Hello, I am rather new around here, so if I posted this in the wrong section, please to tell me.
Anyway, I am writing a bit, and I was wondering if there is an official language for the races. Like dwarves, orcs, elves, humans, and such.
I've tried searching in the forums, but it appears the people in here use Tolkiens Elven language, but I am more interested in an official language in DnD. Since although beautiful, I'd rather not use Tolkiens different languages.
The PHB, pages 122-123, has information about languages in D&D including sample scripts for the Dwarvish and Elvish alphabets. In my game, orcs speak Pig Latin.
iserith wrote:
I don't think any of the D&D "languages" have ever been fully developed. Not in the way Tolkien, who was a professional linguist, developed his, at any rate. You might be able to find a smattering of words and phrases in various D&D books, though. For instance, the 3.5e Draconomicon has some sample Draconic words and phrases. It's not a full language in any respect, though. I don't think anyone's ever given the Klingon treatment to any of the D&D races' languages.
One of the two halves - iirc Chromatic Dragons - of the 4e Draconomicon has Draconic-to-Roman letters and a (one-page) English-to-Draconic translation chart.
I have to confirm that somebody in my Tiamat group actually speaks Draconic. I want to write a short note involving an upcoming plot point, translate it into Draconic, change it out of Roman letters, and use THAT as a handout. I can give them copies of the "dictionary" so they have a way to proceed. We'll see if they can figure out a hint.
Is there a lengthy Draconic text somewhere that we could use to guess at grammar? I don't want to use English word-order arrangements, nor do I want to do a bad simulation of Yoda.
I've always imagined elves speaking Gaelic.
BRJN wrote:
It also wouldn't hurt borrowing phrases from Skyrim's Dragon language.
MechaPilot wrote:
Tolkien used Welsh (a Celtic (Indo-European Family) language) as the basis for his Grey Elven/Wood Elven language Sindarin, while he used Finnish (a Finno-Ugric (Uralic Family) language) for his High Elven language Quenya.
Notably, he based Dwarvish off Hebrew (Semitic Family), and the various Mannish languages were "translated" into Germanic (Indo-European Family) languages. So the Rohirric language of the horse lords was translated to Anglo-Saxon; the language of the Men of Lake-town was translated to Old Norse; the common tongue spoken by most people was translated to English – and like English, was a syncretic creole language of Elvish and Mannish languages, so Sindarin, while based on Welsh sounds, acts like a sort of Latin. Adûnaic, the old language of the Men of Númenor, when they weren't speaking Sindarin, was originally a creole language of Dwarvish and Dark Elvish (a language we know little about since Tolkien didn't publically develop it), and it was the root source of the Common tongue, fused with various "Germanic" translated languages and Sindarin.
A lot of people like to follow suit and give Elves a language based off of Celtic languages, such as Welsh or Gaelic, because these languages sound to the most to the more common Elivsh language used in Lord of the Rings (High Elven was limited in the main body of text to a single song sung by Galadriel; Grey/Wood Elven is EVERYWHERE). Gaelic is as good a choice as any. Plus, the Anglo-Saxons and Normans and Vikings and other Germanic peoples who entered the British Isles saw the faerie/druidic/bardic traditions of the Celts, and associated the peoples with them as they conquered them. From a Germanic-dominated world-view, the Celts have BECOME the fairies they spoke about in their myths, relegated to the hills on the borders and coasts of their ancient territories (Celtic languages are only spoken now in remote parts of Ireland, Scotland, Man, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany).
Oddly, Hebrew-as-Dwarvish is not nearly as popular, and people tend to associate Dwarves more with Norse languages. This is probably because the names of Bilbo's companions in The Hobbit were mostly translated names from the Poetic Edda, a Norse saga compilation. Tolkien himself said that these were not their true names, just the names they were given by the Lake-men who lived nearby their ancestral home of the Lonely Mountain (notably, the language spoken by them is translated by Tolkien into Old Norse). The Viking = Dwarf parallel is just incredibly popular.
mrpopstar wrote:
Marandahir wrote:
When I think spoken Irish, I think...
Marandahir wrote:
BRJN wrote:
what is the rand mcnally atlas?
If I had to decide which languages to use for inspiration...
Elves - Gaelic/French
Dwarfs - Norse/Old English
Gnomes - Hewbrew (D&D Gnomes really took on those aspects of the Tolkien Dwarfs)
Halflings - Romanian?
Goblins - Turkish/Arabic
Orcs - German/Russian
Hobgoblins - Korean/Mongolian/Japanese
Gnolls - Swahili? Coptic?
cowleymen wrote:
Hebitsuikaza wrote:
Marandahir wrote:
mrpopstar wrote:
I'm the worst sort, each race has multiple languages and its more of a regional thing
I am digging bits and bobs of Marandahir's reasoning, though, and may end up stealing a bit of that Ainu inspiration Wood Elf-wise
Thanks! The best I can hope for is that someone will like SOMETHING I say. We're all trying to reappropriate and share ideas here. 
Hebitsuikaza wrote:
Whoever said anything about the Good alignment?
Eladrin as presented in 4e were terrifying.
I don't really like using the Good-Evil axis in my games. I said that in my preface.
"Quick note, I don't use Good-Evil axis for races or cultures in my games; the traditional monster races tend to be considered monstrous by the "more fair" PC races, but aren't particular bad. Just different."
Please don't attack my knowledge of a subject without good reason. Nor while skimming what I wrote.
People do bad things. People do good things. For my games, the chief judgement is, "do we think of this situation as good or bad" rather than, are these people good or evil. It's idealism vs cynicism (both taken loosely in the current usages rather than their classical philosophical POVs). Far more important is the Dionesian vs Appollonian, the Chaotic vs the Orderly, the Romantic vs the Enlightenment. I utilise that axis to great effect in my games, but I tend to steer clear of the good-evil one. There are horrifying things in this world, horrifying cultures. But to define them with Good or Evil judgements omnisciently from on high is not possible, since it all comes from our point of view – even if we're absolutely certain that that is a good or bad thing to do. In the context of the game, as a DM, I don't make those clear judgements for my players. I let them decide what they're supposed to do about the world.
The world is messy. There were horrible things about those cultures. But there were elements that people have romanticised and drawn into glorious, wonderful things as well. Again, I don't make clear 1:1 relationships between cultures in my game. I just wanted to give a short-hand above. In any case, High Elves are not Chaotic Good nicey nicey elves as in core D&D in my game.
Marandahir wrote:
Hebitsuikaza wrote:
BRJN wrote:
mrpopstar wrote: