have existed in Proto-Indo-European?
I'm also thinking of looking into the question words of PIE, and seeing what I should do from there, as Biblaridion is thinking of auxiliary question words like "what+thing", "what+place", "what+person", etc. And I have ideas for the languages it could split into. It's for a hypothetical(either actual or fictional) D&D campaign.

I had been posting here for a long time as “roacsonofcarc.” The other night some kind of digital upheaval threw me off my desktop and wiped out my all saved passwords. I talked Reddit into letting me back in, but for some reason my identity changed.
For my first post under this new name, here are some of Tolkien's possible connections to one of my favorite authors: Geoffrey Chaucer.¹ In his The House of Fame, an eagle carries the poet (in a dream) to the palace of the goddess Fame. On first being picked up, Chaucer faints. When he comes to:

And here-withal I gan to stere,/And he me in his fet to bere,/Til that he felte that I had hete,/And felte eke tho myn herte bete./And thoo gan he me to disporte,/And with wordes to comforte,/And sayde twyes, "Seynte Marye!/Thou art noyous for to carye,/And nothyng nedeth it, pardee!/For, also wis God helpe me,/As thou noon harm shalt have of this;/And this caas that betyd the is,/Is for thy lore and for thy prow.

The sense of this, for those who can't deal with Middle English, is that the eagle tells Chaucer not to be such a pain, because nobody is going to hurt him. The cream of it is the adjective “noyous,” which as you might suspect means “annoying.” (One of the things I like about Chaucer is that he makes himself the butt of all his best jokes.) When I reread the poem a few months back, this reminded me of Bilbo being airlifted to the Carrock:

Bilbo opened an eye to peep and saw that the birds were already high up and the world was far away, and the mountains were falling back behind them into the distance. He shut his eyes again and held on tighter.
"Don't pinch!" said his eagle. "You need not be frightened like a rabbit, even if you look rather like one. It is a fair morning with little wind. What is finer than flying?"
Bilbo would have liked to say: "A warm bath and late breakfast on the lawn afterwards;" but he thought it better to say nothing at all, and to let go his clutch just a tiny bit.

Though Bilbo is riding on his eagle's back, while Chaucer is carried in its claws. Next, here is a line from Tolkien's best-known scene of courtship: “And Eowyn looked at Faramir long and steadily; and Faramir said: 'Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart, Eowyn!'” I don't think it is a coincidence that Chaucer wrote that “pitee renneth soone in gentil herte”; in fact, he liked the line so much he used it three times – in the “Knight's Tale.” the ”Squire's Tale,” and The Legend of Good Women.
And then there is the lightness of the linden tree.² The first preserved version of the story of Beren and Luthien is a poem that appeared in 1925 in a magazine published by Leeds University (where Tolkien was teaching), under the title “Light as Leaf on Lindentree.” That exact phrase does not appear in LotR, but Aragorn's song at Weathertop includesHe heard there oft the flying sound/Of feet as light as linden-leaves. “ The lightness of linden leaves is also alluded to in Legolas's “Song of Nimrodel": And in the wind she went as light/As leaf of linden-tree.
Tilia cordata is a European species, and I don't know what about its leaves makes them light. But the association is old. It occurs in Chaucer in the “Envoi” to the “Clerk's Tale,” which advises wives to Be ay of chiere as light as leef on lynde, “Be ever in behavior as light as a leaf on a linden tree.” And here is one of the best things in William Langland's Piers Plowman (a poem I mostly find drab compared to Chaucer):

Love is plonte of pees, most precious of vertues/For hevene hold it ne mighte, so heuy hit first semede/Til hit had of erthe ygoten hitsilue./Was never lef uppon lynde lyghtere ther-aftur./As when hit hadde of the folde flesch and blode taken./Tho was it persaunt and portatif as the point of a nelde/May none armure hit let ne none heye walles
Love is plant of peace · most precious of virtues./For Heaven might not hold it · so heavy it seemed/Till it had of the earth · begotten itself./Never was leaf upon linden · lighter thereafter,/As when it had of the field · flesh and blood taken,/Then was it pricking and piercing · as the point of a needle,/That no armour might stay it · nor any high walls.

(Langland is writing about the Incarnation of Christ. Michael Drout's J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia notes both of these, at p. 525.)
Finally, in “The Window on the West,” Faramir says of Boromir's horn:

The shards came severally to shore: one was found among the reeds where watchers of Gondor lay, northwards below the infalls of the Entwash; the other was found spinning on the flood by one who had an errand on the water. Strange chances, but murder will out, ’tis said.

“Murder will out” is one proverb that Tolkien did not make up; it is commonplace in English literature. Chaucer surely didn't invent it either, but this is another phrase that appears three times in the Canterbury Tales. Here it is in the “Nun's Priest's Tale”:

Mordre wol out; that se we day by day./Mordre is so wlatsom [disgusting] and abhomynable/To God, that is so just and resonable,/That he ne wol nat suffre it heled [hidden] be,/Though it abyde a yeer, or two, or thre./Mordre wol out, this my conclusioun.

Tolkien knew the “Nun's Priest's Tale” by heart. In 1938 he dressed as Chaucer and recited it from memory before an Oxford audience. See Letters 32, pp. 39-40, and the Carpenter Biography at p. 214..
1, Sorry if I have posted some of these before. Gandalf too experienced some memory loss while on hiatus.

1. According to the OED, the name of the tree was originally the “lind,” or sometimes the “lime.” “Linden” was originally an adjective, like “dwarven.”

Ok so, for context: I've been a "closeted femboy" for a couple of years now, and didn't think much deeper of it other than being very insecure about it, I've had a partner for half a year now and told her about the whole femboy thing quite early on in our relationship, she has been nothing but supportive and ever since then I've felt a lot more comfortable exploring my femininity and just being myself feeling like I'm not alone anymore.
Recently, my partner (18 AFAB) told me that she might be genderfluid (still prefers to go by she/her) and that she's still figuring things out. I've done my best to show her my support and reassurance that I'll stay by her side no matter what. Now, a couple of days ago while we talked about this and I asked her how she felt to try to understand her better and offer my support in the best way possible, we realized that I related to some of the things she feels a little too much... but I brushed it off for the most part (other than being happy that I can understand my partner better than I thought and the fact that she doesn't feel alone in this).
However, something else happened that has made feel kinda cofunsed and questioning some stuff...
First you'll need a tad bit more context; We're from a spanish-speaking country, which means all words (be it adjectives, nouns, etc) are gendered. Now the thing is, yesterday I was feeling a little insecure about being a femboy (nothing bad happened, just the usual insecurity that I feel from time to time) and I was talking to my partner about and and I asked her if she would still find me attractive if sometimes i wanna go for a full fem look, to which she answered "claro que seguiría viendote atractivo... o más bien atractiva" (of course you'd still be attractive(masc) to me... or rather attractive(fem) ) and hearing those words felt... strangely nice(?, like I just got all nervous (in a good sense) all of a sudden, and she noticed it and asked me how I felt. And I was just like "hearing that felt confusingly good" and asked her if she could keep talking to me in a fem manner and istg with every word she said I felt more happy, nervous and extremely confused...
It was an incredibly strange feeling but also a really positive one, and after talking more to my partner about it, she asked if I may be genderfluid too (since I do very often feel just like, male, but sometimes I feel more feminine) and the thing is... I don't know. Like, it felt really good hearing refer to me with feminine pronouns but despite this I don't really think I ever feel like full on girl, just sometimes I feel like masculine man and sometimes i feel like, well, femboy, so I don't really know if the genderfluid label applies to me (and also I just feel more comfortable using femboy) but like... is that valid? Can I have an extremely similar experience to a genderfluid person and enjoy feminine pronouns sometimes yet not identify as genderfluid myself?
I am very confused about all this but also it's nice to explore and get to know myself better, and not being alone in this since, well, both me and my partner are figuring things out.
I know I will figure it out eventually but I would also appreciate if anyone could share some advice <3

Before we begin, do note that I am restricting myself in only using native Tagalog words.
This is so that I can comfortably use the Tagalog circumfix "ka-____-an" which turns a root word into an abstract noun; showcasing the "concept" part of the Paths.
In some translations. I will try and explain the reasoning behind my choices except for the ones that are straightforward at the end.
I'm just basically doing this because I thought it would be interesting to use the circumfix ka-___-an to have some unity to the naming conventions.
Here it is:
The Abundance –> Kasanàan
The Elation –> Katuwâan
The Harmony –> Kamayawán
The Order –> Kasunúran
The Remembrance –> Kagunitaán
The Equilibrium –> Kapantayan
The Nihility –> Kawalâan
The Beauty –> Kagandahan
The Hunt –> Katugisán
The Permanence –> Kalagián
The Enigmata –> Kabugtungan
The Destruction –> Kawasakán
The Finality –> Kawakasan
The Erudition –> Katalisikan
The Enigmata –> Kabugtungan
The Voracity –> Kasibaán
The Preservation –> Kasatilihán
The Propagation –> Kalaganapán o Kayabungán
The Trailblaze –> Kaagtasan o Kabagtasan
The Abundance –> Kasanàan
This word means Abundance with the association of hell. I used this word because of this Reddit comment that made it perfect as the translation.
It also has a similar pronunciation of the word for just abundance (kasaganahan) with both having similar syllables except for "ga" and having the stress at the penultimate syllable.
The Elation –> Katuwâan
This one might be self-explanatory as the root word just translate to "joy" but I picked this out of the other synonyms for "happy" in Tagalog because its proto-austronesian meaning is "luck". So, yes. I picked that one because of that one Aventurine conversation.
The Harmony –> Kamayawán
I struggled with this one because I kept trying to look for a word that has the "musical" and "oneness" connotation of the original word.
I kept trying to look for a word that's commonly used but then gave up and just ask my mom if she has an idea and that's where the word "mayaw" came from.
She said it means getting along with others. So I check an online Tagalog dictionary and it states:
má·yaw adjective (old tagalog)
1.voices are one or have harmony It also gained a new meaning in the Maugnayin Science Dictionary Filipino-English as the word for "cosmos".
The Order –> Kasunúran
This one I'm entirely not confident on; as it's hard to find a word that's narrow in meaning, but still similar, to the word I picked for Harmony.
I'm unsuccessful so I just picked the word for " to follow (sunód)" because if you used that with the "ka-___-an" circumfix it has the connotation of a list of "orders" to follow.
The Remembrance –> Kagunitaán
This one I picked instead of the more common word for "memory (ala-ala)" because it has a broader meaning and much shorter than ala-ala.
The Equilibrium –> Kapantayan
The root word just mean equal or fair (pantáy).
The Nihility –> Kawalâan
I didn't used the shortened "Kawalán", even though they have the same root word for "nothing (walâ)", because more people associate that with the void or space. Also it makes it sound more like an abstract word than Kawalán.
The Beauty –> Kagandahan
The root word just means beauty (gandá).
The Hunt –> Katugisán
The root word just means hunt (tugis).
The Permanence –> Kalagián
The root word means "always (lagì)". I'm iffy about this one as it doesn't have the same weight for me as Permanence. I could also use the word for before (dati) since according to dictionaries its synonym with permanent, I think? But honestly I prefer Kalagián more than the other one.
The Destruction –> Kawasakán
I picked this word because I want it to be similar to the word that I picked for Finality. Since it was, I think, mentioned in the game that The Destruction will get absorbed to The Finality because the latter is more broader in concept.
The Finality –> Kawakasan
Same explanation as The Destruction. Are the two words even cognate/doublet with each other?
The Erudition –> Katalisikan
I used this word instead of the word for knowledge (dunong) or intellect (talino) because the word "talisik" means " a knowledge that's obtained from rigorous study and also the closest to the word "erudite (matalisik)". Which best describes the followers of Nous.
The Enigmata –> Kabugtungan
I have to actually look up the etymology of the word Enigmata to find a suitable translation for it. It means "to speak in riddles" which pairs up nicely to the Tagalog word for "riddle (bugtóng)".
The Voracity –> Kasibaán
For this one I just search about the Tagalog version of the seven deadly sins and picked the word for gluttony.
The Preservation –> Kasatilihán
I got the word (satili) from the word for preserve (panatili). I think the root word " tili " is not used in Tagalog anymore that's why it always has an affix when used in a sentence. Even if the word " tili " means a "state of permanency" the way it's derived terms used it to mean preserve is still possible since it is a verb:
Wiktionary States that: the prefix sa- is used to denote a method or means to a purpose, ‎sa- + ‎puso (“heart”) → ‎sapuso (“act of having put to heart”)
The Propagation –> Kalaganapán o Kayabungán
The word "laganap" means spreaded-out.
Since the word Propagation is linked to agriculture, another great translation is the word for "thriving; abundant growth; foliage; plentiful foliage (yabong)"
The Trailblaze –> Kaagtasan o Kabagtasan
This is the one I struggled the most as I keep thinking of a word that would fit the context of the game.
Since I can't just take the word "trail + blaze" and word-for-word translate it as that would be clunky. I opted for the other original name in Chinese in the Aeon wiki page.
When I search for the individual meaning of the Chinese characters "开拓" I got was "to open or break". Which tells me nothing.
I, then, thought of looking for other English words that are close to the meaning of Trailblaze. That's where I got the word "Pathfinding" and then google the Tagalog word for it which is "aktas" meaning "to open or to make a new path". Which is perfect and I just chose the other pronunciation of it "agtas" because it's close to the word "bagtas (to traverse)".

Written by u/GoldWhale & u/JD397
Thanks everyone for your patience with us getting this written up. Much appreciation to my co-author u/JD397 for his work, scouting analysis, and comprehensive background knowledge on where Demidov sat compared to historical players, and the international analysis. Please note, this analysis won’t focus on why Demidov>Levshunov. In terms of BPA, Demidov is nearly unanimously over Levshunov based on consolidated rankings. With the Blackhawks publicly saying they want to go BPA, we hope to establish a case as to why Demidov truly stands above the rest, by a good margin. We hope that this was worth the wait, and we haven’t disappointed anyone who may have wanted more. We’re amateurs, give us a small break 😉
When Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly flipped the decisive card to reveal the number one overall pick, Blackhawks fans were disappointed. They were going to miss out on Macklin Celebrini, the consensus number one center and number one overall player in the draft. After winning Connor Bedard the prior year, many fans were hoping for a one two punch down the middle, their own version of McDavid and Draisaitl, Crosby and Malkin; this was not to be.
Despite the initial dismay, fans were still happy. The Blackhawks won the second lottery, and with that, the rights to select a franchise player at number two overall. Immediately, though, there was debate. Swirling on social media there were rumors that the Blackhawks were predominantly looking at two high end prospects: Ivan Demidov (RW/C) and Artyom Levshunov (D). On one hand Demidov is an elite prospect at wing with excellent hands, creativity, and legitimate top line wing with PPG+ upside. On the other, Levshunov is a dynamic offensive defenseman with a stellar shot, solid size, dynamic skating, and most importantly right-handedness.
The Blackhawks, realistically, need both positions. Last year the Blackhawks iced one of the worst offenses in the entire league, scoring the second least goals behind only San Jose. They also had the fourth worst defense, surrendering 290 goals on the season. Neither are acceptable in the push for a playoff spot in the coming years, but ultimately with number two, you can only choose one of the two players. After our hours of analysis, u/JD397 and I believe there is no debate – as good as Levshunov is, Demidov is closer in skill and projection to Celebrini than anyone else in the draft is to him.
So who is Ivan Demidov? He’s an 18 year old forward playing for SKA 1946, a MHL affiliate of SKA of the KHL. Since the 2023 draft the big story out of the KHL was the dominance of Matvei Michkov. This was a kid who destroyed the MHL by putting up 38 points in 22 games and going PPG+ in the playoffs his D-1 Year. Michkov then outperformed Connor Bedard by putting up 16 points in 7 games at the IIHF U18s in 2021. Michkov was, and still is, borderline generational but there was someone else waiting in his shadow. In his D-1 Year, Ivan Demidov put up 62 points in 41 games, and scored 1.3PPG in the MHL playoffs. While putting up a lower PPG pace than Michkov, Demidov’s game was substantially more well rounded and scouts started to take notice of another potential franchise winger in Ivan Demidov.
Demidov exploded in his D-0 Year, putting up a literal 2.0 PPG pace in the MHL the highest pace ever for a player 18 or under, and the third highest PPG in league history. In the playoffs, despite an injury, Demidov posted a ridiculous 28 points in 17 games. This production was unheard of beforehand and bested Kucherov’s 1.87 point pace at 18. Not only did Demidov have better production AND two way play, but he also did it nearly 7 months younger. Demidov remains a bright spot who is able to elevate his play to the competition. Before talking about playstyle, strengths, comps, projections, etc. it needs to be noted just how dominant Demidov was on the scoresheet.
Now that fans know who Ivan Demidov is, let’s address the elephant in the room. Demidov is Russian and with the political climate worldwide, being a Russian is associated with an inherent risk of a prospect not coming over. Rest assured – there is no such concern in this case. Last year, rumors swirled around Michkov not coming over due to three factors:

1. Michkov did not meet with more than two teams and actively told specific teams he would not play for them.
   
2. Michkov was incredibly difficult to get ahold of predraft and it made scouts and front offices skeptical on his character and desire to come to the NHL.
   
