Revision as of 12:13, 5 March 2021

The Trade Tongue

The Trade tongue was developed during the early years of the Coalition to enable easier communication between all of the races of Eramere. Frequent trade among the native races within Eramere saw the creation of a unified, and simplified, language that could be used to express oneself with very few words. They began to combine common and simple phonetics, also using words that sounded similar between two languages that might mean the same thing. Each major non-human language contributed to the development of the Trade Tongue, as harsh consonants, akward spelling and hard-to-pronunce words and phrases were eliminated. Before long, a simple-character alphabet was created for it to enable even greater communication.

Over time the 'Trade Tongue' has been expanded and refined, and even today, the language has new words and terms being added as the use of the Trade Tongue continues to unite the people of Eramere. The humans, when they began to arrive in Eramere, have proven the effectiveness of the 'Trade Tongue' with their ability to learn it easily from the Gnomes and Dwarves.

The Trade Tongue is NOT native to Halmoria or other areas of the mainland, although it was taught there only within some schools in preparation for travel to Eramere in more recent years. Most people boarding ships were not exposed to the language previously, and were simply taught a few basic words to get by, before their arrival in Atalan.

Almost every non-human character and most humans will speak fluent Trade Tongue.

Haerkglaran

Structurally and grammatically, the Dwarven language is different from the other languages within Eramere. To most it sounds like a series of harsh consonants with a few vowels thrown in. It is not a complicated language to learn, however, most humans who attempt to speak it will spit all over themselves at least a few times before getting the hang of it. While Zvarkglaran is still the proper term for the language, most people have adopted the name to suit the Haerkglar's new name for themselves.
Dwarven is heard only within Eramere, and it is a common choice for a second language among Erameran humans.

Gnomish

Gnomish is primarily a nasal language. It is not a harsh language; rather a playful, almost taunting language, that may seem annoying to those who do not speak it themselves. One of the other features that are characteristic about Gnomish is the fact that they rise in tone at the end of each sentence, almost as if they are asking questions with each statement.
Gnomish is extremely rare outside of Eramere, with some very few on the mainland studying it within Ephaesean Academies. It is a common choice for a second or third language among Erameran humans.

Chorav

Chorav language is complicated and difficult for a person who was not raised in their society to learn. Nouns are characterized by gender (feminine, masculine and neutral), and sentences are usually built along similar patterns (subject, then verb, then object). Written, their language and alphabet are completely unique, consisting of 21 consonants and eight vowels.
Chorav is heard only within Eramere, and it is now a common choice for a third language among Erameran humans.

Syl'vaen

Elvish is a beautiful and mysterious language that flows gently from syllable to syllable. Elvish consists of masculine and feminine words, and a simple sentence structure, however, the difficulty is not in creating a sentence, but enunciating it. It is a language that is often spoken softly and with much reverence by those who were not raised with it.
Only a small handful of humans have managed to learn a sufficient amount of the Syl'vae language.

Orcish

Orcish is a harsh language by any standards.
Many claim it sounds like a drunken Haerkglar that has stuffed a sack of potatoes in his mouth.
It is a combination of the tribal languages deriving from orc clans all over Eramere. Individual clans use dialects that are widely different, but still not to the degree that they cannot understand each other.
Orcish has yet to be learned by more than a small handful of humans.

Halmorian

Halmorian is an archaic language with ancient roots that hasn't changed much in many centuries. The Halmorians are proud of their strong and extensive vocabulary, and Halmorian is viewed as "the mother of all languages" by many linguists on the mainland in Halmoria. This staccato language is difficult to understand and even more difficult to learn, as the grammatical structure is extremely tortuous and complex. It can easily sound overly elaborate to some due to the pronunciation, while others might find it sophisticated.
In Eramere, Halmorian is primarily only spoken in New Halmor and occasionally the Docks area of Torica. However, others have passed the language down from earlier generations in High Reaches and beyond as well.

Lakoi

The most characteristic feature of Lakoi is the syllable bearing consonants, and the many consonant clusters in the language. It can sound harsh to many as the words are primarily formed in the throat rather than in the front of the mouth. Lakoi originated as a pidgin, (a trade tongue), influenced by many trade connections, and slowly evolved into a creole, (an established language), used today by the Lakoi.
Lakoi is primarily used by a few residents of Torica, but it has also been passed down from earlier generations outside of Torica as well.

Valkshir

The Valkshir tongue is very characteristic an easily recognized among the many languages of the world.
It is easy to separate the individual words, as they tend to apply alot of pressure to the first syllable of almost every word. Apart from that it is a very soft language, and every sentence covers a broad selection of tones, that makes it sound almost like singing.
In Eramere, there are a few families within High Reaches that still learn Valkshir as their second tongue, and others in Torica and beyond who recall the language from earlier generations of settlers.

Kutaran

Kutaran is a rolling language, with many vowels. It is unique amongst the Erameran languages, coming from the continent of Auviras. It has vowel harmony and a complex syllabic structure that allows clusters of up to three consonants syllable-finally. It is an agglutinative language. Verbs are marked for voice, aspect, tense and epistemic modality/evidentiality. The Kutaran script can be difficult for outsiders to learn, but not nearly so as Syl'vaen.

Ancient Atalanian

Only a small handful of Erameran Humans have been able to learn enough to translate ancient texts in Ancient Atalanian. Much is still unknown about this language.

Other Languages

Many different languages have been heard or studied in the past, but are generally considered unknown by any Erameran Humans. These languages have been recorded thus far as:

• Goblin/Snowmaw
• Karr
• Kobold
• Tauroc
• Pixies
• Kalimvaran
• Saerglar

Other languages theorized but unproven include:

• That of the obelisk and its runes
• Draconic