While writing my fanfic, I realized that I had an ashlander from Morrowind going into a town in Summerset Isle. They speak different languages, right? I mean, the Khajiit and Argonians certainly have their own native tongue. But do the Dunmer speak a different language than that of the Altmer? Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, Dunmer were once Chimer, who in turn were Altmer (before Saint Veloth led them to Resdayn). So perhaps the Dunmer do speak the same dialect as the Altmer. does anyone know how many languages there are? "Tamrielic" is what the Imperials, Bretons, Nords and Redguards speak, right? Someone help me out here. Would a native Ashlander coming to Summerset Isle be able to talk with anyone? Or do the Ashlanders speak a different language from the High Elves? If so, is there a propernoun for it?

I'm omitting Yokuda, Thras, Pyandonea, Akavir, Atmora for now.

Well, from the games, I'm guessing that MOST citizens from each race can speak one common language (guessing it would be Tamrielic). But I have no idea what their native languages would be.

Well yeah, in the games they all have to speak English (unless set to some other default language) because the player has to understand what's being said.

I don't think there is any lore that specifically states that the different races of mer (apart from Khajiit) speak their own native languages, although I'm assuming they would. I'm just looking for some clarification. It certainly would be easier if they all spoke the same language, although that doesn't seem practical in reality. Hell, even here in America there are isolated pockets, like in the south, where they don't speak English. I think it's French or some variation of it. Can't quite remember. I'm in southern California fyi.

I know I've heard the term "Cyrodiilic" before, so I'm guessing that is the common tongue that everyone has to speak in Cyrodiil in order to get around. Kind of like English and America, I suppose.

The Redguard would probably speak Yokudan in some areas (forebears, I think), but I'm not sure if they have another language in Hammerfell, or if they just use Cyrodiilic.

I'd think Bretons would speak Cyrodiilic for the most part, though they might have another language. The Altmer most certainly would have their own language, given their other cultural nationalism. Valenwood would probably speak a number of differing tribal languages, though would be in the same language family as Altmer. Khajiit and Altmer are both their own entirely separate languages.

Dunmer I'm not sure, though if the Chimer brought over the Altmer language it would be practically unrecognizable by now. It's like saying Latin and Spanish are the same :shrug: Maybe the Ashlanders would have their own too.

Not sure if there is official lore on it, but I haven't searched the forums yet.

About Ashlander speaking Aldmeris, look to Yakum Hairshashishi dialoges.

The Dunmer have their own language called Dunmeri. You see examples of it in location names:

Tel = tower
bal = stone
mora= forest
Ouada = river
ruhn = home
ect ect

http://www.imperial-library.info/translation/index4.shtml might be helpful.

This entry in particular seems to be relevant to your question.

Sadrith
Meaning: Mushroom - This definition was given by Sul-Matuul, who is an Ashlander. Sul-Matuul said that Sadrith Mora means ''Forest of the Mushrooms'' in his native tongue. However, Mora originates from House Dunmer language, not Ashlander Dunmer culture. In addition, it is unknown why the Telvanni would name their city using an Ashlander word. I assume that this is an example of language overlap, and I mark it as being standard Dunmeri. The two languages do originate from the same people and area, after all. See also Mora.
Origin: Dunmeri
Usage: Sadrith Mora - ''Forest of the Mushrooms''
Source: People of Morrowind
Reliable: Yes

The reason everyone speaks the same language and the native tongue of the races aren't seen as often in Tamriel is because a lot of the regions have multiple different races living there. The commonly used language would have began to blend into civilization pushing the more unique languages disappear from most public view. They are all still spoken just not on such a grand scale outside of Elswyr and the Black Marsh perhaps.

Which is related to Aldmeris which you can see in Ayleid writings.

If you can count the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Skills, then it seems just about everything has its own language.

It seems that most people speak Tamrielic, but there's no logical reason that the Ashlanders, Khajiit, Bosmer, Argonians, and the other Dunmer would not speak their own languages, especially for their religious practices. A universal language is almost impossible, anyway, especially on a continent with so many natural barriers, and so little interbreeding between the races. Many of the most poweful cultures are xenophobic and imperialist, any they are often far away from any hint of someone else's culture.

The reason that most people speak the same language is,obviously because the players of the games do not have a whole array of fictional language competences at their disposal.

As in so many other cases, it should be stressed that the games are obviously only a translation of the actual fictional word, not a perfect copy. Any statements that ignore that very basic fact are inherently flawed.

All of Nirn's languages are descended from Ehlnofex. Ehnlofex divided roughly by continents into Aldmeri, Nedic, Atmoran, Yokudan, Akaviri, and Argonian. Aldmeri subdivided into Altmer, Bosmer, Ayleid, Velothi (Dunmer), Dwemer, and Pyandonean dialects, which remain mutually intelligible to some degree. The slaves of the Ayleid developed a pidgin language of Ayleid and Nedic tribal dialects, which evolved into Cyrodiilic and spread along with imperial hegemony. The Khajiit speak a language called Ta'Agra, of uncertain derivation.

In my opinion most cultures have their native language. But there's probably two 'common languages' used all over Tamriel - sort of like what happened IRL in the Roman empire :

* Altmeri, or at least dialect of it, for most scientifical and artistic discussions (roman anolog would be greek, which was the 'culture' language)
* cyrodillic - the language of the administrators, traders and nobility (roman anolog would be latin, who was the trade and adminstration language)

Hist ("Jel" iirc) appears to be the only language not based on the original Ehlnofex. Makes sense given the creation myth.

Wow, thanks for all the information. Yeah, I guess it would make sense that even the Ashlanders would have their own dialect apart from the regular Dunmer as living in their own isolated pockets for so long, they would probably develop their own dialect.