3. Michkov had 3 more years left on his contract with SKA.
   

Demidov, on the other hand, is actively engaging with teams. He’s hosting a workout in Florida before the draft for multiple teams to attend, and is actively having his agent coordinate interviews and meetings with interested front offices. Demidov has publicly declared his intention to come over to the NHL as soon as possible, even venturing so far as to say he’s looking at options for getting out of his KHL contract to get to the NHL for the 24-25 season. Finally, Demidov only has 1 year left on his contract so there isn’t long term concern about losing the ability to develop him internally. An interesting note that we found during analysis was that Demidov’s agent, Dan Milstein, is “hated” in the KHL because of how consistently he pushes for his clients to leave Russia and transition them to the NHL. Even if Demidov is stuck in Russia all of next year, there’s almost zero risk he doesn’t come over.
On Demidov, the other large question that looms is his lack of play in the KHL, and SKA’s decision to play him in the MHL. Despite being the one of the best players in MHL history, Demidov only saw action in 4 KHL games and scored a total of 0 points which has also turned off many scoresheet watchers. Let us reassure you – Demidov was predominantly the 13th forward and played an average of 3-5 minutes per game with unfamiliar linemates. He did not have a chance to play enough to succeed, and built no chemistry with the teammates he was playing with in his limited time. SKA is notorious for handling their prospects poorly. Young players are consistently given limited ice time, especially when they’re expected to leave Russia. Michkov, despite his skill, couldn’t crack the SKA roster in his D-0 or D+1 simply because of this bias. All said, this is not a concern scouts have when it comes to the potential drafting of Demidov.
With the Russia question answered, we believe there is no doubt that Ivan Demidov is the pick to make in the 2024 draft. Ivan Demidov is really really good. He is the complete package for what you look for in a franchise winger. Demidov has excellent hands, dynamic edgework, elite hockey IQ, high end compete and energy, a relentless forecheck, creativity in the offense he provides, solid two way play, and finally rapid speed in terms of release and puck control. There is no one like him in this draft who offers such an elite skillset with no obvious flaws in his game outside of his build. He can also play center when needed which gives him additional offensive flexibility and adds even more dynamism to his game.
While analytics don’t tell the full story, they can often be a useful baseline to build from. The first item we want to call attention to is Byron Bader’s model, which projects Demidov as the best #2OA prospect since Eichel.. Let's again be clear, we don’t put much merit into this due to the low gradings of Carlsson and Laine, but it’s important to contextualize how Bader’s model works. It compares prospects to the league they’re in and projects them out. Demidov dominated the MHL to such a degree that the model favorably views him due to being almost untouched in play, and setting multiple records. Continuing with Hockey Prospecting and Bader, who is an active NHL draft consultant, they project Demidov to be an absolute STUD based on production. No forward who they’ve ever given 99%s to has ever been less than PPG+. Demidov has a very comparable offensive game to Celebrini, and is all but guaranteed to be a star due to his production and skillset. Alanen also projects Demidov to be elite in all 3 zones, and gives him a total RARE grade of 100, due to his next level offense and transition, and above average defensive work despite his assignments. Again, analytics aren’t an end all be all by any means. They’re just an exceptional base to build from when scouts, data scientists and NHL draft consultants unanimously believe a player to be elite. From our research, no prospects with comparable profiles have busted or not succeeded in the NHL.
Whilst reading multiple articles, watching videos on Demidov, and going through tape, we compiled the following scouting report.
Physical Attributes:
Demidov is not very physically imposing, or even one of the most physical players in the draft. He’s expected to show up to the combine around 6ft tall and weighing 170lbs. Admittedly one knock that some scouts have for him is his build and need to bulk up. Thankfully, this is easy to build at the professional level. Nonetheless, Demidov has sturdy base that enables him to dominate around the boards and in front of the net due to his rapid twitch movements and lower body power. Demidov is able to outskate and outwork larger and stronger players by being smart with his legs and driving to the inside consistently when in transition. His remarkable agility and lower-body strength allow him to outmaneuver opponents and maintain possession in tight spaces, or separate for quick attacks or desperation back checking.
Skating:
Demidov's skating is characterized by irregularities; while he exhibits great power on his edges, his transitions suffer due to a wide stance, leading to questionable but explosive pivot work. Despite this, his rapid acceleration and agility enable him to navigate through traffic seamlessly, while his powerful stride generates significant momentum, making him a constant threat in transition. Let’s clear up a misconception; Demidov is not a bad skater. He’s got decent speed, a good handle on body control, power on the inside of his edges and with quick crossovers, etc. His posture and stance need work, but this is something that looks completely fixable at the NHL level. It doesn’t require a rebuild of his skating style, rather a retool that can utilize his edgework as a base. Instead of hunching over at the end of a shift and losing speed and energy, Demidov can rely on quicker small movement cuts on for rapid movement and longer, albeit slower strides while holding himself higher to preserve energy while covering distance. While the 10 and 2 skating that Demidov employs isn’t conventional, it allows him to see a good deal of the ice, and when in close provide breaking speed towards the play. Fixing the reliance on 10 and 2 also offers faster top level skating and easier quick pivoting in a 200ft game, rather than a longer turn. Again, his skating is unorthodox – but it isn’t bad. It’s not mechanically sound, but it can be polished to a high level without a large amount of concern. Because of how unpredictable his skating is now, scouts across the board acknowledge that it potentially even grants an advantage as his body is harder to read.
Scoring Ability:
A natural sniper, Demidov possesses a lethal shot with pinpoint accuracy and a lightning-quick release that catches goaltenders off guard. Whether he's unleashing a blistering wrist shot from the slot or wiring a one-timer on the power play, Demidov consistently finds the back of the net with precision and finesse. One really underrated part of Demidov’s scoring ability comes from the aforementioned elite edgework. Due to how rapidly he can change directions while holding full control over the puck, he can create scoring lanes with almost zero room, and his accuracy is again one of the best we’ve evaluated as amateur scouts in the last few drafts. When there isn’t an immediate opening or shot, Demidov is patient, draws coverage where he wants, and again has no qualms about firing the puck to the net. If there’s one question about his ability to score, it’s his slapshot. He hasn’t had to use it in almost any occasion due to how the offense is structured on SKA 1946, and therefore it’s not as developed as his snap or wrister. This is a relatively minor knock, though. Demidov can take slapshots and find twine without much difficulty, it’s just the least refined part of his goalscoring ability.
Playmaking and Elite Hands:
Demidov has the best hands that we have scouted. Better than McDavid, better than Fantilli, better than Hughes, better than Bedard, better than Michkov, and yes, better than Patrick Kane as a prospect. Yep, that good. Hadi Kalakeche, one of Dobber’s lead scouts says, “…he has THE best handling skill I’ve seen… he’s the closest thing we’ve seen to Pavel Datsyuk since Pavel Datsyuk.” The rapidity of his movement, the purposeful puck placement, the astounding protection rate, and his ability to pull defenders off of him without moving his body is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Again, he has the most individual puck skill and innate offensive talent in the draft. These skills with his hands allow him to become an absolutely next level playmaker. Demidov is crafty, and has a history of faking shots to make a pass, or vice versa to help his team. He’s able to create lanes and take advantage of his puck control by having absolutely next level zone entry to set up the offense on a consistent basis. While his decision making needs some work when it comes to choosing the best move, he almost always makes the right one, and is able to think through solutions when there’s no apparent move forward. Whether it’s a drop pass, running the puck up the boards, a regroup, finding a teammate with a perfectly slotted pass, Demidov has no real ceiling. The only question remains is whether these skills will work as well at the next level. All said though, there’s no real debate between scouts that he’ll be a franchise winger.
Creativity and IQ:
Demidov is electrifying, brilliant, dynamic, innovative, transcendent, and any other adjective you want to use. There is no prospect in this draft with Demidov’s offensive upside, including Macklin Celebrini. As mentioned above, Demidov has been compared to Datsyuk: he is stellar at opening up lanes with his body or finding passes, even if they’re banked off the boards. While Bedard is a guy who was expected to shoot first, Demidov is a passer. This works in his favor, though. Demidov certainly doesn’t lack a scoring touch. His positioning and body will tell goalies and defenders he’s planning to pass and he’s able to quickly change direction using his edges to put a shot on net. His ability to think several steps ahead of the play allows him to execute highlight-reel passes and capitalize on scoring opportunities that others on his team might miss, or simply not have the skill to execute. He’s unpredictable because his vision is at such a high level. He’s got a game reminiscent of Jack Hughes and Patrick Kane, and the way he views the game has scouts absolutely over the moon about his pro projection. There really is nothing that Demidov doesn’t have the ability to do – this year in the MHL he took advantage of the strength of competition and tested it out. Demidov tried different reads, different styles, working more heavily down the middle, shooting, playdriving, etc. We’re blown away by the flexibility that he shows across every facet of the game. A really fun quote to mention from Lassi Alanen, EP’s director of Euro scouting is, “I still have like 100+ unused clips of Demidov's play from this season. He must be the most clippable prospect I've ever watched. Something eye-catching happening almost every shift during his second half of the season.” Demidov’s highlight reel isn’t really a “reel” – that’s just how he plays the game on most shifts that he takes.
Physicality and Defensive Awareness:
Demidov's physicality extends well beyond his height, as he isn't afraid to throw his weight (all 170lbs) around and engage in board battles to win possession. His defensive awareness is equally impressive, as he uses his size and reach to disrupt passing lanes and apply pressure on opposing forwards both in the defensive zone and in the neutral zone, showcasing a commitment to playing a complete, two-way game. As briefly mentioned, Demidov doesn’t exclusively play wing – he plays center too. While he’s not going to be Patrice Bergeron he is capable of handling both ends of the ice, and has consistently improved his defensive play throughout the year.
Work Ethic and Engagement:
While almost all prospects “work hard” to play their best on the ice, Demidov does that little bit more. Despite being a winger, he’s consistently one of the first players up and down the ice. He rarely coasts and drifts around but is engaged rather consistently all around the ice. One thing that’s often hard to teach prospects is how to be aggressive and assertive without being risky. Demidov never worries about challenging his opponents, fighting hard board battles, or giving his all to get back into a play after he’s low after driving to the net. This is something that the Blackhawks LOVE in their players, and should hopefully encourage GMKD to pull the trigger, if everything else didn’t sell him. As we see Demidov continue to improve in skating with NHL coaches, this should only give him more energy to expend in the 200ft game, and improve his engagement across plays. He’s an absolute workhorse, and consistently pushes to improve which evidenced by the massive improvement across this season in the MHL. There’s no reason to think this same drive can’t come through on the NHL level.
Areas to Improve and Questions:
With all the hype around Demidov, it’s hard to initially understand why he’s considered a lower end prospect than Celebrini. Digging in, though, it becomes more clear. While Demidov has the higher ceiling, he also has a much lower floor. The number one factor that limits Demidov is his exposure to higher end competition. The MHL is a good league, but Demidov was ready for the KHL last year. Since he wasn’t exposed to higher end competition there is still question on how much of his skillset will translate when playing higher level men’s hockey. There isn’t an expectation of a problem, but when a player lacks that experience, it undoubtedly makes them more challenging to project. Remember, Demidov didn’t really play meaningful KHL minutes when he got 4 games this year. He got 13th forward exposure and didn’t play with the same linemates that he worked with in the pre-season. Nonetheless, he wasn’t perfect. He did see some questionable decisions while trying to adapt to higher competition. There’s little concern that this is an actual issue, but Demidov needs to grow and play against men, even for a few games, before coming to the NHL. Thankfully, he should have the entire season in 2024-2025, and I haven’t read a single scouting report that expects him to have an issue putting up Michkov+ numbers.
The second factor is skating. Demidov is a good skater, but he’s unorthodox at best. While this skating relies heavily on his edgework which gives him amazing playmaking ability, his pivoting, high end speed, position and stride could all use refinement and improvement. While these are all skating mechanics that are easier to fix, skating is NOT a guarantee. If he’s unable to improve his skating with NHL skating coaches, it could limit his upside. He is still expected to be a top line winger, but it could be the difference between 70+ and 100+ points if skating doesn’t develop. Remember, some scouts view his skating as a “hidden” upside in his game, but improving skating not only gives him more offensive flexibility, but also defensively. There’s room for improvement, and it could be an easier lever to correct to see high rewards from.
The third factor is decision making. Demidov is creative to a fault, but just like in art, not every project works out. With such an advanced toolkit, Demidov needs to work with video coaches to better understand which moveset is appropriate in which scenario and when to deploy it. There’s a difference between decision making and IQ. Decision making is hard to fix when a prospect is set in their ways based on playstyle, but if playstyle is more flexible, then there’s much less of a concern. IQ, on the other hand is uncoachable, and Demidov has arguably the best offensive IQ in the draft. There’s no reason to believe that he can’t fix this, but due to being stuck abroad, and potentially even the MHL again next year, it could take him a bit longer to get up to NHL speed.
The final factor is defense. While it seems that every single forward prospect has a knock on their defense, we can qualify Demidov’s specifics a bit more easily. Demidov is a competent defender, and a very good well rounded player, but again decision making plays a factor in the challenge of projecting him here. While players like Celebrini are dominant both ways, Demidov often doesn’t make the right choice when defending – he has a lot of offensive instincts which have him sit higher on the blue, and while he is always engaged on the puck, he needs to be more responsible in coverage rotations. Off the rush, Demidov doesn’t always read the play correctly, and the inconsistency can create shooting lanes for his opponent. Just like Michkov, he can also cheat on plays where he finds himself a bit further away from a play and loses sight of his defensive assignment. He’s extremely energetic and consistently pushes to get back, but working with him on understanding when to cheat will be important for his development as well. We again want to reemphasize that Demidov plays solid defense and a good two way game, especially for a wingecenter. But there’s room for improvement in terms of bridging the gap between him and other recent prospects like Celebrini, Carlsson, and Johnston.
Pro Projection:
While he doesn’t have the skating that Jack Hughes had, he’s still a great projection and comparable. A smaller but nimble player who isn’t afraid to get involved on the rush, around the boards, or in transition. Demidov’s offensive upside is similar as well – like Hughes, the defense isn’t the best, but he’s able to run an entire offense both on the wing and playing center. He’s creative to a fault, has a great set of hands, and the toolkit to be a consistent top 5 player at his position in the NHL. Pro projections are always hard because you can never guarantee how a player will turn out, whether they’re undrafted or a #1OA, but Demidov is truly all but a sure thing. His creativity rivals players like Nikita Kucherov and Mitch Marner in their ability to think ahead of where the play is, his handling rivals Kane and Datysuk, his defensive play is above average for a winger, he has a great shot comparable to players like Matt Tkachuk, and is a bitch to get off the puck. Even when Demidov is literally on the ground, he’s consistently able to hold possession and find a play with no room left. With a toolkit like his, decent size at an estimated 6ft, there should be no reservations that Demidov should succeed at the next level. Most scouts see his floor around 65-70 points, and his ceiling closer to 120. I stand by the Jack Hughes comp I made earlier. While they differ in skating, they play very similar games, and should expect similar success at the next level.
Quotes:

