Languages of the World

Examples of superseded alphabet used in old Ascani Common

***Languages of the World*** is a book documenting the languages of the known world, catalogued by Edica. Since it was first written in CE 641, its languages have remained somewhat consistent since they were recognized. Very few changes have been made, notably the controversial renaming of Illyrian Common to Merovian Common.

The book visits every single grouping of language and its iterations, as well as individual dialects. Edica recognized them originally as racial components, but today they are more identifiable with geographic region.

## Documented languages

### Common

#### Merovian (Illyrian) Common

Spoken by most of Arborea, being proliferated by the House of Merovia and superseding Ascani Common. It has been called staccato and nasally, resulting in detractors from calling it "pompous."

#### Kasmirian Common

Spoken by the peoples of Kasmir in Laconia, Kasmirian Common is a rapidly spoken language, and one that is very brute-force and straight-to-the-point.

#### Acharic Common

Somewhat similar to Kasmirian Common, Acharic Common is a rapidly spoken language. However, it is also prosaic and flexible, making it similar to Pracian Common as well.

#### Pracian Common

The combination of Elvish and Common, this language is best described as an elf imitating the Common tongue. It has only one vowel, and its arbitrary rules for meter make it difficult for anyone to learn except for those familiar with Elvish.

#### Middle Common

An independently formed version of Common spoken in Bastria. It is very formal and word choice, word placement, inflection, stresses, and even syllable length affects meaning greatly, making it precise and frustrating. It is the closest modern equivalent to Ascani Common.

#### Auberian Common

Native orcish speakers struggle with learning Common, so this dialect is more of a crutch than a developed tongue. It has a limited range of sounds, like orcish, making it a unique variant of Lydian Common.

#### Jotun (Tyrrhosi) Common

The Common tongue spoken by those who speak the language of giants comes out harsh, consonant-heavy, and grating, almost like stone against stone. Though proper Jotun Common is rare, a similar dialect remains in Tyrrhos as a common dialect.

#### Alpine Common

A form of Common spoken in Gantelusia. Alpine Common emphasizes status between speakers in conversation, follows a strict sentence structure, and drops many common elements like syllable stress.

#### Nazarian Common

Similar to the stocatto of Goblin languages, Nazarian also inherits Jotun runes as frequent loanwords and is structurally similar to Alpine Common in that honorifics are central, while iambic beats are not.

#### Ascani Common (New Dwarvish)

A form of Common closest to Vernacular Dwarvish, and the reason for the "Common" tongue existing at all: it lends itself well to new adopters. Today, it is nearly unrecognizable; it uses Dwarvish runes in place of the alphabet.

#### Undercommon (Lydian Common)

The largely dead language is sometimes spoken by cthonic peoples. Using Elvish letters rather than the alphabet, Undercommon is structured very similar to Ascani Common, almost astoundingly so. When spoken as Undercommon, it is always silent, and communicated exclusively with hand signals.

### Elvish

#### Primeval Elvish

The original language the eladrin once learned from the nymphs, compared to other dialects, is centered around emotional language. Unlike High Elvish, is not a grammatically controlled and sterile language; unlike Low Elvish, has strict rules on meter and tone.

#### Low Elvish

Most often spoken among those of Jade descent or in modern elven cities, Low Elvish is a free-form language without the same rules on meter, inflection, or grammatical restriction. Many such words cannot even be translated.

#### High Elvish

Many words in High Elvish are forbidden, and it follows a strict meter that makes it a legato like language, which flows with no breaks like a song from one word to the next. It also demands arbitrary alliteration and cadences, making it more like a song than speech.

### Dwarvish

#### Written Dwarvish

Formally dictated using runes and conjoined together to form compound, increasingly complex words, the Dwarvish runes are pliant and mutable with modifiers to give better specifications, making it one of the most communicable languages ever constructed.

#### Vernacular Dwarvish

Unlike proper written Dwarvish, spoken Dwarvish is far less complex and often only relies on a couple phrases to get ideas across. If spoken Dwarvish were to be written down, it would only be a tenth as long as its written counterpart.