I'm sure every province knows Cyrodiilic since it would be useful to tell the imperial guards "don't arrest me, I'm innocent". If you say it in Altmeri or Dunmeri, they won't understand you.

So an ashlandic elf going into a major city in Summerset Isle wouldn't know how to talk to anybody. You just call the language the High Elves speak "Altmeris" and the language the Dark elves speak is "Velothi"? And Ashlanders speak "Ashlandic", which is, I'm assuming, a native variation of Velothi?

Each race probably has its own language, certainly, we've heard words in several languages. However, it seems likely that unless said otherwise, all dialog in the game is rendered in Cyrodiilic, or whatever other language is most commonly used in the location the game takes place in. After all, no one ever has trouble understanding anyone else unless the plot requires it, and it would be pretty impractical if everyone had to learn ten different languages just to be able to comprehend what everyone they meet says. Also, considering that the Empire controls all of Tamriel, at least at the time all the games in the main series have so far taken place, it would also seem to make sense that its language would spread to all these areas, even if not everyone is necessarily fluent in it (Possibly this is the source of Khajiit speaking in third person? Maybe their language just doesn't use first person pronouns, that's my theory, at least.)



While that is true, if Bethesda were feeling ambitious, they could have had the voice actors speak the language of their race and than have subtitles in English, or whatever language the version your playing is in (At least in Oblivion, in earlier games, this would encounter the problems of most NPC lines not being voiced. However, there are ways one could reflect that dialog is spoken in a language other than whatever audiences are seeing it in even when it's only written.) had they wanted to reflect that the characters were actually using their own language, in general, in fiction if you're not told someone is using a different language, you can assume that they use whatever language everyone else uses. Just as fiction is liable to render dialog on foreign or fictional languages in plain English (or whatever language the work was made in or translated into.) so that audiences can easily understand it, it may also put in cues to tell the audience that this is the case, due to http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfPerception, which would dictate that if you want the audience to know something, you should show them that this is the case. In other words, if characters are speaking their native tongue, then the game would show us this fact somehow.

It should also be pointed out that it seems hard to believe that most dialog is rendered in the native language of the characters' race. Considering that the player character can always understand their dialog, does the player character know all languages commonly used in Tamriel? I might be able to believe that if the player character were a learned scholar, but what if you're playing as a barbarian? Obviously, from a gameplay standpoint, the game needs to render dialog in a language the player can understand so you don't need to learn a whole fictional language for this purpose, however, since the player character is like the player's avatar in the Elder Scrolls world, if the player is meant to be able to understrand something it can be assumed that the player character can too, if the player character cannot understand something, it would not be rendered in a language the player is expected to understand. And if NPCs ever had any trouble understanding each other, this would be noted in the game, if there are no actual NPC conversations where one party can't understand the other, than perhaps characters who are not native to the location the game takes place in would complain about being unable to understand the locals, this never happens, therefore this suggests that everyone can understand each other without problems.

coonsidering the mers's longer lifespan usually conservative culture, and how they're all offshhots from the Summerset Isles, there's probably relatively few variations amongst the different elven languages. Fluency in one would probably let you get by with the others at least for the basics. Though there are probably two exceptions :
- dwemeri. Nobody seems to have a clue about where they came from or whenthey sperated from the other elves, and their language doesn't seem to be related to any other.
- orcish : even if they were aldmers in the past, their culture got so thoroughly altered that the language is probably mangled beyond recognition from it's elven roots

Human languages have at least two main sources : atmora (nordic languages) and yokuda (the redguards). It's unclear if cyrodillic is derived from a native, tamrielic human laguage or from nordic roots, but it has heavy elvsih influences (ayelids and altmer)

I meant to say that the Dunmer speak Dunmeris, not velothi. Well, Saint Veloth led the altmer out of summerset over to resdayn in the 1st era. So after a few thousand years I'm sure Aldmeris would have evolved. The Altmer would most likely speak an evolved variation of it.

The Ashlanders lived amongst the Dunmer but seem to not speak Dunmeris. Would you just call it Ashlandic?

I meant to say that the Dunmer speak Dunmeris, not velothi. Well, Saint Veloth led the altmer out of summerset over to resdayn in the 1st era. So after a few thousand years I'm sure Aldmeris would have evolved. The Altmer would most likely speak an evolved variation of it.

The Ashlanders lived amongst the Dunmer but seem to not speak Dunmeris. Would you just call it Ashlandic?

its not a separate language, simply a dialect. its also likely that each tribe speaks their own variation of it. If you have to give it a name give it something dunmer, ashlandic sounds...wrong...

Why would giving an Ashlandic dialect of Dunmeris an ashlandic name be wrong?

i'm saying the name "ashlandic" is a lame thing to name it.

True, that does sound kinda gay.
I was thinking that if each tribe has their own little dialect, then you'd probably just say they're speaking "urshilaku". I mean, in-game they refer to themselves as "an urshilaku". I guess it's like saying "I'm japanese and I speak japanese". Although for my fanfic, this is a different ashlandic tribe that settled in Summerset because they were outcasted and they have their own name. So it wouldn't be too outrageous to simply give them their own name for their language. Although now that I think of it, it's probably the same dialect as one of the four official tribes in Vvardenfell because that's where they came from. Ya know, like, a few got booted from this tribe, and a few more from that tribe and a couple more from this tribe. And all those ones that got the boot for being naughty, came together and formed their own little tribe. It's all in the outline.


So there is no official propernoun for the language that present day High Elves speak? Same for Wood Elves? (I think someone said Altmeris but that person may have been assuming and not citing)