“He’s got the best hands in the draft… and has made more one-on-one skill plays so far this season than almost any prospect I’ve scouted for any draft. He’s also a pretty engaged off-puck player who keeps his feet moving, hunts pucks on the forecheck, and can turn a steal into a game-breaking play in an instant.”
Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
“Demidov is already a game-breaking forward who can move the puck effortlessly and there’s no question he’d be a fantastic partner to some of the best prospects in the NHL today. His production in the MHL is comparable to Patrick Kane’s 2006-07 season with the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights… Demidov is a bonafide first-line winger who will score tons of goals.”
Dayton Reimer, The Hockey Writers
“In a vacuum he’s the most talented forward this draft class has to offer outside of Celebrini. Demidov possesses many of the same traits Celebrini does, only his track record is against younger, more unproven talent."
Sam Cosentino, Sportsnet
“The talent of Demidov is impossible to deny. His raw skills might be the best in terms of offense in the entire draft. His puckhandling, shot, passing, and even skating makes him a unique hockey player and prospect. There are many great offensive players, but not many quite like Demidov. Especially who will also have a great drive and motor to play a strong 200 foot game… he could easily be a point per game player in the NHL on most teams first line.”
Frederik Frandsen, Last Word on Sports
“At the end of the day, what you get in a player like Ivan Demidov is a generational offensive dynamo with the mind of a master chess player. Each time he gains possession of the biscuit, his ability to think many steps ahead of the opponent, find creative solutions involving his puck handling abilities, as well as creating tremendous execution at creating space with his skating or precisely hitting the net is considered to be up to par at the NHL level.”
Tyler Ballesteros-Willard, Draft Prospects Hockey
“Any forward that has ever had the type of equivalency we’ve seen from Demidov in his pre-draft year and draft year, going back to the ’80s, has turned into a point-per-game-plus superstar over their careers… You need stars to compete and contend in the NHL, and Demidov is almost guaranteed to be that.”
Byron Bader, Hockey Prospecting
“Demidov is the most dynamic, verstatile, and creative [puck] handler we’ve seen come through the draft in recent years. Elements of his on-puck decision-making remain raw, but his upside as a 100-point top-line winger is supported by decent off-puck and defensive engagement and lightning-quick processing of the game. His elite-level of on-puck intelligence and his trifecta of dynamic handling, playmaking, and goalscoring tools give him the foundation to become an electrifying creative force and offensive driver.”
Sebastian High, Dobber
“Demidov breaks defences. He spots a tiny gap in coverage, bursts right through, and blows it open. He plays mostly a finesse game, but does so hyper-aggressively, attacking everything he can. Demidov succeeds at pulling off plays that most prospects can't. He plans, processes, and anticipates faster than he can stickhandle. He's a pure creator with the puck, making plays out of nothing.”
David St. Louis, Elite Prospects
“Demidov is the more dynamic and flashy prospect [Than Michkov].Demidov is the single-most gifted handler in the entire 2024 class. He projects to be the superior one-on-one attacker…someone who can single-handedly create out of thin air. When it comes to passing ability…Demidov’s ability to chain together handling sequences into following passing plays is second to none.”
Lassi Alanen, Elite Prospects
“It’s a no brainer[at #2OA]. It’s Ivan Demidov all day, every day, 24/7. You run to the stage and pick him… if you ask me, Ivan Demidov is better than Matvei Michkov… He’s the only prospect in our rankings who we gave a 10 grade to for a specific ability. It’s not just the handling skill in isolation it’s the creativity. He comes up with solutions no one can expect.. his motor is underrated, puts in work defensively… it’s a no brainer there.”
Hadi Kalakeche, Locked on NHL/Dobber

Our Scouting:
Clip 1:
As we talked about prior, Demidov has a great IQ and the ability to create lanes and plays out of nothing. Demidov pushes up the ice and enters the zone with pressure closing onto the side. He uses his hands to pull in control, but more impressively, puts his body between the defender and the puck. He uses his edgework and breaking speed to push past the defender, then is patient enough to draw 3 defenders towards him, away from his teammate. When he sees the trailing defenseman waiting, he immediately finds a tight pass for a wide open teammate to capitalize.
Clip 2:
There’s a difference between a safe move, and then there’s an insane move. Watch as Demidov comes up on the left side. He sees that the defender is getting desperate and goes for a large poke. Demidov slides the puck under the Dman’s stick and once again shows off his patience. Instead of going for a quick shot he reads that the other defender is slowly coming across the crease to prevent a passing lane. Instead of just shooting like most players, Demidov baits the goalie into thinking he’s going to run into the defenseman, and in that second, puts the puck in the net.
Clip 3:
Small play, but this is just about how slick his passing is. He slides the puck through a very tight lane while baiting the defenseman into sliding due to not knowing where the play is going to be.
Clip 4:
While we can put on nonstop highlights, it’s also important to see how smart Demidov’s game is. Demidov and the other SKA players move the puck around a bit trying to find an opening until they give it to Demidov. Demidov reads an open play and passes the puck down, but instead of immediately following the puck or staying at his spot, Demidov uses his high engagement to instead move to the other side of the net down low to offer accessory support for his teammates on his anticipated cross crease pass, should there have been a rebound.
Clip 5:
Not every highlight is going to be a goal. One really underrated part of Demidov’s game is how well he’s able to read the offense. As he holds high initially, he’s able to help move the puck out in order to reset the offense when the play fails. His motor keeps him in the play and with his excellent edges, he’s able to make a quick pivot after rushing around in order to step up and create an open shooting lane. While his teammate can’t make the pass to get the puck to him, Demidov read where the play WOULD be, not just where it was. Those IQ aspects really can’t be taught, and are part of what makes him so special. By anticipating the open play rather than following the puck, he establishes himself as a play driver by creating options rather just following and executing structure at a high level.
Clip 6:
We're not even going to analyze this one. It’s just fucking fun. Talent oozes.
Clip 7:
This video has a ton of highlights, which I’d definitely recommend watching, but we’re going to focus specifically on the play at 0:45. We can post clips of Demidov scoring goals, finding breakaways, etc. all day long, but when thinking about translation to the NHL, IQ and decision making is what we’re really drying to drill down on. Demidov arrives in the zone through to middle and pushes the initial F1 to the F3 spot and changes the rotation. The puck is dumped to him and the initial F1 leaves a drop pass for Demidov approaching the goal. As soon as Demidov gets the puck, at 0:47, you can see him primed and in a good shooting position. The bigger defender misread the play and has drifted too far towards the center of the ice, leaving Demidov with a nearly unobstructed shooting lane as the netfront defenseman is also too far toward the middle. Instead of taking the shot, he instead waits to draw over the netfront defenseman, and the bigger defenseman closer towards him, leaving his teammate literally untouched across the crease. Demidov trusts his hands and ability with an extremely quick and accurate pass through the stick range of three defenders to find his teammate wide open. His decision making has been progressively improving and his ability to look off the shot to find an elite pass will translate extremely well to the next level.
Clip 8:
Another play where you can just be excited about Demidov. The puck is wrapped up around the boards and the defenseman sitting at the top of the blue just pushes the puck back into the zone without a clear target, or a player who has an explicit opening to the puck. If anything, the puck is put in the middle of all 5 Karpat skaters. Despite starting on the outside, Demidov’s engagement shines through where he uses his edgework to get a rapid explosive burst of speed, and pushes through both defenders in front of him to gain possession. Once he gains possession, his ability to control the puck, and his handles help to demonstrate just how strong of a prospect Demidov is. Even when the defender is falling onto him, Demidov is patient, makes the netfront defender bite to believe he’s going wide, creating a lane (effectively bypassing 3 separate Karpat players) to get to the goalie unobstructed. Then, his hands come out and he absolutely undresses the netminder with moves that the video literally cannot fully capture. He makes highlights like this look routine, every single game.
Clip 9:
Sometimes when you see a play it’s hard to say anything but wow. Demidov leads the rush through the neutral zone and reads the coverage a much less conventional 1-4 scheme. The offensive rush is a bit unconventional as well, but can offer a smart solution. By having 3 attackers, two concentrated up the middle and one wide, it allows for quick movement up the middle, and post defensive collapse onto the puck, a pass to the outside for a clear entry lane and shot. Demidov passes to his teammate directly across the center of the ice as he expects that teammate to immediately get puck to their teammate on the outside as coverage collapses. Demidov gauges where the openings are pre pass, as evidenced by the head movement. Unfortunately, instead of immediately passing again to the outside for an open lane, his teammate runs into pressure, and panics. He passes back to Demidov who is less than 8ft away and will inevitably will run into immediate pressure as well. Somehow, this is no problem for Demidov. He collects the puck with the literal tip of his stick, uses his body push the defender off, and then pulls the puck in while facing the wrong direction to slip past the defender. Despite being placed in a no win situation his hands and creativity shine through and he creates a clean lane to shoot the puck at the net. It’s almost inhuman what he’s able to do with his hands. When he gets to the net, he’s patient, baits the goalie, pulls wide, and then puts in a clean backhand. Some of these highlights are literally awe-inspiring.
Closing Thoughts:
If this scouting report doesn’t get you excited for Demidov, we don’t think anything will. He’s truly the most electric player in the draft with absolutely ridiculous hands, compete, dynamic play, and highlight reel performance. His IQ is next level, and his hands allow him to do truly amazing things with his skillset and competency. Demidov’s vision is absurd; he consistently makes passes to his teammates without looking, or sends a pass before a teammate has a clean break by using anticipation. These RARELY lead to a turnovers and are often not only creative but unorthodox methods to continue to move the puck up ice. Although his skating is unorthodox, he’s explosive, able to create comprehensive offensive maneuvers due to quick transitions, and make off angle passes with ease due to his edgework. He is elite in transition and able to run a breakout, an offense, and play any of the F1/F2/F3 roles when the situation calls for it. Despite his expected size of “only” 6ft 170lbs, Demidov knows how to use his body and hands. He not only protects the puck on offense but can draw defenders away from his teammates in predictable patterns, once again opening up space for him to capitalize. The same goes for defense where he's able to use his positioning to get the edge on his opponents for a rapid takeaway or a box out off the rush.
As we mentioned earlier, Demidov’s game isn’t limited only to offense, he has a decent understanding of the two way game as well. He’s a relentless forechecker, aggressive on the boards, and also always willing to use his high running motor to jump back into a play that leaves the zone, even if he’s right next to the net. Demidov has the most skill and raw talent out of any player in this draft, including Celebrini. Had Demidov not been demoted to the MHL due to SKA’s poor management, there is almost no doubt that he would be considered nearly neck and neck with Celebrini. As it is now, Demidov is ranked #2 on most boards, and the overall #2 in the consolidated ranking. Demidovs don’t come around often; people last year were genuinely considering whether Michkov was at Bedard’s level. Demidov rivals Michkov if not exceeds him.
You can nitpick the analysis we have of any one single aspect of Demidov. Not everyone buys analytics. Not everyone buys playmaking in a lower league. Not everyone likes irregular skating. Not everyone is on board with the MHL stat sheet, our hype etc. etc. We get it. Really, we do. But at the end of the day, when you step back and appreciate the full body of work, the comps, the analytics, the rave scouting reports, unanimous love, models, stat sheets, skill, work ethic, and more that ALL say that this kid is elite, there’s fire beyond the smoke. Demidov is THE guy. There should not be a debate at #2.
For those of you who made it to the end, thanks for reading! Ultimately we know there will be inevitable debate about a prospect, but we appreciate you hearing us out, and at least letting me, u/GoldWhale, spam the sub over the last few weeks in love of Demidov. Whether or not you agree with our analysis, we encourage you to do your own scouting, read from the authors we've included, watch through all the highlights in the linked videos, and draw your own conclusions!
We appreciate everyone in this community, and will try to answer any questions that you may have in the comments. If you so choose, please feel free to crosspost to other subs, edit, or utilize this writeup anywhere you like (forums/blogs/youtube etc.), just link back to our original post! For those in professional media who have contacted us with the hope of utilizing our writeup, feel free, again just link back to the original post as well. Thanks again!

=BACKGROUND=

Gwýsene ⟪ثِتونج ځوېٓسِنہ⟫ ⟨th'Tundj Gwýsene⟩ /θɛˈtund͡ʒ ˈʝyːzɛnɛ/ (or "the least Germanic Germanic language") is a Germanic language descendant from Old English spoken in Nabataea (modern-day Jordan, Sinai, and northwestern Saudi Arabia). It takes place in a timeline where the Anglo-Saxons get kicked out of Britain by the Celts, therefore they sail all the way to Nabataea (I pride myself on my realism here) and settle there. Most of them eventually convert to Islam, and, as a consequence, Arabic becomes elevated to the language of academia, nobility, and poetry.
"English" as we know it still survives in-timeline as Englisc — basically Middle English with some modifications — spoken as a minority language in southeastern Britain (or Pritani as the Celts call it in-world).
==ETYMOLOGY OF GWÝSENE==
⟨Gwýsene⟩ ⟪ځوېٓسِنہ⟫ is derived from ځوېٓسِن (Gwýsen) + ـہ- (-e, adjectival suffix), the former from Middle Gwýsene جِٔويسّمَن (ɣewissman), a fossilization of جِٔويسّ (ɣewiss, "Geuisse") + مُن (mon, "man"), from Old Gwýsene יוש מן (yws mn, yewisse monn), from Old English Ġewisse monn.
⟨Tundj⟩ ⟪تونج⟫ is loaned from an Arabized pronunciation of Old Gwýsene תנג (tng, tunge) (from which descends the doublet ⟨Togg⟩ ⟪تُځّ⟫ /toɣ(ː)/, "tongue")
The Englisc exonym is ⟨Eizmenasisc⟩ /ɛjzmɛˈnaːsɪʃ/, From Brithonech (in-world Conlang) Euuzmenasech /ˈøʏzmə̃næsɛx/, from Middle French Yœssmanes /ˈjœssmanɛs/ (hence modern in-world French Yœssmanes /jœsman/ and Aquitanian (in-world) ⟨Yissmanes⟩ /ˈiːsmans/), from Middle (High) German \jewissmaneisch (hence modern in-world German *Jewissmännisch** /jəˌvɪsˈmɛnɪʃ/, Saxon Jewissmannisch /jɛˌvɪsˈma.nɪʃ/, and Hollandish Iweesmanis /iˈʋeːsmanɪs/), Ultimately from Middle Gwýsene جِٔويسّمَن (ɣewissman). Doublet of Englisc ⟨iwis mon⟩ /ɪˈwɪs mɔn/ + ⟨-isc⟩ /-ɪʃ/

=PHONOLOGY=

Consonants	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	/m/		/n/
Plosive/Affricate	/p/ /b/		/t/ /d/	/t͡ʃ/ /d͡ʒ/¹		/k/ (/g/)²
Fricative	/f/ /v/	/θ/ /ð/	/s/ /z/	/ʃ/ /ʒ/¹	(/ç/)³ (/ʝ/)³	/x/ /ɣ/
Tap/Trill			/ɾ/ /r/
Approximant	/w/		/ɹ/ (/l/)⁴		/j/	/ɫ/

Vowels	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/ /iː/ /y/ /yː/		/u/¹ /uː/¹
Near-Close	(/ɪ/)⁵ (/ʏ/)⁵
Mid	/e/ /eː/ /ø/ /øː/		/o/ /oː/
Open-Mid	(/ɛ/)⁵	(/ɐ/)⁵	(/ɔ/)⁵
Open	/æ/ /æː/		/ɑ/ /ɑː/

1. Nonnative phonemes
2. allophone of /k/ inter-vocalically & /ɣ/ before /ɫ/
3. allophones of /x/ /ɣ/ near front vowels
4. allophone of /ɫ/ when not near any back vowels and/or velar consonants.
5. allophones in unstressed syllables

These are the phonemes of Standard Gwýsene, and, expectedly, they differ from dialect to dialect.
==EVOLUTION FROM OLD ENGLISH==
The Phonological evolution from Old English to Old Gwýsene are as follows:

• /g/ /j/ => /ɣ~ʝ/
• /h/ => /x/
• /f/ /θ/ /s/ => /v/ /ð/ /z/ word-internally
• /l/ => /ɫ/
• /x/ /ɣ/ => /ç/ /ʝ/ near /i/ /e/ /ø/
• /eo/ /eːo̯/ => /iɔ̯/ /iːɔ̯/
• /æɑ/ /æːɑ̯/ => /iɐ̯/ /iːɐ̯/
• /iy/ /y/ => /ø/
• /iːy̯/ => /øː/

From Old Gwýsene to Middle Gwýsene:

• /ŋk/ /ŋg/ => /kː/ /ɣː/
• /w̥/ /r̥/ /l̥/ /n̥/ => /fː/ /sː/ /ʃː/ /nː/
• /-çt/ /-xt/ => /-ç/ /-x/
• /r/ => /ɹ~ɻ/ post-vocalically
• /iɔ̯/ /iːɔ̯/ => /iɐ̯/ /iːɐ̯/
• /i/ /y/ /u/ => /ɪ/ /œ/ /ʊ/ when unstressed
• /e/ /ø/ /o/ => /ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɔ/ when unstressed
• /æ/ /ɑ/ => /ɐ/ /ɐ/ when unstressed

From Middle Gwýsene to Modern Gwýsene:

