Elven

Elven or Elvish is the language of the Elves.

Elven comprises several closely related dialects that appear to an outsider or even one with a passing familiarity with the language as almost identical, but which to a native or highly skilled speaker strongly reflect geographic origin, social class, and in many cases age.

The word selection and pronunciation of a young Elvandar warrior will stand in stark contrast to those of mature cloth merchant from the neighbouring province Adjac, and would mark the young elf as a virtual barbarian in the provinces surrounding Eidolon.

The Elven language tends to experience long periods of stability, interrupted by rapid bursts of change. Some of these change periods correspond to a racial or regional crisis, but others appear quite spontaneously, often indicating some major change in customs and styles among the aristocracy such as a sudden interest in flower festivals or a dramatically different colour palette being deemed appropriate for court.

History

Modern Elven is directly descended from Eldaran, the language of the ancient Elven Empire, which in turn descended from Old High Draconic. It is said that the Ancient Dragons devised a form of their language for the nascent elven race, one more suited to the elves' physiology and vocal abilities.

Eldaran originally made use of the dragon's cuneiform-like logograms but developed over the millennia through forms of syllabograms into an alphabetic script that is used in Elven today.