30 Days of World-Building - Day 9 - Language

Exercise 9 - Listen to how different syllables sound to you. Do they excite you? Do you associate a particular sound with an emotion or place or memory? Write down some generic preferences for your languages, and then go listen to what those things sound like. Write down the syllables you hear when you run a faucet or sit by a stream, for instance. Those sounds will be your "root" syllables when making up names for places and people and things.

South-Eastern Region - Words are spoken in a simple and short fashion, and excessively large words are foreign to these people. Common sounds of their native tongue involve hard consonant sounds, which are seen as guttural to outsiders. Despite this, their words flow with an unerring grace when spoken by a native speaker.

North-Eastern Region - The language of the woodsmen and hunters of the north is simple and quiet. Syntax results in unnaturally short sentences. One could give a complex command to a group of hidden hunters in a five-word sentence. This form of speaking evolved from the required silence that hunting requires. In addition, the hunters of the northern forests have also developed a form of sign language that aids them during their expeditions.

Middle Region - This region lacks an original dialect/syntax/etc. This is due to the fact that after centuries of many different languages intermingling, the people who settled the Middle Region created what is known as the Tradesmen Tongue, a language that is necessary for everyone in the trading business to know. Those who do not speak this language will have a difficult time in most major cities throughout the continent.

South-Western Region - The numerous tribes  that inhabit these lands each share strict traditional languages. Communication between the groups is done in a broken form of Tradesmen Tongue that they had picked up during their brief period of trade with the Middle Region.

Northern & North-Western Regions - The remote northern villages and cities scattered throughout these mountainous areas share a common dialect, similar to the Tradesmen Tongue to the south. Unlike the Middle Region, however, the different cities rigorously defend their ancient traditions and languages, and therefore, each possesses a slightly different language. These numerous dialects are derived from the original tongue that men spoke when they settled the land many centuries ago.

Southern Islands Region -  While they possess their own native language, which is embellished with extravagant and often superfluous words, the common people of the Southern Islands tend towards a simplified version, that eliminates much of the unnecessary verbiage of the mother tongue. Scholars of the native language of the Southern Islands are vehement about this betrayal of tradition, and often go to great lengths to bring to light the "treason" being committed by not honoring their traditional tongue.

Mountainous Regions - Most human settlements in these regions speak the language of their respectful homelands. The tribal societies and goblins, on the other hand, have grown to use a harsh sounding language that employs rough vocalizations and sharp clicks of the tongue. The giants speak a native tongue that no human has been willing - or able - to hear long enough to study.