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Chapter 6: Sociality
Gruagan
Technically, this is the same language as
Cigan, but only a dialect. Gruagan is the dialect of
gruagach ogres. Some linguists argue that this does
not meet the minimum requirements to be called a
language. Gruagan is a language of few words, and
those who speak it often have difficulty expressing
themselves. Rules do not exist in Gruagan. Gruagan
mostly has small words of no more than 5 letters.
Larger words are typically the combination of 2
smaller words.
This language has only nouns and verbs; for
example, no adjectives or adverbs exist. Verbs have
only 2 tenses: present and preterit; conditional, imperative,
subjunctive, and progressive tenses do not
exist in Gruagan. Action verbs are always preceded
by being verbs. For example, instead of “I hate”, a
gruagach would say “I be hatin’” or “I is hatin’”. As
demonstrated in the previous example, gruagach
shorten words, often to the point of incomprehensibility.
Hand gestures are always used to assist expressing
emotion. Since most gruagach communication
is emotional, hand gestures are frequent.
Those fluent in Gruagan are able to bellow,
growl and moan. Words bellowed are in the context
of aggression, words growled are in the context
of hunger, and words moaned are in the context
of horniness.
Gruagan is very different from Underworld,
since Gruagan has some soft sounds and it is predominantly
guttural. Gruagan is also different from
Kobold, namely because Gruagan has no clicking
sounds. Gruagan developed from Cigan, because
Cigan was too complicated for gruagach ogres.
Base and cliff ogres speak Cigan, while
gruagach speak a different dialect, known as
Gruagan. Technically, this Cigan and Gruagan are
the same language, but are so different that base
and cliff ogres cannot understand gruagach ogres,
but gruagach ogres can understand base and cliff
ogres. Other ogres get frustrated when hearing
Gruagan, and consider it an inferior dialect.
Kobold
This language developed from its predecessor,
Cigan. Kobold has no soft sounds and is guttural.
Many words are longer than 5 letters. A characteristic
feature of Kobold is a clicking sound produced
by the tongue. Even though words are usually
larger in Kobold than Cigan, the Kobold language
typically has sentences of only 3 words: subject,
verb, and object. Bugbears speak Buggeric,
which is a dialect of Kobold.
Kobold language has made many contributions
to other languages. For example, the word
slave originated in Kobold as sklabos, roughly translated.
As languages mixed, the word developed into
sklavus, then sclave, and slav. Slave is the Sapian version
of the word. Although kobolds still use the
word sklabos, they call humans slavs, and describe
them as slavic.
The word silver originated in kobold as sarpu,
roughly translated. As languages mixed, the word
developed into seolfor, then siolfor. The precious metal
is now known as silver to humans.
Technically, Kobold does not use an alphabet
or runes, but pictograms. Kobold pictograms
were the first humanoid symbols. Kobold is written
from left to right. Written words are not separated,
and Kobold does not have punctuation.
Sapian
Sapian is pronounced SAEP-ee-an. This is
the language of humans. While local variations exist,
with a little effort, most who speak Sapian can
understand each other. Sapian is the most common
language in use. Sapian has an alphabet with
26 letters. The rules of Sapian are fairly simple so it
is easy to learn, though a number of irregularities
make the language somewhat difficult to master.
Sapian is also called Common, since it is the language
used most by sentient beings of the world.
Sapian language has made many contributions
to other languages. For example, the word
corrupt originated in Sapian, and is one of its oldest
known words. As languages mixed, the word developed
into what is roughly translated as corruptus in
Dwarven and corrumpere in Elven. Dwarves and elves
rarely use the word to describe each other, but frequently
use it to describe humans.
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