• /p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ => /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ /z/ word-internally
• /p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ => /f/ /s/ /x/ /v/ /z/ word-finally
• /wi/ => /wy/ => /yː/
• /ɪ/ /œ/ /ʊ/ => /ɛ/ /ʏ/ /ɔ/
• /ɔ/ => /ɐ/
• /i(ː)/ /u(ː)/ => /y(ː)/ /o(ː)/
• /o(ː)/ /æ(ː)/ /ɑ(ː)/ => /ɑ(ː)/ /e(ː)/ /æ(ː)/
• (/æː/ /uː/ => /i/ /ɑ/ in open syllables)
• /eː/ => /i/
• /iɐ̯/ /iːɐ̯/ => /eː/ /iː/

==DIALECT GROUPS==
Gwýsene has 4 main dialect groupings:
1- Southern Dialects
Spoken around in-world Áglästrélz /ˈɑːɣɫɐˌstɾeːɫz/ [ˈɑːʁɫ(ə)ˌsd̥ɾeːɫz]. Speakers of these dialects tend to pronounce:

• /Vm/ /Vn/ /Vɫ/ as syllabic [N̩] [ɫ̩]
• /ɹ~ɻ/ as [ɰ] in non-rhotic accents
• /w/ as [ɥ] near front vowels
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [pʰ] [tʰ] [kʰ]
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [b̥] [d̥] [g̊] word-internally
• /ɛ/ /ɐ/ as [ə]

Regarded as the oldest dialect by Gwýsens as it encompasses the original "homeland" (if we don't count the Anglo-Saxons that is). They're also considered the most "posh", and the standard accent is loosely based on the southern dialects.
2- Central Dialects
Spoken around in-world Keü-Nüvátra /keʏ ˌnʏˈvɑːtɾɐ/ [kɛɨ ˌnɨˈvɒːtɾɐ]. Speakers of these dialects tend to pronounce:

• /ç/ /ʝ/ as [h] [j]
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [pʰ] [tʰ] [kʰ]
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [p˭] [t˭] [k˭] word-internally
• /Vɹ/ /Vːɹ/ as [Vʴ] [Vʴːɹ]
• /ʏ/ /y/ /yː/ as [ɨ] [ʉ] [ʉː]
• /u/ as [ɯ] (though not that common)
• stressed /e/ /ø/ /o/ as [ɛ] [œ] [ɔ]
• /ɑ/ /ɑː/ as [ɒ] [ɒː]
• /æ/ /æː/ as [ä] [äː]

Central Dialects are considered posh by northerners and westerners, but not by southerners.
3- Western Dialects
Spoken in in-world Ettúr /ɛtˈtuːɻ/ [ətˈtuːɽ]. Speakers of these dialects tend to pronounce:

• /ç/ /ʝ/ as [x] [ɣ]
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [p˭] [t˭] [k˭]
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [b] [d] [g] word-internally
• /b/ /d/ as [β̞] [ð̞] word-internally, instead of /v/ /z/
• /ɹ~ɻ/ as [ɾ~ɽ]
• stressed /e/ /ø/ /o/ as [ɛ] [œ] [ɔ]
• unstressed /e/ /ø/ /o/ as [ə] [œ] [ə]
• /eː/ /øː/ /oː/ as [ɛː] [œː] [ɔː]

4- Northern Dialects
Spoken in in-world Ämma̋n /ɐmˈmæːn/ [(ʕ)ɐmˈmæːn]. Speakers of these dialects tend to pronounce:

• /ç/ /ʝ/ as [h] [j]
• /ɫ/ as [l]
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [p˭] [t˭] [k˭]
• /p/ /t/ /k/ as [b] [d] [g] word-internally
• /b/ /d/ as [b] [d] word-internally, instead of /v/ /z/
• /ɹ~ɻ/ as [ɾ~ɽ]
• /Vɹ/ as [Vː], or [Vɾ] in rhotic accents
• /Vːɹ/ as [Vːː] or [Vː], or [Vːɾ] in rhotic accents
• /ʏ/ /y/ /yː/ as [ɨ] [ɨ] [ɨː]
• /ø/ /øː/ as [ə] [əː] or [ɵ] [ɵː]
• /ɑ/ /ɑː/ as [ä] [äː]

==LEXICAL DOUBLETS==
The differing analyses of the Old English sequences /xe͜o xæ͜ɑ/ & /je͜o jæ͜ɑ/ when the change from /e͜o æ͜ɑ/ to /iɔ̯ iɐ̯/ was taking place led to:

• In the south, /i/ was elided into the palatal /ç/ /ʝ/, yielding Modern Southern [χɑ xæ] [ʁɑ ɣæ]
• In the (at the time) North, /i/ was fully pronounced, yielding Modern Central [heː] [jeː]

For example, Old English heofon & geofon evolved into:

• [ˈχɑvɱ̩] & [ˈʁɑvɱ̩] in Southern dialects. Used natively in the south and the west and were adopted as the standard forms /ˈxɑvɐn/ & /ˈɣɑvɐn/
• [ˈheːvɐn] & [ˈjeːvɐn] in the Central dialects. Used natively in the center and north and considered nonstandard.

=ORTHOGRAPHY=

Gýsene uses the Arabic script natively alongside a romanization
==SCRIPT BACKGROUND==
Since Gýsen use of the Nabataean & then Arabic script preceded the Persians by centuries, the Gýsen Arabic script differs quite a bit from the Indo-Persian system:

1. Rasm: Gýsens writing in Nabataean (& carrying over to Arabic) tended to follow Aramaic & Hebrew convention for representing consonants, while the Persian convention was derived from the most similar sounding preexisting Arabic consonants, leading to drastic differences in pointing convention (i‘jām). As Islam spread, the 2 conventions spread in their respective halves of the Muslim World: The Indo-Persian-Derived Eastern convention, and the Gýsen-Derived Western convention:

(Loose) Consonant ↓	Western ↓	Eastern ↓
//v//	⟪پ⟫	⟪و⟫ ǀ ⟪ڤ⟫
//tʃ//	⟪ڝ⟫	⟪چ⟫
//p//	⟪ڢ⟫	⟪پ⟫
//f//	⟪ڧ⟫	⟪ف⟫

1. Vowel Notation: The western convention has a definitive way of expressing vowels when diacritics are fully written, while in the eastern convention diacritics often serve dual-duty due to limitations of Arabic short vowel diacritics.

==Script keys==

Romanization ↓	Arabic ↓	Standard Phoneme ↓
ä ǀ a	◌َ	/æ/ (stressed) ǀ /ɐ/ (unstressed)
e	◌ِ	/e/ (stressed) ǀ /ɛ/ (unstressed)
o	◌ُ	/o/ (stressed) ǀ /ɔ/ (unstressed)
a̋ ǀ ◌́	◌ٓ	/æː/ (standalone) ǀ /◌ː/ (coupled with other vowels)
a	ا	/ɑ/ (stressed) ǀ /ɐ/ (unstressed)
b	ب	/b/ ǀ /v/ (intervocalically)
g	ځ	/ɣ/ ǀ /ʝ/
d	د	/d/ ǀ /z/ (intervocalically)
h	ھ	/ç/
w ǀ u	و	/w/ (glide) ǀ /u/ (vocalic)
z	ز	/z/
ch	خ	/x/
t	¹ط	/t/
y ǀ i	ي	/j/ (glide) ǀ /i/ (vocalic)
k	ک	/k/ ǀ /g/ (intervocalically)
l	ل	/ɫ/
m	م	/m/
n	ن	/n/
tj	ڝ	/t͡ʃ/
-	¹ع	/Ø/ ǀ /◌ː/ (post-vocalically)
p	ڢ	/p/ ǀ /b/ (intervocalically)
s	¹ص	/s/
k	¹ق	/k/
r	ر	/ɾ/ ǀ /r/ (geminated) ǀ /ɹ/ (post-vocalically)
s	س	/s/ ǀ /z/ (intervocalically)
t	ت	/t/ ǀ /d/ (intervocalically)
y	ې	/y/ (stressed) ǀ /ʏ/ (unstressed)
f	ڧ	/f/ ǀ /v/ (intervocalically)
ö	ۊ	/ø/ (stressed) ǀ /œ/ (unstressed)
-	ء ǀ ئـ	initial vowel holder
v	پ	/v/
th	ث	/θ/ ǀ /ð/ (intervocalically)
tj	¹چ	/t͡ʃ/
dj	¹ج	/d͡ʒ/
dh	ذ	/ð/
j	¹ژ	/ʒ/
sj	ش	/ʃ/
dh	¹ض	/ð/
dh	¹ظ	/ð/
g	¹غ	/ɣ/ ǀ /ʝ/
v	¹ڤ	/v/
a ǀ ä	²ـى	/æ/ (stressed) ǀ /ɐ/ (unstressed)
e	²ـہ	/e/ (stressed) ǀ /ɛ/ (unstressed)
'l-	لٔـ	/‿(ə)ɫ-/
th'-	ثِـ	/θɛ-/

1. nonnative
2. only occur word-finally

=GRAMMAR=

Gwýsen grammar is extremely divergent from the Germanic norm, having been brought about by extremely harsh standardization efforts by the ruling class while backed by academia & scholars. It's heavily influenced by Arabic — being the encompassing liturgical, academic, and aristocratic language during the Middle to Early Modern Gwýsen periods.
==PRONOUNS==
^\this entire segment will use the romanization only]) The Pronouns themselves have remained relatively true to their Germanic origins, apart from the entire set of Arabic 3rd person pronouns & the genitive enclitics. Gwýsene still retains the Old English dual forms, but they're only used in formal writing:

1st Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ih /iç/	wi /wi/	wi /wi/
Accusative	mih /miç/	án /ɑːn/	ós /oːs/
Standalone Genitive	min /min/	ág /ɑːɣ/	ór /oːɹ/
Enclitic Genitive	-min /-mɪn/	-ag /-ɐɣ/	-or /-ɔɹ/

2nd Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	thách /θɑːx/	gi /ʝi/	gi /ʝi/
Accusative	thih /θiç/	in /in/	iw /iw/
Standalone Genitive	thin /θin/	ig /iʝ/	iwar /ˈiwɐɹ/
Enclitic Genitive	-thin /-θɪn/	-ig /-ɪʝ/	-iwar /-ɪwɐɹ/

3rd Person Masculine	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	chá /xɑː/	chama̋ /xɐˈmæː/	chám /xɑːm/
Accusative	hin /çin/	chama̋ /xɐˈmæː/	chám /xɑːm/
Standalone Genitive	his /çis/	chama̋ /xɐˈmæː/	chám /xɑːm/
Enclitic Genitive	-his /-çɪs/	-chama /-xɐmɐ/	-cham /-xɐm/

3rd Person Feminine	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	hi /çi/	chana̋ /xɐˈnæː/	chán /xɑːn/
Accusative	hi /çi/	chana̋ /xɐˈnæː/	chán /xɑːn/
Standalone Genitive	hir /çiɹ/	chana̋ /xɐˈnæː/	chán /xɑːn/
Enclitic Genitive	-hir /-çɪɹ/	-chana /-xɐnɐ/	-chan /-xɐn/

==NOUNS==
Middle Gwýsene inherited the Old English nominal declension, but due to merging & reduction of (final) unstressed vowels, all endlings were dropped except for the accusative & dative plurals which were later generalized. Middle Gwýsene also dropped the neuter gender, merging it with the masculine & feminine genders based on endings

Regular Noun Declension	Singular	Plural
Masculine	-	-an /-ɐn/
Feminine	-	-as /-ɐs/

This has been standardized to all nouns, with some ablaut irregulars:

"Man" (man) ǀ "Bách" (book)	Singular	Plural
Masculine	man /mɑn/	menan /ˈmenɐn/
Feminine	bách /bɑːx/	bitjas /ˈbit͡ʃɐs/

...and some nouns retain colloquial plural forms more reminiscent of their Old English counterparts:

"Tjylz" (child) ǀ "Chänz" (hand)	Singular	(Standard) Plural	(Common) Plural
Masculine	tjylz /t͡ʃyɫz/	tjyldan /ˈt͡ʃyɫzɐn/	tjylro /ˈt͡ʃyɫɾɔ/
Feminine	chänz /xænz/	chändas /ˈxænzɐs/	chända /ˈxændɐ/

===Possession===
Gwýsene has two distinct methods of indicating possession dur to the dropping of the genitive case:
1. A loaned version of the Arabic construct state (present in the standard language, urban areas, and most of the Northern and Western dialects). the Arabic definite article (-الـ) was loaned with its use in the construct state into Late Early Modern Gwýsene as a separate "letter form" [-لٔـ] and prescribed by Grammarians ever since as a "genitive" maker. This method also assumes definiteness of the noun it's prefixed to; it must be prefixed to eneg ("any") for indefinite nouns.
Bách 'lgörel /bɑːχ‿ɫ̩ˈʝøɹɛɫ/ ("the boy's book")

bách 'l - görel book ɢᴇɴ.ᴅғ - boy 

2. Use of a prefixed fär (equivalent to English "of", cognate with English "for") (present in rural areas and is generally viewed as a rural or "Bedouin" feature). This method does not assume definiteness, and a definite article is required.
Bách färth'görel /bɑːχ ˌfɐɹðəˈʝøɹɛɫ/ ("the boy's book")

Bách fär - th' - görel book of - ᴅғ - boy 

==ADJECTIVES==
Much like Nouns, adjectives decline for number and gender:

Regular Adjective Declension	Singular	Plural
Masculine	-	-an /-ɐn/
Feminine	-e /-ɛ/*	-as /-ɐs/

\due to its similarity with the common adjectival suffix* -e, adjectives derived that way would not decline for gender in the singular
==VERBS==
Gwýsen verbs are the most mangled, both by Arabization and regular phonological development. Gwýsen word order is VSO. Due to pronouns coming after the verb, they merged with the preexisting endings and formed unique endings that were later generalized to standard verb declension (rendering Gwýsene a pro-drop language)

Present Verb Conjugation	---
Infinitive	-en /-ɛn/
Present Participle	-enz /-ɛnz/
Past Participle	ge- -en /ʝɛ- -ɛn/
Singular Imperative	-
Plural Imperative	-on /-ɔn/
1ˢᵗ singular	-i /-ɪ/
1ˢᵗ plural	-swe /-swɛ/
2ⁿᵈ singular	-tha /-θɐ/
2ⁿᵈ plural	-gge /-ʝʝɛ/
3ʳᵈ singular masculine	-scha /-sxɐ/
3ʳᵈ dual masculine	-schama /-sxɐmɐ/
3ʳᵈ plural masculine	-scham /-sxɐm/
3ʳᵈ singular feminine	-sche /-sxɛ/
3ʳᵈ dual feminine	-schana /-sxɐnɐ/
3ʳᵈ plural feminine	-schan /-sxɐn/

the subjunctive is formed with a prefixed les- (if the verb is consonant-initial) or let- (if the verb is vowel-initial)
As a consequence to the fusional suffixes, the preterite suffixes completely merged with the present ones, so weak verbs need an auxiliary to indicate simple past, which segways us to-
===Auxiliary Verbs===
Most auxiliaries have 2 conjugations: an auxiliary conjugation & a standalone conjugation:

Sőn ("to be") Conjugations	Auxiliary	Standalone
Singular Imperative	ső /søː/	ső /søː/
Plural Imperative	sőn /søːn/	sőn /søːn/
Singular Subjunctive	ső /søː/	les-... /ɫɛs-../
Plural Subjunctive	sőn /søːn/	les-... /ɫɛs-.../
1ˢᵗ singular	ém /eːm/	émi /ˈeːmɪ/
1ˢᵗ plural	synz /synz/	synzwe /ˈsynzwɛ/
2ⁿᵈ singular	érs /eːɹs/	értha /ˈérðɐ/
2ⁿᵈ plural	synz /synz/	syngge /ˈsynʝ(ʝ)ɛ/
3ʳᵈ singular masculine	ys /ys/	ysscha /ˈyssxɐ/
3ʳᵈ dual masculine	synz /synz/	synzchama /ˈsynzxɐmɐ/
3ʳᵈ plural masculine	synz /synz/	synzcham /ˈsynzxɐm/
3ʳᵈ singular feminine	ys /ys/	yssche /ˈyssxɛ/
3ʳᵈ dual feminine	synz /synz/	synzchana /ˈsynzxɐnɐ/
3ʳᵈ plural feminine	synz /synz/	synzchan /ˈsynzxɐn/

There are 4 tense-related auxiliaries: Wesan (past auxiliary, "was"), Sőn (participle auxiliary, "be"), Bín (participle auxiliary, "be"), and Víden (future auxiliary, "will"):

Auxiliary Declensions	Wesan ↓	Sőn ↓	Bín ↓	Víden ↓
1ˢᵗ singular	wes /wes/	ém /eːm/	bí /biː/	va̋ /væː/
2ⁿᵈ singular	wir /wiɹ/	érs /eːɹs/	bys /bys/	vés /veːs/
3ʳᵈ singular	wes /wes/	ys /ys/	byth /byθ/	véth /veːθ/
dual/plural	wiran /ˈwiɹɐn/	synz /synz/	bíth /biːθ/	va̋th /væːθ/
Singular Imperative	wes /wes/	ső /søː/	bí /biː/	víz /viːz/
Plural Imperative	weson /ˈwezɔn/	sőn /søːn/	bín /biːn/	vídon /ˈviːzɔn/
Singular Subjunctive	wir /wiɹ/	ső /søː/	bí /biː/	víz /viːz/
Plural Subjunctive	wiren /ˈwiɹɛn/	sőn /søːn/	bín /biːn/	víden /ˈviːzɛn/

===Stong Verbs===
Most of the strong classes remain in Gwýsene, albeit with completely unorthodox ablaut patterns. They've been re-sorted based on patterns that I've Grammarians have found. Strong verbs also never need the past auxiliary.

