Language

There are numerous languages in Avo and here they are in more detail!

Standard Languages

These are languages commonly found in Avo.

Common

Common, also known as sotter, is, duh, the most commonly spoken language in the world. It is a pidgin language composed of thousands of loanwords cobbled together over the ancient human language, Sot. Sot was a “very simple language” according to the elves, who mistook it for guttural yawping for centuries. In order to communicate with the elves, the humans began to steal words from their language. They continued to do so with almost every other language (mainly halfling words, as the two beings became good friends over the centuries). Common also incorporates gestures, movements, and even body posture to better display meaning. Common script is displayed in characters derived from ancient Sot. Think of Romaji for Japanese characters.

Elvish

Elvish, known in Avo as wyrdrell (elvish for “wandering tongue”) has an analog to Welsh. It has many long, flowing syllables with the occasional abrupt plosive or other sound. Trills are also prominent in wyrdrell. Elves are well known for speaking slowly and deliberately, as they “don’t have anywhere to be.” Their script, similarly, is a long flowing cursive.

Dwarvish

Dwarvish, known as reidde (Dwarvish for “speech”), is a short, curt language, analogous to German but if every word was a single syllable. It is best known for having far fewer phonetic sounds than other languages, and most of those sounds are meant to be very quick plosives, likely due to the dwarves' presence around loud forges. Their script is entirely composed of runes.

Halfling

Halfling, called moddretung (halfling for “mother tongue”) sounds a lot like ancient Sot, leading some scholars to hypothesize that the two languages grew from each other. If Common is Modern English, Halfling sounds a lot like Old English.

Gnomish

Gnomish sounds a lot like a very nasally Italian. Nearly all the plosives in gnomish are voiced, and people often say that gnomish is “spit on you” rather than spoken. Gnomish is also well-known for having a variety of meanings for words, leading to subtle subtext. For example, the phrase “you’re a good one” can also be translated as “you’re a devil’s asshole.”

Giant

The language of the giants is low and rumbling, like a thunderstorm. For such large beings, giants are often soft spoken and difficult to hear.

Goblin

The goblinoids speak in very lazy and sloppy “gibberish,” which can be difficult to understand even for fluent speakers. However, the key to goblin is that goblinoids often speak in short thoughts, strung together with filler, in much the same way we say “uhhh” between thoughts.

Orc

To an untrained ear, orc sounds surprisingly similar to Common, although if the speaker was speaking complete nonsense words.

Exotic Languages

These are less common languages that comprise much of the multiverse.

Arcane Cipher

Arcane Cipher, or just Cipher, is the formulaic language of magic users. The Cipher is used to write arcane scrolls and often appears more like a mathematical proof than a written document. The Cipher was created by spellcasters thousands of years ago and has passed through the Material Plane through, you guessed it, arcane means.

Abyssal

The language of demons. Abyssal sounds like a constant fire roaring from the belly. Abyssal creatures usually sound like they’re shouting. Abyssal is written in Infernal script, which is a highly regimented script created by devils and utterly ruined by demons, when they choose to use it.

Celestial

The language of celestial creatures and gods. Celestial is often called the “first language” even though Primordial precedes it by a very long time. Celestial is a surprisingly simple language, very fluid and easy to speak once you become fluent. Celestial always has a singing quality to it. The script, also Celestial, consists of kanji like characters that glitter when written correctly.

Draconic

The language of dragons and sar. Draconic speech is low and rumbly, like giant, but dragons are haughty folk and like to speak loudly and from the diaphragm. The draconic script is rune-based, but created originally by claw scratches. Thus the script written looks like this too.

Deep Speech

The language of aberrations. Deep Speech is incredibly difficult to learn as it sounds like nothing one can comprehend. It also has no defined script, as it is impossible to transcribe without losing a lot of the meaning.

Infernal

The language of devils. Infernal sounds a lot like a deeper version of Afrikaans. It’s very listenable but has a dark tint. Devils have, of course, codified their language to the nth degree, as it is necessary for the creation of contracts. Infernal, of course, uses the Infernal script.

Primordial

The language of the primordials. Separated into elemental dialects: Aquan, Auran, Terran, and Ignan. Also the language spoken by the titans. It is simple like Celestial, but is longer and more eloquent. The dialects also sound similar to the type of element: Auran, for example, sounds airy and light. Primordial is written using Dwarvish.

Sylvan

The language of fey creatures. Sylvan is a precursor to elven and has similar sounds, though without the trills and Welshyness of it. It is usually written in Elvish script.

True Speech

True Speech is more a philosophical concept regarding the True Name of all things. There is no known creator of True Speech; rather the True Name of things is considered a fundamental aspect of creation. Thus, even deities have a True Name which can be used to manipulate them. Thankfully, True Names are nearly impossible to discover by anyone except the most powerful and highly trained of wizards.

Undercommon

The language of the Underdark. Similarly cobbled together from bits of Dwarvish, Primordial (specifically Terran) and even some Deep Speech, mixed with a general Underdark patoir from a language long extinct. It is written using Elvish, thanks to the drow.