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The wonderful world of languages...
Most languages can be divided into "High" or "Low," or if you prefer "Excellent" and "Vulgar."
In the Red World, there are several different languages: two high, and many low.
The dragon tongue is considered "high." It is based on/is the language for wielding craft, or one of them.
The men wanted to learn how to wield craft effectively, so they had to learn the language. In the process of learning the language, they made some mistakes and come out only something like the dragon language. The result was the "High Red World" tongue, a language considered "high" and capable of wielding craft.
Previously, the men had spoken what is generically called, "The Common Tongue." Conveniently for us, this seems to be English. The common tongue is only the man language of the Red World, though. Other worlds have other tongues, and some have rubbed off on the Red World, creating minor languages such as those spoken by the Triopolis, Schools, and even hunters.
Most other languages are spirit tongues, which few, if any, men have ever spoken. These are sometimes used in connection with working with tyyr (cobha). They are also used in inter-spirit communication.
The Green World languages deserve mention here. They have the same Common Tongue and High Tongue, except for a thick accent. This makes some words intelligible, and others not. For example, "Gor Xander Curonien" is, in Green World, "Gok Sendear Curonthae." The difference in ending for "Curon" is a result of different grammar. The Red World phrase is literally "one who wins" and in Green World "one who is a winner." That's the essential difference between languages: some grammar, some pronunciation.
The Red World is written using a system of characters like ours except that each different kind of vowel has its own symbol. This means that there are no double letters as we know them, because the vowel sounds are dictated by its own character, not the surrounding ones. The Red World High Tongue also uses diphthongs as single characters. Thus there is one symbol for "th" and one symbol for "sh." This means that many words are much shorter. This system of many characters is designed to safeguard the pronunciation of words, because it is pronunciation that is important for the craft system.
How it is that dragons write, though, without hands, is still being figured out though... perhaps it is their tails they use? It is more likely that they use their craft to write on the page. We know that many works of literature are of dragon origin, such as a memorandum written by Iorin.
Thanks to KatherineRoid's blog for referencing me to WriteorDie.com, which was used to produce this post.
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