Type (Gwýsene)	Corr. Type in Old English	Present stem vowel	Past singular stem vowel	Past plural stem vowel	Past participle stem vowel
I	VII.c	é /eː/	í /iː/	í /iː/	é /eː/
II	IV	e /e/	e /e/	i /i/	a /ɑ/
III.a	I	ý /yː/	a̋ /æː/	y /y/	y /y/
III.b	III.a	y /y/	ä /æ/	o /o/	o /o/
IV.a	II.a	í /iː/	í /iː/	o /o/	a /ɑ/
IV.b	II.b	a/á /ɑ(ː)/	í /iː/	o /o/	a /ɑ/
IV.c	III.b	é /eː/	é /eː/	o /o/	a /ɑ/
V.a	VI	ä /æ/	á /ɑː/	á /ɑː/	ä /æ/
V.b	VII.a	a̋ /æː/	i /i/	i /i/	a̋ /æː/
V.c	VII.e	á /ɑː/	í /iː/	í /iː/	á /ɑː/

=TRANSLATIONS=

==NUMBERS==

Number	Cardinal	Ordinal	Adverbial	Multiplier
1	A̋n /æːn/	Föress /ˈføɹɛss/	Mer /meɹ/	A̋nfélz /ˈæːnˌveːɫz/
2	Twin /twin/	Áther /ˈɑːðɛɹ/	Merdén /mɛɹˈdeːn/	Twýfélz /ˈtyːˌveːɫz/
3	Thrý /θɾyː/	Thryzz /ˈθɾyzz/	Thrémra̋s /ˌθɾeːˈmɾæːs/	Thryfélz /ˈθɾyˌveːɫz/
4	Fíwar /ˈfiːwɐɹ/	Fíradh /ˈfiːɹɐð/	Fírmra̋s /ˌfiːɹˈmɾæːs/	Fíwarfélz /ˈfiːwɐɹˌveːɫz/
5	Fýf /fyːf/	Fýfedh /ˈfyːvɛð/	Fýfmra̋s /ˌfyːvˈmɾæːs/	Fýffélz /ˈfyːfˌfeːɫz/
6	Sysj /syʃ/	Sysjedh /ˈsyʃɛð/	Sysmra̋s /ˌsysˈmɾæːs/	Sysjfélz /ˈsyʃˌfeːɫz/
7	Sévan /ˈseːvɐn/	Sévadh /ˈseːvɐð/	Sévmra̋s /ˌseːvˈmɾæːs/	Sévanfélz /ˈseːvɐnˌveːɫz/
8	Éht /eːçt/	Éhtadh /ˈeːçtɐð/	Éhmra̋s /ˈeːçˈmɾæːs/	Éhtafélz /ˈeːçtɐˌveːɫz/
9	Nygan /ˈnyʝɐn/	Nygadh /ˈnyʝɐð/	Nygamra̋s /ˌnyʝɐˈmɾæːs/	Nyganfélz /ˈnyʝɐnˌveːɫz/
10	Tőn /tøːn/	Tődh /ˈtøːð/	Tőmra̋s /ˌtøːˈmɾæːs/	Tőnfélz /ˈtøːnˌveːɫz/

==THE COLD WINTER IS NEAR==
‎‫بېث نيٓھ ثِوېٓنتِر ڝِٓلز، پِٓث ڝۊٓمسخى ستارم سنِوى. ڝۊم وِثنَن خُٓمسمين وِٓرم، برآثَرمين. سَلٓم! ڝۊم ھېذ، سېځّ ءَنز شّيٓڧ، ڧرِس ءَنز درېھّ. بېثِّس خُطَّمين. ھِپّسوى وِتِر، ءَنز زۊٓثِن، ءَنز مِٓلخ، بېثِّس ڧِرش ءُٓسڧرى ثِکآ. ءوٓ، ءَنز براث وِٓرم!‬
Byth ních thʼwýnter tjélz, véth tjőmscha starm snewe. Tjöm withnän¹ chósmin wérm, bráthärmin². Säläm³! Tjöm hydh, sygg ænz ssjíf⁴ ⁶, fres⁵ änz dryhh⁶. Bytthes⁷ chottämin⁸. Hevvswe weter, änz zőthen⁹, änz mélch, býtthes fersj ósfrä¹⁰ thʼká. Ó, änz brath!
be.3.ꜱɢ.ᴘʀᴇꜱ near ᴅꜰ-winter cold , ꜰᴜᴛ.3.ꜱɢ come-3.ꜱɢ.ᴍᴀꜱᴄ storm snowy . come.ɪᴍᴘ.ꜱɢ in house-1.ꜱɢ.ɢᴇɴ.ᴄʟ warm , brother-1.ꜱɢ.ɢᴇɴ.ᴄʟ . Welcome ! come.ɪᴍᴘ.ꜱɢ hither , sing.ɪᴍᴘ.ꜱɢ and dance.ɪᴍᴘ.ꜱɢ , eat.ɪᴍᴘ.ꜱɢ and drink.ɪᴍᴘ.ꜱɢ . be.3.ꜱɢ.ᴘʀᴇꜱ-that plan-1.ꜱɢ.ɢᴇɴ.ᴄʟ . have-1.ᴘʟ water , and beer , and milk, be.3.ꜱɢ.ᴘʀᴇꜱ-that fresh from ᴅꜰ-cow . Oh , and soup !

/byθ niːç θə‿ˈyːnzɛɹ tʃeːɫz veːθ ˈtʃøːmsxɐ stɑɻm ˈsnewɛ/
/tʃøm wɪðˈnæn ˈxoːsˌmɪn weːɹm ˈbɾɑːðɐɹˌmɪn/
/sɐˈɫæm tʃøm çyð syʝʝ‿ɐnz ʃʃiːf fres‿ɐnz dɾyçç/
/ˈbyθθɛs ˈxottɐˌmɪn/
/ˈçevvswɛ ˈwedɛɹ ɐnz ˈzøːðɛn ɐnz meɫχ ˈbyθθɛs feɹʃ ˈoːsfrɐ θəˈkɑː/
/oː ɐnz bɾɑθ/

1. the words for “in” and “on” merged to än, which was kept for “on”.‬
2. Gwýsens tend to use “brother” as an informal form of address‬.
3. Säläm is only used by Muslim Gwysens. Christian Gwysens prefer Pastos /pɐsˈtos/ (from Ancient Greek ‬ἀσπαστός).
4. comes from Old English hlēapan.
5. comes from old English fretan.
6. Drykken & Ssjípan are within a class of verbs that have a differing imperative stems than the usual inflected stems due to sound changes. In this case the usual stems are Drykk- & Ssjíp-, while the imperatives are Dryhh & Ssjíf. In the central and Low Northern dialects this particular /k/ => /ç/ is not present, and the imperative stem is also Drykk.
7. contracted from of Byth thäs (“that is”)‬.
8. from Arabic خُطَّة.
9. from Latin zȳthum.
10. contraction of old English ūt fra (“out of”).

29M - USA - 2.5 Months
One concern that I had with the idea of SR when I first began contemplating the topic was that once "charged up" I would begin to behave foolishly concerning my dating prospects, and that the buildup of sexual energy would cause me to simp after women more heavily than if I was depleted, where I perceived I would be able to "play it cool" with girls. This was certainly the case to a significant extent during my initial streaks, and these types of outcomes were an impediment for me to realizing the advantages of SR in my early twenties.
The reason this was initially an issue for me is that the beginning of the beginning, as in, before any streaks longer than a month were accomplished my brain was highly sexualized causing me to behave in a deranged way once the buildup began. This still occurs, and is why in my opinion SR can be detrimental to a successful dating life because it oftentimes pedestalizes the act of sex, which can create a loop of Oxytocin deficiency which I believe is what causes people to enter their 'loner' phase.
I believe the cure for this is to break through successfully in personal endeavors unrelated to sex, which creates positive dopamine associated with elements outside of scoring with the opposite gender. My current realization is that before you're able to see improvements in behavior, there's going to be a dip and your behavior is actually going to get worse in many cases. This is of course referred to as a flatline, the longer you're able to go without O, the less extended flatlines will become with each subsequent streak. I also believe in the elasticity of streaks, for several years ago when I first began this journey I accomplished a 5 month streak, and my overall demeanor became pretty negative. That first 5 month streak was probably the most depressive period of my life, but it was a culmination of reaping what I had sewed for upwards of 10 years prior to that. Therefore, I can't blame the streak itself for this depressive time.
However, it did create some antisocial behaviors that I'm still unlearning and that I didn't have an issue with as much prior to that great streak. For one thing, my internet behavior became far more anonymous, and to this day my social media habits have shifted from representing my real identity through instagram/facebook, to browsing anonymously through reddit, youtube. This shift I believe created a psychological dissociation from my real world social media profiles, and now I have a l higher evel of anxiety about going on Instagram as myself that I consider to be an impediment. Of course, Social Media is generally considered harmful overall, but if the reason I'm not going on it is because of an anxiety, I consider that just as harmful. So that's something I'm working on.
When one goes 'monk mode' for too long, one may begin to cultivate the desire to begin forming attachments to girls again in the future, but find it more challenging to ride that bicycle compared to if they had not allowed the muscle of PUA to atrophy. That being said, re-integrating socially is definitely possible after a long SR streak, and in doing so you'll still possess any SR benefits that you cultivated during a lonersome period. Overall, I'd say the effort to change behaviors and re-invent yourself is more valuable than the loss of social calibration that can occur. I'm speaking on this topic from the experience of being unemployed for 8 months and then being thrust back into a job that required a high volume of person-to-person interactions.
Benefits on this streak:

• Found a new better higher paying job. I've been barbacking at a prominent restaurant for the last 4 months but I finally received a bartending offer at a different quality downtown establishment. I'm using all these adjectives because many restaurants are trash to bartend at, but the new spot is a place I am actually blessed to be working at.
  
• Reconnected with a childhood friend. They're doing quite well in their career and the wellness gained from my SR streak definitely leveled any psychological issues this would have otherwise caused between our friendship.
  
• Polarization with coworkers. Even though I'm sometimes overly aggressive / moody at work, SR positions me to be the person people are talking about rather than a sideline gossiper (this could be in my head, I'm not sure).
  
• Overall sense of optimism and deeper sense of purpose, even if that purpose is struggling to find an outlet.
  
• Physical: muscle growth, low body fat, Improvement in muscle tone, I'm lean af, my hairline is rock solid, teeth haven't been in pain once.
  
• Attraction from females at work, one extremely hot girl put her face right by mine the other day and told her friend who I knew from high school 'yep this guy is good vibes'. Still not cold approaching people outside of work as much as I would like, but people can tell I've got an energy to me
  
• This one girl at work hit me with a pullback and I've overall been handling it like a boss, even though these situations cause a greater sense of despair when on a decent streak, I've gained increased resilience to rejection and have maintained a strong demeanor, and I'm slowly become better at 'spinning plates' than I otherwise would be.
  
• This other girl at work has defended me in multiple instances and generally been supportive of my turbulent period of SR and in over-pursuing this other girl. This bartender was giving me a hard time and I eventually told her to 'chill tf out', she informed the manager. The other girl fist bumped me after she heard about it, and more recently when a manager snapped at me, she later defended me and said she "got my back".
  
• Haven't checked my T levels but I would estimate they have likely doubled based off how I feel.
  
• Resting chad face, the first physical changes that come with longer-term consistent streaks of at least a month over 2 years have certainly caused my jawline to improve and my face to widen. Natural 'mewing'
  
• Disassociation from past identity and sense of self. SR lets me feel that real change is possible. This sometimes manifests as a decrease in tasks/side hustles pursued in a day, but that is because I am consolidated and more conscious of avoiding spreading myself thin in too many directions, the way I would do in the past.
  
• Become capable of saying 'I love you' to my parents, something that we were never able to do for years. Overcame certain mental blocks.
  
• Decreased programming from YouTube & Social Media, I've found myself questioning some of the self-improvement content / general content I consume more than I probably would otherwise. Without SR, I would just be using this type of content to cope & clinging to every word. Greater critical thinking skills & self awareness.
  

The only downsides I've seen are that I have increased cravings for weed, although I've been able to take upwards of 5 days - 2 weeks at a time off. The issue is that with SR I'm able to handle THC and still function in a way I simply wouldn't be able to if I wasn't on a decent streak. I Haven't been as successful with quitting weed as I have with SR yet because I've been dreading the dip in performance that comes with quitting any substance, but I still do find the therapeutic benefits of use to be a silver lining and I feel the discipline I'm cultivating with SR will allow me to effectively quit in the future.
So far, this streak I've been mainly focused on interpersonal dynamics, but today for the first time in a while I was able to go deeper into my own world once again. I grabbed that bull by the horns & wrote this post, and focused on a side hustle.

Recently, my boyfriend ('daklos', Redwoood) and I ('gɥehæfilos', Orange Fish) have found ourselves inspired by the concept of Clongcraft, and have started a Minecraft world together in which we can't speak any existing languages. Over the past few weeks, a proto-language of sorts has arisen. Here are some short examples:
ım ib mɥʊn • I eat a berry. (lit.: 1psg.seed.consume)
se saok omo ta se • You gather deepslate. (lit.: 2psg.stone.black.give.2psg)
ım xixi æma • I make a banner. (lit.: 1psg.write.craft)
We use this language and Minecraft world as a way to strengthen our relationship. We each made custom keyboards on KBD Maker (IOS app), and are now really starting to get far with the language. I'll try to keep y'all updated with new developments!!
edit: got deleted coz it didnt have enough content so here i am explaining its grammar lmao
It is in SOV word order, with adjectives placed after nouns and reduplication to indicate plurals.
ım ib los mɥʊn • I eat a red berry. (lit.: 1psg.fruit.red.consume)
se dak-dak ta se • You gather many trees/a lot of wood. *(lit.: 2psg.tree.tree.give.2psg)
While a simple alphabetical orthography has developed, we also use banners as an ideographical writing system. "ib", the word for fruits and seeds, is represented by a banner with a red dot in the middle. We also don't have a word for "yes", so say "ejdæ", which means "good", or say "uh-huh". We don't have enough verbs yet, but I predict a system of repeating the verb in the question will also arise as a form of "yes" or "no".
The language in its current state, Proto-Minelic, has around 22 consonants and eight vowels. They are as follows:
/m l n ŋ ɲ j ɥ f p t d b k g x s c h/ [q `]*
/ʊ u ı i æ a o e/
*i don't have access to the IPA rn, but [q] is the palatal version of /k/ and [`] is the glottal stop
TLDR we are cavemen in Minecraft. one REALLY loves copper and wasted 20 kabilkion coal on a full inventory of ingots and the other one is me.

I was reading the lore pages of older seasonal artifacts for fun, and the Seasonal Artifact from Season of the Splicer had an interesting segment that I hadn't noticed before. But before we get to that, a quick note about the word Paradrome. My google searches only came up with the Oxford English Dictionary website. It is the only one that claimed to have a definition, which is unfortunately blocked by a subscription wall.
However, if we look up the root words Para and Drom separately, we get a good image of what it means.
Para, for those that don't know, is a prefix that indicates being close to or next to something else.
Drom, is probably a little less familiar but it comes from the Greek Dromos, which is a word for avenue or walkway, or entrance, or other related concepts.
Paradromic, is an adjective that means running side by side or in paralel. The impression I get is that it would be more likely to refer to two roads or entryways, rather than two people running in parallel, but I suppose either is probably a correct usage.
So the Paradrome Cube then is going to have something to do with things operating or running in parallel. While I think there are multiple layers, an obvious one that you will see below is that when looking at this thing, Mithrax sees two visions. The artistic implication being they visions are parallel to eachother.
On to the lore! The text on the cube is as follows:

PARADROME CUBE - SEASONAL ARTIFACT FOR SEASON 14, SEASON OF THE SPLICER
A CUBE OF LIVING CODE CLAIMED FROM THE VEX DOMAIN.
Mithrax sat on a carpet in his meager quarters, held the Paradrome Cube in his hand, and concentrated.
Hours passed before Eido, concerned, sat beside him. She touched his arm.
"What do you see?" she whispered.
He saw the Endless Night split open. He saw fluid falling like white rain on the City. Massive Minotaurs rising from the shallow seas. He saw the gunfire of the Guardians in the Tower, but it did not reflect on the rippling liquid, and he dismissed the vision.
A hundred more illusions took its place, then a thousand, then a thousand lifetimes' worth:
-a shape frozen inside a crystal prison a towering figure in white recognition flooding bloodshot eyes a city of voices speaking at once shadow taking form the realization they had always been watched tears on metal-
A choice, and its consequences.
"Lies," he answered plainly.

There is a lot of symbolism here, but the thing that I wanted to bring to our attention is the phrase "a towering figure in white". Season of the Splicer is the midpoint in the year following Beyond Light. WQ hasn't released yet, so no one has even imagined the Witness as an antagonist yet, and when we first get this artifact no one will have guessed that Savathun is posing as Osiris. Yet here we have a direct foreshadowing of the Witness coming, and of the Vex's knowledge of it, as this cube came out of their general network. And crucially this is NOT the Sol Divisive. This is something he pulled out of their network that we use to splice into it later as we hunt for Vex Minds and ultimately for Queria.
For fun, here is a short list of possible literal definitions. But there may be symbolic or figurative definitions as well:
First Vision - Seems to mostly be an account of the Vex plan to assault the City with overwhelming force.
Second Vision -
A shape frozen inside a crystal prison - The most obvious option is Eramis being frozen back on Europa, but I think this is more likely a way that this cube of Vex is conceptualizing the Witness's "final shape" because...
A towering figure in white - clearly fits the description of the Witness. It is a towering figure, and it is pasty
Recognition flooding bloodshot eyes - I'm less sure of this, but I do know that Vex eyes are red, and that The Gate Lord's Eye seasonal artifact references bleeding as part of it's internal structure. So my thought here is that this is the Vex recognizing the Witness in some capacity.
A city of voices speaking at once - Witness's plurality of form. It is a multitude of beings crammed together into a single body. A multitude of voices speaking as one, with one voice.
Shadow taking form - I think this is probably referring to the Witness's plans starting to move again. Things are in motion, and the Pyramids are here, and the Witness is coming for the Traveler.
The realization they had always been watched - The Witness has been watching us, watching the Vex, watching everything. Witnessing the universe.
Tears on metal - I don't know if this is tears as in crying tears, or if this is tears as in tearing fabric. And either way, I don't know what this is referencing.
So to me, this "vision" he sees is a version of what the Vex in this cube think will happen. What is going to happen in the future. And it is a direct foreshadowing of the Witness itself as a villain, as well as it's ultimate plans for the universe. Later, during the Vow of the Disciple Raid, Guardians will discover a prophecy wall inside Rhulk's Pyramid that describes everything the Witness does in Lightfall perfectly.
Just a nice piece of continuity I noticed. Thanks for reading!

Do any of your guys's conlangs use vowel harmony? And it doesnt have to be in the typical sense... I know in Turkish and Mongolian its quite complex and depending on the suffix used vowels will change etc, but in Korean, vowel harmony is actually used within words to describe different nuances in feeling, and since I thought that was interesting and pretty cool, I decided to incorporate it in my conlang.
For example, in my conlang Ceron, there is only 5 vowel sounds, and only 4 are capable of "harmonizing"
a-e
o-u
The vowels 'a' and 'o' are considered strong vowels, and 'e' and 'o' are considered weak. So a words meaning can be changed from "strong" to "weak" by changing the vowels. For example in the word "egeg" which means abruptly ending or steep, (of a small cliff or drop), vowel harmonization can occur and change to "agag" which means also abruptly ending or steep, but of a large drop or cliff, more intense. Another adjective "bacbac" means screeching or sharp sounds like scraping, whereas "becbec" means gentle rubs or gentle tapping! I usually use vowel harmony with onomatopoeic words, but I also use it sometimes with regular words.
Anyways, do any of your guy's conlangs use vowel harmony in unique ways? I'd love to expand how my conlang uses them! :)

The Context:

A 43 year-old award-winning 3D artist with no construction experience makes a post to /construction bemoaning how hard it is to break into the trades. The thread has been deleted, but still can be read in full here.
His post begins:

I can't get into the trades for no reason that I can discern. 24 years work experience, successful, in an unrelated field. I speak well, no record. I'm eager, have spent time consulting in relevant fields.
It's not random, there's interviews, people make connections, sons get on the job, etc.
I'm white and male and those two qualities have made it impossible for me to get a job at 43 making $18 an hour as a helper to spend most of my time getting coffee?
What am I supposed to do? Banditry? Walk into any shop and it's "why am I going to sponsor you?" and it's not because they don't think I'll do the job well, it's "What is in it for me?"
Unions are meant to protect generational labor while putting window dressing up begging alternate ethnicity and genders or whatever else is on their list. It has nothing to do with who will be the best electrician or carpenter in 6 years.
Good luck guys, glad you have a place in society.

He is heavily criticized for this, with many pointing out that there are likely other reasons he has failed to find gainful employment in his field of choice. OOP then proceeds to get into multiple fights, mentions that he’s won several awards at Cannes, and pushes back on almost all advice given to him.
For readability’s sake, I have linked directly to Unddit for all of OOP’s (now-deleted) comments.

The Drama:

Is OOP too late?

No experience? You're 43? I wouldn't hire you either. It's a young man's game. You're a couple of decades too late.

Putting age into it is literally illegal. You're making my point for me. These public avenues are supposed to make you equal in the law, not add layers of insulation for age discrimination. Hopefully you're not an employer.

Ok we will take age out of it. You sound more aggravating than ten Mexicans of any vintage.
This field is not for you. Go back to tech or whatever.

I sound aggravating when I'm angry at your profession which in some form directly represents you? Go figure.

No, you sound aggravating because you took to Reddit to whine about Mexicans because you think you DESERVE a job that you’re wholly unqualified for. A person of any race, creed, color, or gender with any practical experience is a better hire than you are.

[Continued:]

I took to Reddit because I work in PR and I know how to get the mob opinion which is exactly what I got. I wasn't farming for likes, I knew exactly what this would do and I got exactly what I wanted out of it. I'm applying to "no skills needed" adult programs and am clearly among the top qualified for the job and I'm at the tail end of a long effort of trying to obtain such positions. The answer from shops is "what are you going to do for me" and they don't mean it in the are you going to do the job-type questions. These are "golden tickets" they use as collateral. The public avenues are exactly what I'm saying. You don't get to 90% non-white recruitment as something you parade on a website without excluding a certain segment of people. White people's avenue are through these shops and I'm excluded because people like you think like you thought in your original post. Good day, hope it wasn't too aggravating of an experience. Enjoy the slice you staked for yourself and acted self-righteous about.

You've repeatedly said your skills have nothing to do with construction & have no direct experience, yet still insist that you're "the most qualified". So yes, the 19 y.o. brown kid with 6 months is more qualified. Hell, I wouldn't hire you either. If you're leaving a job of $200k for peanuts because you're "not happy", there's no way I would believe that you will stay in a new field where the New Guy gets shat on constantly. Especially not with the attitude you clearly have.
If you're serious about getting into the trades, go to a trade school. It's a "back door" to getting in with a shop while also getting the knowledge you'll need.

I'm a 3D artist who has had construction clients, I've also had peripheral experience related to trades. Not in trades which is different. Can an engineer build a house? No? Does he know things about that house? Yes? This isn't hard and my attitude on my thread isn't me no matter how much you wish it were. You can walk away with your self-righteous opinions but I'm exactly who I say I am and I can see this bullshit clearly with my own eyes. You're not going to change any of that and you're clearly not going to learn from my experience. Fuck this shit. Yeah, I do have attitude now, look at the responses. It's clear. Age. Private places won't hire me for that reason alone and the public avenues widdle me out by race and gender on the final rounds. I've come to learn that the white kid spots in those places are things of value too. Everyone has a relative.
Buddy. You don't know the difference between a P-1 and a P-2 and you're too arrogant to listen to instructions, get educated or take criticism.
Why the fuck would anyone hire you?

Nice how you can describe me as arrogant without even knowing me.

Well when that's how you present yourself, how else am I supposed to view you?

Others object to OOP’s protestations that his being a white male was a handicap:

i stopped reading when you said being a white male is why no ones hiring you lmao

Innit 😆. I can't get work in a sector I've no experience it must be everyone else's fault

If I were a 23 year old woman who dropped out of HS with a GED I'd have gotten a sponsored union position the second I showed up. You can't tell me that's not true, you also can't look at me in real life and say I'm anything but what I'm saying. That's the reality of the situation, public avenues are excluded me very specifically for no reason having to do with actually being me.

It’s not true

It's not? You mean there's not quotas for these things that are used as actual hiring criteria in the places that feed the union shops in NYC? State and city funding isn't directly tied to their ability to hire these specific groups of people? Because, that's the literal system. You can say it's not true, but they'll tell you to your face and it's broadcast right on their website. If that's the actual system, despite you saying it's not true, that would suck. The age thing is repeated countless times on this thread. People have 2 consistent things, my age and my "attitude" for complaining for this being what it is. That's what people think, they're being honest. The race and gender thing, I dunno, I guess the state legislature? I don't even know.

Clearly you haven't been paying attention. If the guy who owns the shop is white and his kids are white and his nephews are white and his nephews screw up friend is white and they're all in the club and the union is getting quotas from the city they need to fill in order to receive funding that makes all public avenues inaccessible to white males, those positions are filled. That's how we do things these days. Check out places like "Construction Skills" where they brag about 90% non-white recruitment, etc. Well is the city 90% non-white? No? Are white people applying? Yes? You can pretend there's not a correlation here, but it's darn clear. Talk to anyone trying to get into the trades and on the men universally agree the best leg up you can gave is to be a woman. You might not want to live in this world, but it's the world we live in.
this entire post makes it clear that you just have a shitty attitude. i can count with my fingers the amount of women construction workers ive encountered in almost 8 years of being in the trades. this is very much a YOU problem, bud.

Another asserts that OOP’s mentality is to blame:

It’s the insufferable victim mentality. I’ve worked with guys like you and they never last.

See, you just don't encounter very many people who have worked 90 hours a week looking to make a career switch and rose to management in that time. We have the confidence of knowing who we are ahead of time. You can assign whatever you want to it, this is my experience. If half the guys don't have a license and the actual job requirement is "who will work the hardest, get the coffee order right, show up 30 minutes early and don't have to worry about smelling like weed" I'm #1, yet, I seem to be last. Perhaps this is someone who has specifically been on high functioning, complicated teams for his entire care
You’ve never worked 90 hours in a week in your life.

I have Cannes Lions awards, do you even know what that is? Try and tell me I never worked 90 hours, it's my defining feature as a worker. The biggest complaint about me is I care too much and that creates turmoil, over my career I've had to moderate caring about the end product and the client. Address what I'm saying, don't make shit up. Making shit up does nothing.

Let’s rephrase that. You’ve never WORKED in your life. I’ve done 90 hours a week pipelining. That’s work. And it was 15 years ago for me. I’d be fucking crippled if I tried that today. I got a back surgery as a reward for my efforts. Whatever annoying ass shit you’re up to is for soft handed tittybabies who don’t actually create anything of value. You’re one of the non-essentials.

OOP’s tone is critiqued:

You sound like an entitled know-it-all. I would assume that comes through clearly in interviews, along with a dose of racism. Nobody wants to hire the guy who's been to 40 superbowls and knows everyone and everything. They can't be taught and are a drain.

I think I sound like someone who is sick of this shit and you identify with the parties I'm railing against. But, you know, we all have different adjectives for things.

There it finally comes out. Politics!!! It only took 2 hours of this guy complaining and boom POLITICS. It’s always about the “party” you choose. What a joke

Buddy, I just wanted to paint walls or frame a wall.

But you turned it into something else. I get that you're frustrated but you're being "that guy". The chip on your shoulder is turning people off.

Yah man, don't listen to all the people telling you how insufferable you sound, it's not you it's them. That's why you'll never get into the trades..

Another gets down to it:

How much experience do you have in the trades?

How much experience am I supposed to have for no experience required helper positions specifically for adults?

It's uncommon to get hired into the trades anywhere without any real world experience

So only people with real world experience get hired. How does one get that real world experience, genius? These are helper positions, no experience required, adult programs. You're telling me I need the thing they're specifically trying to come in there and provide an opportunity for not having. This is madness.

If you invite someone whose nearly 50 with zero experience onto a worksite he's gonna hurt himself. You can learn to build by just flipping houses or build a deck. As for my trade it's unusual for someone to be hired after 35 even with trades experience.

[Continued:]

I'm a backpacker with a BMI of 19 in the best shape of my life. Age discrimination is also literally illegal. You're literally spouting the bullshit we had to go in and make laws over because middle aged men were getting disenfranchised.

Names are called:

You sound like a whiner. Just an absolute whiny little shit at 43. It emanates from you, and no one likes whiners on jobsites, so it makes sense you can't get hired as a no-experience whiner.

I'm the person who keeps his mouth shut knowing you're a dick with an authority problem who speaks up needing to prove size. I get my job done, don't say a word, laugh at your jokes, then go home. When I whine it's to my boss, about others not pulling their weight. I got bosses willing to attest to that, in spades. We all know things, sometimes we don't know the thing we think we know. I think I got this situation pegged though. Pretty stupid for you to engage, I know me and I get to base my opinion on the evidence you provided. You don't know me and are opining on a thread of me complaining saying I'm a complainer. Huh, wow, genius, you got me, I complained! I know what I offer, what my weaknesses and strengths are. I obsessively work at them on a daily basis. All of this is true, and everything I've written here is my story. Apologies if a single complain to you reads perpetual whiner. I'm glad you've found mechanisms in life to let you believe you're in control and able to exert authority in comfortable places. It emanates from you, who you are. I come on advertising no skill, I come on with a complaint, those are your accusations. I came in with them, so, bravo, figured me out and really added to the conversation.

Keep wondering why no one wants to hire you bro- Don't worry, it's literally everyone elsewho's wrong!

I'm being told it's because it's my age, race and gender, to my face. Whether that's right or wrong, up to you to decide for yourself.

The Flairs:

• “So what's your skill set? Lying and spinning bullshit?”
  
• “I have Cannes Lions awards, do you even know what that is?”
  
• “Whatever annoying ass shit you’re up to is for soft handed tittybabies”
  

I decided to post more. Right up front, I want to clarify that this isn't intended as dissing the game or calling it bad, but I renamed all the rivals because, well, I'm not a big fan of their current names. If I could, I would make all the current names nicknames and give the rivals these new names as their real names. In fact, I would actually suggest doing so, with these or other names. I want the game to be the best version of itself and in my mind that means names that aren't just google translated words. Besides, Japanese names are so much fun to create, you can pack a lot of meaning into them if you spend some time researching. Anyways, once again I used japanese-names.info and jisho.org to come up with these and they probably all lean towards the kira kira end of names

Osana Najimi

Her name comes from osananajimi, the Japanese word for childhood friend. I would rename her Sana Nagatomo, written 咲 (sa) meaning to bloom or to blossom, 愛 (na) meaning joy or to love, 長 (naga) meaning long time or eternity, 友 (tomo) meaning friend. Her last name reflects her status as Senpai's childhood friend while her first name is a reference to her growing feelings towards him. Because there are already multiple voiced lines using her name, I would change her introduction from Info-chan to say "Her name is Sana Nagatomo. Everyone calls her Osana."

Amai Odayaka

Amai means sweet (as in the flavor) and odayaka means gentle. I would name her Mikan Odanaka, written 美 (mi) meaning beautiful, 甘 (kan) meaning sweet or pleasant tasting, 小 (o) meaning small, 田 (da) meaning rice field, 中 (naka) meaning inside. The last name was chosen because it's only a letter off from her current last name which is on the side of the bakery in town, so it only has to be slightly edited to fir the new name. An obviously the first name references sweet foods, which are her specialty

Kizana Sunobo

Kizana means something like smug or pompous and sunobu is the English word snob in Japanese. I would name her Yukari Sunaga, written 優 (yu) meaning outstanding or superior, 華 (ka) meaning splendid or flower, 璃 (ri) meaning jewel, 寿 (su) meaning auspiciousness, 永 meaning long time. So she's a splendid, outstanding jewel who will have success for a long time. Sounds like a smug name to me.

