The Dwarvish language is spoken with little variation over a wide region, because of the dwarven policy of exogamy and a careful reinforcement of norms through the education system.

Gnomes speak a slightly different version, more a class accent than a dialect.

For the alphabet, see Writing Systems.

A typical Dwarvish syllable is structured XYX, where X is a stopper and Y is a slider. The first stopper is softened to put a verb into the past tense, the second stopper to put it into the future tense, and both to indicate continuous aspect. The slider is softened to indicate a plural noun.

There are 64 affixes of the form YX, with various meanings. Most are prepositions, conjunctions or determiners.

Dwarvish is written, and as far as practicable spoken, without vowels.

Examples of Dwarvish:

• dsht: concealing how you really feel (used by gnomes)

• dln: work done by gnomes (“labour”)
• gms: work done by dwarves (“craft”)
• gmsglvk: “craftfocus,” concentration on doing a task properly
• gnr: a (female) elder – plural gnhr
• gstn: a calming warm drink, drunk at bedtime to help one sleep
• krb: fermented yeast extract, with the appearance of axle grease and a salty, savoury taste, given to young gnomes by their mothers and still enjoyed in adulthood
• tshk: start (used to start magical machinery)
• tspvk: victory
• prdvk: freedom
• gshnvk: mana, standing, status, worthiness of respect in society
  (the -vk ending indicates an abstract noun)
• tshk: start (often used as a magical command)
• fzgrd: an expression of thankfulness for good fortune