Languages

It is believed by the clerics of the Church of Eighteen Eyes that language was the first gift given to mortals by the Gods, derrived itself from the Song of Creation as an expression of base Awareness. Though accounts differ as to which God championed this gift, it is generally accepted that both Lord Velvet and Mother Make Me were heavily involved, with Old Lady Loom in Their aspect of the Candlekeeper coming shortly after to deepen its power.
There is much debate as to whether language existed before the Disjunction, or if it was created alongside it. Despite copious amounts of evidence demanding its prior existence — such as written records from the Conclave of the Gelek Çeng that firmly predate the event — the Church remains divided, with the official stance being that language originated with the seperation. As such, scholarship on the nature of languages suggests that language developed independantly within Harmony, Refrain, and Sustain, and that any similarities between said languages before those realms intermingled is evidence only of the Gods' influence, and not shared lineage.
Linguists in the Vekhen Empire categorise languages into several families:

• Chorric: Comprised of only a single language — Chorric — this family is said to have been gifted to mortals by the Candlekeeper so that they might master magic. It is said to be the closest to a "spoken" and "written" transcription of the Song of Creation as is possible.
• Discordant: Believed to be an inversion of Chorric, or the Song of Creation itself, this family stems from extraplanar meddling within Harmony by the denizens of Echoing. This family is comprised of Discordant, Drakish, Havkit (which borrows significantly from Proto-Syvatic), Klonkish, and Krěv.
• Sustaining: Perhaps the most controversial language family, the Sustaining languages are said by orthodox scholars to have come with the Vekhen Invasion of Syvat, bringing with them Old Kaharn. However, lots of evidence exists to suggest that languages predating Old Kaharn existed on Syvat, and linguists have even derrived a theoretical model known as Proto-Syvattic. Other languages in this family include Aomenic, Common Vulgar, and Flickerish.
• Syvattic: Once again controversial, "Syvattic" languages actually appear to stem from Feytongue originally spoken within Refrain. However, contact between Refrain and Harmony occured very shortly after the Disjunction, and those languages that were influence by Feytongue were almost certainly the close ancestors of the language that Feytongue itself grew out of, making them of a family. Therefore, though not orthodox in thought, it is believed by many linguists that the "Syvattic" language are indeed also stemming from Proto-Syvatic. This family includes Ihmish, Lurgish, Borachi (which shares roots with Old Kaharn, and has many loan words to and from Aomenic), and Bir-Birineh.
• Farric: "Farric" is the least understood of the language families, most notably because very few native speakers are known to the scholars of the Vekhen Empire. Indeed, this "family" is more a colloquial grouping of all language from "a far," being those spoken by travellers from the Furthest Shores. This "family" includes Affa, Armimez, and technically Noraddim, though given the degree of Feytongue influence on tha language, it is believed to be "Syvaticised."
• Jemmic: Jemmic languages belong to communities with little-to-no continued contact with the wider Sustaining and Syvattic languages, though linguists do believe there are familial connections through a shared ancestor, likely contemporary with or predating Proto-Syvattic. Three languages are known to be within this family: Tõdeh, Nikchim, and Orðing.