Linguistics

Language

It is safe to assume that most inhabitants of this world are united under one language ("common"), the name of which may be derived from the name of the world. Different racial subcultures will have evolved their own languages (i.e. Draconic, Elvish, Dwarvish...) over the centuries. Following the cataclysmic events, each continent may have started to divert from the once "common" language, intensifying local dialects and customs. It's therefore safe to assume that:

• the older a term or word for a geographical location, historical event, deity, etc... , the closer it will be to the pre-cataclysmic common language
• the more recent in history, the more likely it is to encounter a variation of a once common word (i.e. there may be towns ending in -heim all over the world, but towns ending in -heyem will only be encountered on one continent as its resembling the natural local evolution of this word)
• terms or words with a racial background are likely to have more than one name (i.e. an elven village may be coined in Elvish language "Vandor Ath Ar" meaning Forest of Sun, but in local common, people may refer to it as "Elvenheim" or similar terms, indicating their own perception of this place and how the name came to be (home of the Elves).

Language of the Ancients

The one common language that united the races of the world and was spoken by all, though with minor local differences is studied by few in the world and referred to most as 'Ancient'. Little has remained of this language, save on ruins of temples and chambers long since lost to the surface. More of these symbols can be found in the Everdark, fallen below the world, but have been without the step of a mortals for millennia. 

The language is not spoken, as it is almost impossible to know what it sounded like, though tribes far removed from the worlds centre may have closer dialects that others. Runes, glyphs and markings of this language contain levels of magical energy that enhance the information stored in them, though those that study this dead language know not of this magical level of information, a level once tapped into, can give visions, sounds, scents and feelings of moments in time. As of yet, none have truly uncovered this, instead reading the bare markings of the symbols and translating what summates as a blurb of their true meaning.