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Zozma
2017-03-08, 06:16 PM
I'm putting together a setting for a D&D game that takes place centuries after much of civilization has vanished. As part of the aesthetic I want to replace the typical languages (elvish, dwarvish, etc.) with something a bit less concrete, the idea being that the people still around know about other languages but don't remember anything about the cultures and people they're attributed to. So far I have four: common, wet, rough, and smooth, each describing the "feel" of the language as it's spoken.

I'm having a hard time thinking of other adjectives. I don't know much about real world languages, and wet, rough, and smooth sum up pretty much all of my impressions there of. Does anyone have any ideas?

Mith
2017-03-08, 07:21 PM
Even if the culture is forgotten, I cannot imagine there not being stories about those that spoke the language. You could have "Water-tongue" as the language of forgotten sea traders whose language became the de facto language of coastal trade. That would be more realistic to me than description of the language based on how it sounds.

Zozma
2017-03-08, 07:30 PM
It probably would be, but I'm not terribly concerned about realism in this setting, and am pretty comfortable with the idea as it is. I just need more variations on the same idea.

Mith
2017-03-08, 08:14 PM
Fair enough.

Other ideas: Sharp, Clean, Gritty or Grit, Flowing.