Oka Ruto

I know, I know, we all love Oka-chan, so do I, she's perfect. But her name is just the English word occult in Japanese (okaruto). So I'd go with Mariya Kanno, written 魔 (ma) meaning demon or evil spirit, 璃 (ri) meaning glass or crystal (like a crystal ball!), 夜 (ya) meaning night or midnight, 神 (kan) meaning deity or soul, 呪 (o) meaning curse or spell. Yeah, leaning hard into the magic and demons here

Asu Rito

Asu actually is a name! But none of the kanji had anything to do with her character. Anyways, asurito is the English word athlete. I'd name her Eimi Rinko, 泳 (ei) meaning swim, 美 (mi) meaning beautiful, 輪 (rin) meaning circle, 湖 (ko) meaning lake. The character 輪 is also used in the word for the Olympics, so that's a neat bonus for our wanna-be Olympian

Muja Kina

Her name is derived from mujaki which means innocent or simple minded, plus the modifier na to make it an adjective. I'd call her Kiyomi Sekka: 健 (ken) meaning healthy or strong, 美 (mi) meaning beautiful. 拙 (setsu) meaning clumsy or unskilled, 家 (ka) meaning home or lineage. There aren't many kanji that relate to her gimmick of being klutzy and getting into accidentally suggestive situations, 拙 was the best I could get. Also I wanted to reference her being a nurse, so 健.

Mida Rana

Genuine question: does anyone like Mida? All the other rivals I've seen people say they love them, but no one ever seems to say anything positive about Mida. Which I get lol she's my least fave rival. Anyways. Midarana means lewd. I came up with Noriko Hoshiga: 教 (nori) meaning to teach or to guide, 子 (ko) meaning girl or child, 欲 (hoshii) meaning crave or desire, 賀 (ga) meaning celebration. Shockingly there aren't many kanji related to lust or sex that are used in peoples' names, 欲 was the best I could find and I'm reasonably sure it doesn't have any sexual connotations. As for her first name, I wanted to reference that she's a teacher, and 子 is a very common suffix for names, especially from the 80's and 90's.

Osoro Shidesu

As far as I can tell, osoroshidesu means terrifying or "it's scary". I named her Ran Hazaki: 乱 (ran) meaning disorder or chaos, 破 (ha) meaning destroy or defeat, 崎 (saki) meaning steep or rugged land. Real talk, this is my favorite name I came up with, I love how it sounds. Her first name references her delinquency, while 崎 is meant to reflect how the game is getting more difficult (think a "steep" difficulty curve).

Hanako Yamada

Much like her brother, Hanako already sorta has kanji for her name. Hanako Yamada is the Japanese equivalent of Jane Doe: a placeholder name given to unidentified or unknown women. As far as I can tell, it's typically written 花 (hana) meaning flower, 子 (ko) meaning girl or child, 山 (yama) meaning mountain, 田 (ta) meaning rice paddy. Obviously she has the same last name as her brother

Megami Saikou

Megami is a word for Goddess, saikou means best. Her initials, if you haven't ever noticed, are MS as in Mary Sue, and I want to keep that. Saikou is already all over the game, so there's no changing it. Which is fine, I like the name. I would change her first name to Mikami: 美 (mi) meaning beautiful, 神 (kami) meaning deity or excellence. Basically the same as her current name. As for Saikou, I think you could write it as 斎 (sai) meaning purification, 侯 (koh) meaning lord, nobleman or target. Which is a combination I really like

https://www.academia.edu/118834217
​
Summarizing the sound changes within:
​
Átri was also ejected from his mother (Speech) early, descended alone, and had a second birth from a pit in the earth (Houben 2010), of a type said to be hot (Śrauta-Sūtras). He was saved from this pit by the Aśvins (likely given strengthening food (offerings to the gods, as usual) and insulated in snow (to protect him from the heat or to allow him to exit?, possibly analogous to the idea that the womb protected embryos from the mother’s stomach)). In another myth, Átri saved the sun. These seem to show that Átri was a name for Mārtāṇḍa, or both Sun Gods with the same myths told of them. If so, the unclear etymology of Átri-would be ‘fiery? / Sun?’, from PIE *HaHter-s > Av. ātar-š ‘fire’, Skt. athr-, L. āter ‘*burnt > black/somber’. If *-Htr- > -thr- was regular in Skt., then -tr- here would be analogy from the nominative.
​
The hot pit in the earth he was born from would then be a volcano, it was called arvīṣa- / ṛbī́sa- in Sanskrit, which has been seen by some as a non-IE loan (Kuiper) due to its apparently unnatural form. However, many native words in the Rig Veda also have alternation (for whatever reason), and based on the words for ‘volcano’ as ‘fire-mouth(ed)’ in later Indic (Hindi jvālāmukhī), the same type of compound would explain arvīṣa- as aruṣá- ‘red / fire-colored / glowing /sun / etc.’ + ās(án)- ‘mouth / face’ (either with dissimilation of ṣ-s > 0-ṣ or with later Skt. aru- ‘sun’). Since Skt. ās- came from PIE *HoHs- (L. ōs, ON óss ‘river mouth’), *-HHs(o)- > -īṣa- would appear in compounds, with many C- or n-stems > o-stems (Whalen 2024b). Since *-H- > -i-, it makes sense that *-HH- > -ī-. The alternation arvīṣa- / ṛbī́sa- needs to be explained whatever its origin, and either Middle Indic contamination or ṛbī́sa was borrowed from a related IIr. language that underwent the same changes (if one group not near volcanoes at the time). This would include the common merger of s / ṣ / ś, v / b, a > ǝ. Together:
​
*
aru- + ās- < *HaHs-
aru+HHsó-
aru+īsó-
arv+īsó-
arvīṣa-
​
or
​
*
aruṣá- + ās- < *HaHs-
aruṣ+HHsó-
aruṣ+īṣó-
aru+īṣó- dissimilation
arv+īṣó-
arvīṣa-
​
Skt. mārtāṇḍá- meant ‘mortal / man’ (Norelius) and was opposed to cows in a hymn. This would then be a very simple and generic name for the mythic ancestor of humanity. From this alone, since of his brother Garuḍá- / Garútmant- only Garútmant- has understandable IE cognates, it is likely contamination of a pair (like L. levis & gravis > *grevis) caused Garútmant- > *Garutāṇḍá- (if dissimilation of T-T occurred) or directly to Garuḍá- (depending on how extensive the original analogy was). Still, this depends on finding an origin for mārtāṇḍá- to be certain.
​
If Mārtāṇḍá- was equivalent to Av. Gaya- Marǝtan-, whose story is very close to Mārtāṇḍá’s (Norelius 2020), could both their names be derived from a common source? IIr. *marta- ‘mortal’ (Skt. márta-s, Av. maša-, G. mortós / brotós << PIE *mer(H)- ‘die’) might have formed a compound *marta-Hnar- ‘mortal man’ ( < *H2ner- ‘strong? / brave? / warrior / man’). In this case, dissimilation of r-r in the strong stem would create *marta-Hnar- > *marta-Hna-, in the weak stem before C *marta-Hnr̥- > *marta-Hn- / *marta:n-, & in the weak stem before V possibly *marta-Hnr- > *marta:nr- > *marta:ndr- > *marta:nd-. With this, *marta-Hn- / *marta:n- > Marǝtan- (with either *marta:n- becoming nom. *marta:n with analogy or metathesis of *H (as in Kümmel)). Since loss of *r / *l occasionally causes retroflexion in Skt., I see no problem in *marta:ndr- producing a vrddhi adj. *ma:rta:ndrá- becoming Mārtāṇḍá- (possibly with meaning ‘a mortal’ >> ‘mortal / man / (family) of mortals / the father of the line of men’).
​
Choke & Machoke (A. ṭṣ(h)oók & maṭṣoók) were 2 brothers (or father & son) who founded villages in Ashrit. According to local history (Liljegren 2009: 54-55), Choke son of Machoke was the ancestor of the (Palula/Achareta-speaking) people of Ashrit. There are different versions. According to Ahmad Saeed (Decker 1992: 71-72), they came from Chilas on the Indus River, lost a bid for leadership of their tribe, and they and their followers went west. According to documentation by Dr. Inayatullah Faizi (Liljegren 2009: 55), Choke was one of 3 brothers, the eldest of whom disputed his rule and was the winner of the power struggle; he sent (or forced) his younger brothers Choke & Machoke away (they parted along their travel). Choke gained control of the Ashrit Valley; the legend tells of several battles with the Kalasha. This resembles Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades (Zeus was usually called the youngest) dividing the rule of the world into Land, Sea, and Underworld, or the 3 founding Scythian brothers, only one of whom, Kolá-xaï-s ‘lord of the sun’, was worthy of the golden cup that came from the sky; his brothers Arpó-xaï-s ‘lord of water / lord of the deep’ & Lipó-xaï-s ‘lord of the earth’ also resemble this threefold division (Whalen 2024c).
​
These names do not seem historical and there were also, “two villages, Awi and Riri in Oveer in northern Chitral, inhabited by descendants of Kachote, whose tale is very similar to that of Choke and Machoke” (Decker 1992: 72). That they were only legendary might be seen in Dooshi & Kanooshi / dúuši & kaṇúuši. According to a story by an old man from Puri (Liljegren 2009: 56), 2 brothers founded the village; they came (via Dogdarra in Dir Kohistan) from a place called dangeri phurúṛi (in Tangir Valley), which probably is the same as Phurori (shown on some maps). Their names are clearly related to Nuristani ‘older’ & ‘younger’ (Skt. kániṣṭha-, jyéṣṭha- ‘1st/chief / eldest brother’, Ni. düṣṭö´ ‘elder’). These might show a modern outcome (though analogy has changed both to end in -oke, as *Yemos > Remus with R-) of *martya-s. The variants Dk. Machun (in Hunza) & Dishil (in Nagar) would be from *ma(r)tya:n (very similar to Av. Marǝtan-). I do not know the origin of -il, but it’s possible that some language had jyéṣṭha- > *dyéṣṭha- > *dyéṣḷha- or that it is from yet another analogy (in a language in which kániṣṭha- had r \ l and metathesis, lik Kt. křaštá but > *kaštil or the like). Maybe with cognates:
​
IIr. *martya-s > OP martiya-, Av. mašya- ‘man’, Kh. móš ‘human’, Dm. mač, *mæhčæ > Ka. mííš (`)
A. maṭṣoók ‘Machoke’, Machun
​
*k^euk- >> Skt. śóka-s ‘light /flame’
A. ṭṣ(h)oók ‘Choke’
​
For source of retro., compare Skt. śukrá- ‘white / pure’, Rom. šukar ‘beautiful’, Av. suxra- ‘luminous (of fire)’, *indra-ćukra- > Kalasha indóčik ‘lightning’. Others like Skt. šúcyati ‘shine / glare / burn’, śocyate ‘be purified’, Ben. chũci ‘ceremonial cleanliness’, B. šucO ‘pure’, Ks. ṣìṭṣ ‘clean’ show various (apparently irregular outcomes). Since Ks. ṣìṭṣ has no clear *-r-, maybe some š / ṣ alternation existed (also in Skt. kṣ : Dardic č(h) / ṭṣ(h)). If metathesis in *k^(e)uk-ro- > *ćr(a)uka- existed, it might spread by analogy, but I think this is unlikely. Together, these could again be from words for ‘man’ and ‘sun / bright’. Though only one set might resemble these by chance, 2 makes the theory more likely.
​
​
Decker, Kendall D. (1992) Languages of Chitral. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, Volume 5
​
Houben, Jan E. M. (2010) Structures, Events and Ritual Practice in the Rg-Veda: The Gharma and Atri's Rescue by the Aśvins
https://www.academia.edu/37664186
​
Kümmel, Martin Joachim (2014) The development of laryngeals in Indo-Iranian
https://www.academia.edu/9352535
​
Liljegren, Henrik (2009) The Dangari tongue of Choke and Machoke: Tracing the proto-language of Shina enclaves in the Hindu Kush
https://www.academia.edu/3849218
​
Norelius, Per-Johan (2020) The divine miscarriage: Mārtāṇḍa, the sun, and the birth of mankind
https://www.academia.edu/98068042
​
Whalen, Sean (2023a) Indo-European Divine Twins
https://www.reddit.com/mythology/comments/10op7nj/indoeuropean_divine_twins/
​
Whalen, Sean (2023b) Greek part-animal gods and heroes
https://www.reddit.com/mythology/comments/10szo9s/greek_partanimal_gods_and_heroes/
​
Whalen, Sean (2023c) Peter Zoller and the Serpentine Spirits
https://www.reddit.com/mythology/comments/12vnln1/peter_zoller_and_the_serpentine_spirits/
​
Whalen, Sean (2024a) Gandharvá-s & Kéntauros, Váruṇa-s & Ouranós
https://www.academia.edu/115937304
​
Whalen, Sean (2024b) Indo-Iranian *mn > *ṽn > mm / nn, *Cmn > *Cṽn > Cn / Cm, Indo-European adjectives in -no- and -mo- (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/118736225
​
Whalen, Sean (2024c) Reclassification of North Picene (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/116163380
​
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puy_de_D%C3%B4me
​

