Setting:Unified Setting/Language

This page deals with the languages of The Unified Setting for /tg/.

Common

Common, also called the Goblin Tongue, is a messy and heavily emphasis-based pidgin composed of many different languages. It has its roots in the language used by the Goblin Empire prior to the Great Fuckup. Even before the goblin Empire fell, it acquired numerous loanwords from the old Elvish language, and the form of Draconian spoken by the Faestir. Almost everyone in the world is conversational in the Common tongue, though only the Goblins and Faestir speak it as a native language. Although it is widely understood, it is seen as classless by the people of the world, and as such, a merchant or diplomat will usually do his best to learn the language of anyone he would be doing business with. A person who can only communicate in the Gobin Tongue is looked down upon by regional powers as being nothing but a foreign hick. To attain any respect, one must speak in the local language. The exceptions to this are the Goblin Isles and Lindwurm, where most everyone speaks the common tongue.

The Faestir speak a version heavily colored by Draconian, and the casual common-speaker may find them difficult to understand if they do not intentionally slow down and speak in a more usual dialect. Unlike the dialects spoken by goblins, the grammar and syntax are constant, and largely irrespective of emphasis.
The Goblin dialects are the more commonly known versions of the language. The Wild Goblins speak the version that is perhaps the most pure. A guttural and often odd-sounding speech, it is the main language in western Lindwurm.
The Ghetto goblins mix the local languages into their speech, but they still speak the Goblin tongue, and they still use the characteristic emphasis patterns.
The Remnant Goblins have a dialect which has taken loanwords from all corners of the world. This dialect, often called Trade Common, is the version used by most travelers and people who use the language out of necessity.

If you use real-world languages in your campaigns to represent fictional languages, the common tongue is best represented by English. We recommend British English for the Faestir, a country or southern dialect for the Wild Goblins perhaps with some Ebonics conventions, "Spanglish" and similar foreign dialects for the Ghetto goblins, and the English of American television hosts and politicians for Trade Common.

Draconian

Draconian is the language of the now-departed Draconians. It is not spoken by anyone, but it is the language used in Draconian documentation, and thus it is of significant importance to adventurers and scholars.

If it becomes necessary to represent Draconian in-game, we recommend using the Draconian language for which a vocabulary is provided in the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Draconomicon. Should this not be available, or should a language with a defined grammatical system be preferable, we recommend selecting an obscure or dead language.

Toltecatl

The Toltecatl use their own language and dense logographic alphabet. Both are largely unknown to outsiders, and this is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future, as the spoken language is not one easily pronounced by mammalians, and the alphabet is so complex that only the Librarians learn more than the most basic of signs.

Should you desire to represent the Toltecatl language, we recommend Aztec. This isn't actually a language, but whatever.

Elvish

When the Elves were unified, they spoke a unified language. After the philosophical split in the Age of the Draconians, the languages drifted apart just as the factions did. While the elven tongues remain lyrical, and long-winded, they are no longer identical. Whether they are dialects of the same language, or different languages entirely, is a matter of semantic debate. While most elves consider the languages to be separate, speakers of one can understand the other with only minor difficulty.

Should you wish to represent the languages of the Sidhe, Wila, and Caele, we recommend Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan, respectively. For Old Elvish, we recommend Latin.

Vilousan

Vilousan, also called Moon-tongue, is the language spoken by the Gnolls and Sergals of Vilous. The Gnolls speak a guttural language, the particulars of which are important to the meaning. Their pronunciation has a rougher sound to it, to the extent that Sergals describe the Gnoll dialect as sounding as though the speaker has a boldling in his mouth.
The Sergals of both types speak more lilting sounds. The differences between their dialects are largely superficial.

Should you choose to represent the Gnoll, Southern Sergal, and Northern Sergal dialects, we recommend Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian, respectively.

Dwarvish

The Dwarvish language is a language harsh in the back of the speaker's throat, with the roughness of the earth's bones.

We recommend Arabic for the spoken language, and Futhark for the alphabet.

Doobie

The Doobie language, known to Doobies as the Noble Tongue, is a is a bouncy language that sounds rather unpleasant to any non-Doobie listeners.

To represent the Doobie language, we recommend Hindi.

Aurelian

Before the coming of Aurel, the human kingdoms spoke many different languages. With the dominance of the religion and its church, however, Aurel's language spread as well. Now all the civilized humans speak some variation of the tongue Aurel spoke, and the old languages are remembered by only a few isolated sages.

To represent the many Aurelian dialects, we recommend slavic languages.

Furnshakti

The Furnshakti Barbarians, disunified though they be, all speak the same dialect of the same language. The Furnshakti Barbarians assert that it has persevered since humans were created long ago by the Sun, and that the civilized nations have forgotten the true tongue. The civilized nations, of course, discard that as superstitious hogwash, despite the fact that it is not particularly in keeping with the Furnshakt's tendency towards indiscriminate animism.

To represent Furnshakti, we recommend Finnish.

Corgyn

Corgyn, or the Old Tongue, is a language which is spoken only by the Corgyn, though they would not consider it to be their tongue if asked. It is rather unlike any of the other local languages.

To represent the Old Tongue, we recommend using an improminent language with no major relations on the world stage, such as Welsh.

Boldric

The Kobold Language is barely a language at all. It is a bit of a mess, relaying heavily on gestures to indicate meaning, as words change very frequently. Because of this, few non-kobolds bother to learn boldric, and instead speak with the kobolds in the Goblin tongue.

To represent Boldric, we recommend gibberish.