Languages

When you live in a world where the beings can communicate in a variety of physical ways, not to mention mentally or magically, "language" covers a lot of ground. Perhaps we should say, "means of communication" and leave it at that; either way, here we go:

Spoken Languages

The Old Speech

The oldest language is that of creation, where words, and names, have power. Thought to be the first language of Selestya, it is primarily used in magic, and is not often used for mere communication, except by dragons and elementals (from whom it is thought to have come). It is said that it is impossible to lie when speaking it, but the various dragon types seem to belie this.

Racial languages

Human languages

• Seleste/Southron (the common tongue), is descended from Torgish and is the most common language and in use thoughout Selestya but especially in the southern kingdoms.
• Torgish, similarly to Old English, is largely unintelligible to the Seleste-speaker, though wisps of it can be caught here and there, and seeing it written makes it easier to see the relationship.
• Valasian, descended from the Old Speech but with enough time added and the naughty bits removed for everyone's safety. Spoken throughout the empire, very formal and stilted to the untrained ear.
• Druini/Barghest: Most folks only know or hear the Druini language as spoken by the Barghest they come across (and so might only know some war cries and obscenities). Barghest is definitely a dialect of Druini, but both are mutually intelligible.
• Kards, spoken by the islanders of the Kretan Archipelago, Wootton and the eastern part of Valasia.
• Perrin, closely related to Southron, but with a fair amount of dwarvish and viellunish words, phrases and structures in it to make it difficult to parse on its own to the native Southron speaker.

Giant languages

• Dwarvish: Each clan (Shadrakai, Mirrukai, Dueregar) has its own dialect, but generally they can be understood by any dwarvish speaker. Any difficulties are usually resolved by more alcohol. Dueregar is the most like the original giantish language and usually the hardest to follow.
• Firbolg, the oldest of the giantish languages, spoken by the firbolg themselves, with dialectical differences among the fomorians and the True giants. Ogres and trolls speak a simplifed dialect of this (when they speak at all).
• Viellun, also descended from firbolg, spoken by the various vielunish clans (orc and goblin tribes) with dialectical differences.

Faerie languages

• Aelvish: By necessity of interacting with other races, the aelf sidhe (elves) have developed a language suitable for physical communication, and with typical elvish enthusiasm, made it quite charming and intricate for its own sake. This is spoken by all of the elves, and is closely related to the Sidhe, but without the preponderance of visual cues or telepathic inclusion.
• Sidhe: The language of the aes sidhe was primarily developed for communication with their neighbours, the Kelts, and for making music. It lies somewhere between a spoken language and telepathy and mathematics and is impossible for anyone without faerie blood or Keltic influence to learn beyond the most rudimentary levels. The baen sidhe dialect has left behind much of the beauty and has adopted words and structures from the dueregar.

Draconic languages

• Kobold, the language spoken by the various kobold races (from the dimunitive to the larger lizard men types) is generally a dilution of whatever other language is in the area, along with a healthy helping of physical sign. The structure of the draconic jaw is not given to overly eloquent speech, and true dragons still communicate with each other in the Old Speech.

Other languages

• Keltic, spoken by those of Annûn, is closely related to the Aes Sidhe language, as they were developed simultaneously and for the same reasons. The texts maintained by the Druids are written in this language. The lack of telepathic elements and the inclusion of a broad range of physical signing and facial expression is the largest differentiator between the languages.
• Thieves Cant, a complex mishmash of signs, coded words and phrases (a la Cockney) spoken by thieves, merchants, and sailors the world over. Large regional differences, but the basics can find the speaker safe-ish harbour just about anywhere when they're on the run.

The Faerie

The denizes of Faerie communicate with each other telepathcially, and so don't have a developed language as such. When communicating with visitors to their realms, they default to this same method, but this often tends to freak their visitors out, and so many have become adept at a more physical, verbal communication, in the language the visitor uses. The faerie don't learn these languages, but skim the surface thoughts projected unknowing by the speaker, and then translate this and answer back with verbal communication they wouldn't know how to speak otherwise.
It's a complex and complicated process, but the nature of Faerie and its different relationship with time make it a mercifully quick process, and the non-faerie person in the exchange has really no idea this is what's going on - most beings just assume all faerie know all languages.
One thing the faerie do enjoy though, is music, and many have learned songs from various cultures and will sing along with gusto, despite having no idea what they're singing.
Finally, this also means that faerie can't actually read texts (though most can understand magical glyphs and sigils), as there's no thought to work with.