Garuḍá- was pictured as a giant bird or a half-bird man. He and his brother Mārtāṇḍá- hatched from eggs. His impatient mother cracked Mārtāṇḍa’s shell too soon, but he was still strong and immediately able to tell her not to crack Garuḍá’s no matter how long it took, so he could reach his full strength. Since Garuḍá became the mount of Vishnu, and Mārtāṇḍa was the charioteer of Surya (the Sun-God), these twins seem similar to the Divine Twins. They were a widely worshipped but often nameless pair of gods (often part horse, or able to become horse; sometimes with a chariot pulled by birds (as many myths say birds carry the sun & moon), one knowing medicine and the other boxing/wrestling; one immortal, the other mortal (thus the relation to *marta(n)- here). Just as Mārtāṇḍá- was born wrong or “too soon” but Garuḍá- was not (and thus reached his full strength), one of the Twins (born at the same time but of 2 different fathers) had a mortal father (later and/or restored to (partial or recurring) life when the other shared his immortality, born at the same time). This might represent the sun and moon (restored to partial or recurring life like the changing moon). Even such correspondences to twin birds (on the world tree) in Sanskrit riddles and odd terms might be related. They sometimes had individual characteristics or were undifferentiated (at least in Vedic songs of praise; this might vary from myth to myth). They are known by many names, the Greek > Latin Dioscuri just ‘the sons/boys of Zeus’. With this known, it is likely that *Diwós-sunos ‘son of Zeus’ > *Diwós-nusos > *Diwó(s)-nusos > Diṓnusos / Diónusos, with metathesis.
​
These twins are found in many Indo-European stories and images, represented as horses or humans (sometimes riding horses) and are probably the source of the legendary founders of England, Hengest & Horsa; those of Rome, Romulus & Remus ( < *Yemos ‘twin’); the Italic Pīlumnus & Pīcumnus; Dardic Choke & Machoke. Many of these probably had different names in the past, made more similar by association from repeating their names so often. These might also include Yatvingian Autrympus & Potrympus, apparently cognate with Latvian austrums ‘east’ and Pęrkuôns and (named for dawn/sun and lightning?), but distorted by changes to make them sound more similar to each other, such as -tr- in both. If Pęrkuôns was a Twin, this could include related Thor and even Poseidon (associated with horses and water). Since Thor is essentially the same as Wade, associated with the sea in name and deeds, it implies a wide are of myths are related. These include the Indic Aśvins (who also replaced the head of a sage with a horse’s as part of restoring his youth and saving his life, etc.) and Maruts.
​
Choke & Machoke (A. ṭṣ(h)oók & maṭṣoók) were 2 brothers (or father & son) who founded villages in Ashrit. According to local history (Liljegren 2009: 54-55), Choke son of Machoke was the ancestor of the (Palula/Achareta-speaking) people of Ashrit. There are different versions. According to Ahmad Saeed (Decker 1992: 71-72), they came from Chilas on the Indus River, lost a bid for leadership of their tribe, and they and their followers went west. According to documentation by Dr. Inayatullah Faizi (Liljegren 2009: 55), Choke was one of 3 brothers, the eldest of whom disputed his rule and was the winner of the power struggle; he sent (or forced) his younger brothers Choke & Machoke away (they parted along their travel). Choke gained control of the Ashrit Valley; the legend tells of several battles with the Kalasha. This resembles Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades (Zeus was usually called the youngest) dividing the rule of the world into Land, Sea, and Underworld, or the 3 founding Scythian brothers, only one of whom, Kolá-xaï-s ‘lord of the sun’, was worthy of the golden cup that came from the sky; his brothers Arpó-xaï-s ‘lord of water / lord of the deep’ & Lipó-xaï-s ‘lord of the earth’ also resemble this threefold division (Whalen 2024c).
​
These names do not seem historical and there were also, “two villages, Awi and Riri in Oveer in northern Chitral, inhabited by descendants of Kachote, whose tale is very similar to that of Choke and Machoke” (Decker 1992: 72). That they were only legendary might be seen in Dooshi & Kanooshi / dúuši & kaṇúuši. According to a story by an old man from Puri (Liljegren 2009: 56), 2 brothers founded the village; they came (via Dogdarra in Dir Kohistan) from a place called dangeri phurúṛi (in Tangir Valley), which probably is the same as Phurori (shown on some maps). Their names are clearly related to Nuristani ‘older’ & ‘younger’ (Skt. kániṣṭha-, jyéṣṭha- ‘1st/chief / eldest brother’, Ni. düṣṭö´ ‘elder’). These might show a modern outcome (though analogy has changed both to end in -oke, as *Yemos > Remus with R-) of *martya-s. The variants Dk. Machun (in Hunza) & Dishil (in Nagar) would be from *ma(r)tya:n (very similar to Av. Marǝtan-). I do not know the origin of -il, but it’s possible that some language had jyéṣṭha- > *dyéṣṭha- > *dyéṣḷha- or that it is from yet another analogy (in a language in which kániṣṭha- had l and metathesis, lik Kt. křaštá but > *kaštil or the like). Maybe with cognates:
​
IIr. *martya-s > OP martiya-, Av. mašya- ‘man’, Kh. móš ‘human’, Dm. mač, *mæhčæ > Ka. mííš (`)
A. maṭṣoók ‘Machoke’, Machun
​
*k^euk- >> Skt. śóka-s ‘light /flame’
A. ṭṣ(h)oók ‘Choke’
​
For source of retro., compare Skt. śukrá- ‘white / pure’, Rom. šukar ‘beautiful’, Av. suxra- ‘luminous (of fire)’, *indra-ćukra- > Kalasha indóčik ‘lightning’. Others like Skt. šúcyati ‘shine / glare / burn’, śocyate ‘be purified’, Ben. chũci ‘ceremonial cleanliness’, B. šucO ‘pure’, Ks. ṣìṭṣ ‘clean’ show various (apparently irregular outcomes). Since Ks. ṣìṭṣ has no clear *-r-, maybe some š / ṣ alternation existed (also in Skt. kṣ : Dardic č(h) / ṭṣ(h)). If metathesis in *k^(e)uk-ro- > *ćr(a)uka- existed, it might spread by analogy, but I think this is unlikely. Together, these could again be from words for ‘man’ and ‘sun / bright’. Though only one set might resemble these by chance, 2 makes the theory more likely.
​
​
Decker, Kendall D. (1992) Languages of Chitral. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, Volume 5
​
Houben, Jan E. M. (2010) Structures, Events and Ritual Practice in the Rg-Veda: The Gharma and Atri's Rescue by the Aśvins
https://www.academia.edu/37664186
​
Kümmel, Martin Joachim (2014) The development of laryngeals in Indo-Iranian
https://www.academia.edu/9352535
​
Liljegren, Henrik (2009) The Dangari tongue of Choke and Machoke: Tracing the proto-language of Shina enclaves in the Hindu Kush
https://www.academia.edu/3849218
​
Norelius, Per-Johan (2020) The divine miscarriage: Mārtāṇḍa, the sun, and the birth of mankind
https://www.academia.edu/98068042
​
Whalen, Sean (2023a) Indo-European Divine Twins
https://www.reddit.com/mythology/comments/10op7nj/indoeuropean_divine_twins/
​
Whalen, Sean (2023b) Greek part-animal gods and heroes
https://www.reddit.com/mythology/comments/10szo9s/greek_partanimal_gods_and_heroes/
​
Whalen, Sean (2023c) Peter Zoller and the Serpentine Spirits
https://www.reddit.com/mythology/comments/12vnln1/peter_zoller_and_the_serpentine_spirits/
​
Whalen, Sean (2024a) Gandharvá-s & Kéntauros, Váruṇa-s & Ouranós
https://www.academia.edu/115937304
​
Whalen, Sean (2024b) Indo-Iranian *mn > *ṽn > mm / nn, *Cmn > *Cṽn > Cn / Cm, Indo-European adjectives in -no- and -mo- (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/118736225
​
Whalen, Sean (2024c) Reclassification of North Picene (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/116163380
​

Mārtāṇḍa was the father of humanity in Vedic myth. Norelius considers his origin and Indo-European equivalents (Norelius 2020). He was the Sun-God as teacher (of culture, knowledge, farming, art, etc.), which is common enough, and this equation might bring more light to that role. Mārtāṇḍa sounds similar to ‘dead egg’, so it might have influenced his mythical origin (dead and/or abandoned at birth by his mother). The origin of the myth might be better understood by looking at other Vedic parallels.
​
Átri was also ejected from his mother (Speech) early, descended alone, and had a second birth from a pit in the earth (Houben 2010), of a type said to be hot (Śrauta-Sūtras). He was saved from this pit by the Aśvins (likely given strengthening food (offerings to the gods, as usual) and insulated in snow (to protect him from the heat or to allow him to exit?, possibly analogous to the idea that the womb protected embryos from the mother’s stomach)). In another myth, Átri saved the sun. These seem to show that Átri was a name for Mārtāṇḍa, or both Sun Gods with the same myths told of them. If so, the unclear etymology of Átri-would be ‘fiery? / Sun?’, from PIE *HaHter-s > Av. ātar-š ‘fire’, Skt. athr-, L. āter ‘*burnt > black/somber’. If *-Htr- > -thr- was regular in Skt., then -tr- here would be analogy from the nominative.
​
The hot pit in the earth he was born from would then be a volcano. It seems very similar to Puy-de-Dôme, which was named after Dumiatis, who was a Gaulish equivalent of Mercury (who had a sanctuary at the dormant volcano in the past). Indo-European *wesu-dyew- ‘good god’ is also seen in L. Vēdiovis \ Vēiovis ‘a god like a young Zeus, known for healing, lightning, volcanoes’, Vesuvius \ Vesaevus \ Vesēvus ‘a volcano’.
​
The hot pit was called arvīṣa- / ṛbī́sa- in Sanskrit, which has been seen by some as a non-IE loan (Kuiper) due to its apparently unnatural form. However, many native words in the Rig Veda also have alternation (for whatever reason), and based on the words for ‘volcano’ as ‘fire-mouth(ed)’ in later Indic (Hindi jvālāmukhī), the same type of compound would explain arvīṣa- as aruṣá- ‘red / fire-colored / glowing /sun / etc.’ + ās(án)- ‘mouth / face’ (either with dissimilation of ṣ-s > 0-ṣ or with later Skt. aru- ‘sun’). Since Skt. ās- came from PIE *HoHs- (L. ōs, ON óss ‘river mouth’), *-HHs(o)- > -īṣa- would appear in compounds, with many C- or n-stems > o-stems (Whalen 2024). Since *-H- > -i-, it makes sense that *-HH- > -ī-. The alternation arvīṣa- / ṛbī́sa- needs to be explained whatever its origin, and either Middle Indic contamination or ṛbī́sa was borrowed from a related IIr. language that underwent the same changes (if one group not near volcanoes at the time). This would include the common merger of s / ṣ / ś, v / b, a > ǝ. Together:
​
*
aru- + ās- < *HaHs-
aru+HHsó-
aru+īsó-
arv+īsó-
arvīṣa-
​
or
​
*
aruṣá- + ās- < *HaHs-
aruṣ+HHsó-
aruṣ+īṣó-
aru+īṣó- dissimilation
arv+īṣó-
arvīṣa-
​
Houben, Jan E. M. (2010) Structures, Events and Ritual Practice in the Rg-Veda: The Gharma and Atri's Rescue by the Aśvins
https://www.academia.edu/37664186
​
Norelius, Per-Johan (2020) The divine miscarriage: Mārtāṇḍa, the sun, and the birth of mankind
https://www.academia.edu/98068042
​
Whalen, Sean (2024) Indo-Iranian *mn > *ṽn > mm / nn, *Cmn > *Cṽn > Cn / Cm, Indo-European adjectives in -no- and -mo- (Draft)
https://www.academia.edu/118736225
​

Ĝleniscā is a Proto-Indo-European language with similar innovations shared with Proto-Germanic (e.g., a mildly different form of Grimm's Law – but did not undergo Verner's law). Like Proto-Germanic, Ĝleniscā developed two forms of verbs: those showing tense through ablaut, and those showing tense through a dental suffix ending.
Unlike Proto-Germanic, however, Ĝleniscā retained PIE's distinction of perfective and imperfective verbs. While there are exceptions, all strong verbs are perfective and all weak verbs are imperfective.
The verbal system underwent significant reconstruction between PIE and Ĝleniscā. Below tracks the development of the tenses, aspects, and moods from PIE to Ĝleniscā, divided up between perfective and imperfective:
The perfective developed from the PIE aorist and perfect. The stem developed either from a root athematic or sigmatic-aorist:

• The infinitive developed from the PIE ending *-tu- in the neuter nominative/accusative
• The PIE aorist developed into the present perfective
• The PIE perfect developed into the past perfective – the perfective does not show reduplication in most cases.
• The PIE optative developed into the subjunctive
• Ĝleniscā's passive voice was innovative; the PIE middle (mediopassive) participle (marked by the suffix *-mh₁no-) was reanalyzed as a the verbal stem for the passive voice – to which, the PIE Perfect endings were added for the indicative and the secondary verbal endings from PIE
• By analogy, the past passive shows ablaut but otherwise, has the same form
• The participles roughly follow from the PIE; however, the active present participle was reanalyzes as a i-stem adjective (declension class 3)

The formation of the imperfective was more complicate than the perfective. The imperfective derived from several different endings: root thematic, nasal infix, o-éyeti causative/itinerate [Ĝleniscā retains both meanings], ske-infix, and ye-denominative/factive present forms:

• In the case below, the imperfective stem developed from the o-éyeti causative/itinerate (this is one of the most common forms of the imperfective stems along with n-infixes)
• The infinitive developed from the PIE ending *-tu- added to the imperfective stem
• The PIE verbal ending *-dʰh₁eti (which formed resultative verbs) developed into the past tense of the imperfective verbs and was attached directly to the stem, much like Proto-Germanic weak verbs
• The subjunctive and participles developed analogously with the perfective aspect.

Below we find the PIE root gʷʰen- 'to strike, slay, kill.' While this root was originally imperfective, the aspect has shifted in the reorganization of the verbal paradigm. The perfective forms are then developed from a PIE imperfect present root athematic stem. This was quite common. Many of the passive forms are quite clunky; however, they wouldn't be readily used in speech. Their major use in Ĝleniscā stems from the treatment of inanimate neuter nouns. Unlike other daughter languages of PIE, Ĝleniscā does not allow an inanimate neuter noun to be the argument of a verb. Additionally, plural neuter nouns are still treated as a collective singular. Therefore, the passive forms would only surface with the 3rd person singular (e.g., feniminē / fonèminē, in the present tense).
https://preview.redd.it/7cvvxvbj1bzc1.png?width=988&format=png&auto=webp&s=4cf0d7766aeb55ee8cbe6391fe3f56d8bae6f0f2

Póvh ad vonyg ad o okuc cangov o ohyod thudca giga dugo.
/poʋx æð̞ ʋɒɲg æð̞ ɒ ɒˈkuc ˈcæ.ŋɒʋ ɒ ˈɒ.çɒð̞ ˈθuð̞.cæ ˈɰi.ɰæ ˈð̞u.ɰɒ/

Póvh ad vonyg ad o okuc cangov o ohyod thud -ca giga dug -o Dignity in right in and equal free and being human-ADJZ all be.born-PRS 

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

About

Yiyocthiv (endonym: Yiyocdiv /ji.jɒcˈð̞iʋ/) is a moribund languague isolate spoken by the Yiyocthiv people, the native inhabitants of Antarctica. Since foreign countries started establishing the first bases and research stations in Antarctica, bringing technology and infrastructure to the continent, the Yiyocthiv people have experienced a significant increase in their quality of life, with many of them deciding to live at or near research stations. Interaction with researchers has been mostly peaceful throughout history, but the fact that researchers are the ones bringing and controlling most resources in the continent meant that the Yiyocyhiv had to adapt to speaking their language. This processs meant the researchers languages (specially English and Spanish, due to the abundance of American, Argentine and Chilean research bases) gradually became more prestigious, used and important than Yiyocthiv, which has experienced a steady decline, to the point of currently being down to one last living speaker, an elderly woman.
Due to close contact with researchers from all around the globe, Yiyocthiv borrowed a plethora of words from other languages before going nearly extinct. Spanish and English are the largest "contributors". In real life, Yiyocthiv grammar was heavily inspired by another conlang. Can you guess which one?

Phonology

Yiyocthiv has 19 consonants and 7 vowels. Yiyocthiv is unusual in it's lack of two very common phonemes: the consonant /l/ and the vowel /a/. Syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C).
Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar
Nasal	m	n		ɲ (ny)	ŋ (ng)
Stop	p	t		c	k
Fricative	f	θ (th)	s	ç (hy)	x (h)
Approximant	ʋ (v)	ð̞ (d)	ɹ (r)	j (y)	ɰ (g)	w

• /ʋ/ and /ð̞/ can be syllabic
• After a pause, after a nasal consonant, and at the beginning of an utterance, all approximants are pronounced as voiced stops at the same place of articulation (except /w/, which becomes [gʋ]).

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i (i)		ɯ (g) u (u)
Mid	e̞ (é)	ə (e)	o̞ (ó)
Open	æ (a)		ɒ (o)

• The only possible diphtongs are those envolving the semivowels /j/, /ɰ/ and /w/. Otherwise, any two vowels written next to each other are always pronounced as a hiatus.

Syntax

Yiyocthiv is also infamous for its unusual word order, which earned it the nickname of "backwards talk" among antarctic researchers of various nations.

• object-subject-verb-oblique (OSVX) (verbal phrases)
• place-time-manner (adpositional phrases)
• relative clause-noun-adjective-number-genitive/demonstrative-postposition (noun phrases)
• adjective-adverb
• verb-adverb
• main verb-auxiliary verb

Grammar

Once you get used to the unusual word order, you'll notice that the Yiyocthiv grammar is surprisingly simple.
ARTICLES, NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
Along with pronouns, articles are the only word class to have separate singular and plural forms:

• Singular: oc (definite), ed (indefinite)
• Plural: ca (definite)

Nouns are invariable, except for the feminine form, which applies the suffix -ad. Adjectives are completely invariable. The plural indefinite article is unmarked, therefore any noun without an article is assumed to be indefinite plural, unless context indicates otherwise. Example: Kavayo a tungo (horse 1SG.NOM have.PRS) - I have horses
Note: Kavayo is a loanword from Spanish, while tungo is not. The similarity to spanish "tengo" is just a (rather amusing) coincidence.
PRONOUNS
Personal

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st Singular	a	tho	thod (singular), thoda (plural)
2nd Singular	ge	go	god (singular), goda (plural
3rd Singular	ac	oac, hyo (reflexive)	hyod (singular), hyoda (pluarl)
1st Plural	dihy	odihy	div (singular), diva (plural)
2nd Plural	pihy	opihy	piv (singular), piva (plural)
3rd plural	aca	oaca, hyoa (reflexive)	civ (singular), civa (plural)

Other

	Singular	Plural
Proximal demonstrative	hag	haga
Distal demonstrative	hug	huga
Relative/Interrogative	nyo	nyoa

VERBS
Yiyocthiv has no verbal agreement, as verbs are only inflected for Tense-Aspect-Mood. Verbs are incredibly regular, as linguists are yet to find a defective verb that doesn't follow the conjugation below

Conjugation	Suffix	Example	Translation
Infinitive	-od	ohyod	to be
Past tense/participle	-oh	ohyoh	was/were/been
Present tense	-o	ohyo	is/am/are
Future tense	-vua	ohyvua	will be
Conditional	-vuahy	ohyvuavy	would be
Imperative	-∅	ohy!	be!
Present participle	-udg	ohyudg	being

Much like in English, ohyod (to be) can be added to any transitive verb to form the passive, while tungod (to have) forms the perfect aspect. In both cases, these auxiliary verbs are the ones who express the TAM while the main verb is conjugated in the past participle.

Thanks for reading! Now please tell me your thoughts. Criticism is very welcome