### Orcish

#### Auguste Orcish

The proper written and vernacular form of Orcish used by scholars and the aristocracy of Vostok Manda and Cascadia. Very limited in its use of sounds (especially consonants), and expansive in its specificity not unlike Dwarvish.

#### Valley Orcish

A vernacular used in Cascadia that expands the range of consonants and vowels to match that of Dwarvish. However, it retains the sharp annunciation and guttural flow that denotes Orcish speech.

#### Mountain Orcish

Most common in Tyrrhos, though also found in the Baerisian Islands, this form of Orcish not only includes the same range of sounds found in Common, it also includes the same "swallowing" of words in its annunciation.

### Goblinoid

#### Austere Goblin

Rooted in Dwarvish, the Goblin language is a choppy stocatto that resembles Dwarvish and Common alike, with most phrases being cut down and condensed into short syllabic bursts that could only be speculated about by casual listeners.

#### Low Goblin

An even more condensed version of Austere Goblin, Low Goblin is most noted by its copious use of idioms and acronyms, making it one of the densest and least communicable languages in the Old World.

## Exotic languages

### Infernal

#### Low Infernal

The amount of case rules, grammatical exceptions, genders, inflections, and logographic construction make Infernal the most difficult language to learn, and mastery is a far-gone conclusion. Its construction is seemingly only to pass judgment on those who don't speak it natively.

#### High Infernal

One who makes the sacrifices to speak Infernal must follow a demanding phonology. Some words require biting one's own tongue, and it is not uncommon for blood to spill out the side of one's mouth when speaking High Infernal. If one does not have a forked tongue when learning High Infernal, one will certainly have one after extended speech.

### Abyssal

#### Low Abyssal

Despite using the Infernal script, Abyssal is an almost trivial language, and what feeble mortal attempts have been made to create a "non-native" Abyssal to learn is only a shadow of the real thing. In practice, Low Abyssal is best described as standardized gibberish.

#### High Abyssal

Any semblance of structure in High Abyssal is frivolous, as case rules, new words and even new logographs are made on the fly as one speaks the language. Though it may make sense to a demon, it is beyond any understanding of mortals to even try to practice Abyssal with any fidelity.

### Draconic

The "true" language of dragons, only producible by a dragon itself. For non-native speakers, it is a language that feels like a hot coal, a searing acid, or bolt of lightning is moving around one's mouth. The proper inflections of this dialect require a mouth of a dragon. This is **old Draconic**.

For mortals to imitate the tongue of dragons, one must attempt to speak as if one has a mouth like a dragon. Some find that putting a hot stone in their mouth is a good solution, while it can also help to simply become one of the dragon-men. This is **Draconic with fidelity.**

If no attempt is made to replicate proper Draconic, it is **Draconic without fidelity**. While still being an inherently magical language, capable of crafting incantations all its own, its finer points are lost.

### Primordial

A language crafted by the dwarves to speak to the elements of the earth itself. Each one represents one of the four humors, and each humor is given an element. Though they use Dwarvish runes, the languages are unique in style and don't follow conventional Dwarvish.

**Aquan** is flexible in its construction and meaning is informed only by what preceded it, like waves of the ocean. It has no ingressive nor any glotallic sounds.

**Auran** largely hinges on one's volume and switches between inhaling and exhaling breath.

**Ignan** is a "clicking" language also emphasized with pops and rattles, like the crackling of embers.

**Terran** is likened to throat singing in that none of its sounds are produced in the mouth, like how the sounds of the earth come from deep underground.

### Celestial

The nature of Celestial itself is that it is the language of the stars and gods, to hear one speak Celestial is to feel a conversation instead of hearing it. It is one of the ancient, innate tongues that is earned, not learned.

### Sylvan

This is the language of nymphs, birds, and faeries. It is an inherently magic language and possibly the secret of magic and the eldritch. A lie cannot be spoken in this primal language, as every word is a part of a song, and a conversation a performance.

### Deep

The language of the darkest depths of the world, where no sunlight has ever reached and no other words have ever been spoken. It is the groaning of the earth itself, the sounds of canyons splitting, or leviathans communicating with one another. It ranges from noises like the creaking of a large boat to piping and whistling.