I was think about half-elves and their language lately. I was wondering what you all thing of their own language in high dense populations of half-elves? I refer to languages in the real world like Pidgin from Hawaii, or Spanglish from the south western US area (and other areas I'm sure). I think it would be a natural evolution of Half-elves to have their own language of Elf and Common. To a Elf or Human it would sound close to their language but not quite make sense. I'm just kind of going off the top of my head here but I think it would be kind of cool.
yeah, for sure. The languages I referenced were the result of two languages clashing with each other and the low-economic workers having to figure out how to speak to each other. I could see the language origins in a city where Elves and Humans find pride in being pure bloods, while the half-elves are left to be the labor class to support the "pures"
Whatever floats your boat. Just remember how this will be implemented in terms of game mechanics. Will the players have to learn Half-Eleven to understand anything or will they just have disadvantage to skill rolls (e.g. when discussing a difficult topic => roll a Persuasion check with disadvantage, if you only speak Elven and Common).
I'd say do whatever you like, so long as you're consistent. For example, the drow in my games speak a combination of undercommon and elvish, so it's difficult (but not entirely impossible) to understand if your character doesn't know both languages. I could see a similar thing working as an elvish/common combination or whatever makes sense for the region.
Hey all,
I was think about half-elves and their language lately. I was wondering what you all thing of their own language in high dense populations of half-elves? I refer to languages in the real world like Pidgin from Hawaii, or Spanglish from the south western US area (and other areas I'm sure). I think it would be a natural evolution of Half-elves to have their own language of Elf and Common. To a Elf or Human it would sound close to their language but not quite make sense. I'm just kind of going off the top of my head here but I think it would be kind of cool.
If the half-elven society (town, city) has been established for quite some time it would make sense for them to develop their own distinct language.
yeah, for sure. The languages I referenced were the result of two languages clashing with each other and the low-economic workers having to figure out how to speak to each other. I could see the language origins in a city where Elves and Humans find pride in being pure bloods, while the half-elves are left to be the labor class to support the "pures"
Regional dialects exist in real life too. So yeah, it would make sense that two unrelated half-elf communities would develop distinct languages.
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Whatever floats your boat. Just remember how this will be implemented in terms of game mechanics.
Will the players have to learn Half-Eleven to understand anything or will they just have disadvantage to skill rolls (e.g. when discussing a difficult topic => roll a Persuasion check with disadvantage, if you only speak Elven and Common).
I'd say do whatever you like, so long as you're consistent. For example, the drow in my games speak a combination of undercommon and elvish, so it's difficult (but not entirely impossible) to understand if your character doesn't know both languages. I could see a similar thing working as an elvish/common combination or whatever makes sense for the region.
The only thing i am thinking of now is half elves developing essentially fantasy Cajun
haha, that's pretty fun to think about :D