[quote=@Dark Jack]
I did miss that, apparently... hmm... but since Olan hasn't heard either of them speaking in their own language yet, I suppose that he would address Iridiel in the dialect native to the highlanders, if such a thing exists. Failing that - if the dialects of their language aren't determined from that - he's liable to speak with no dialect at all, but rather... hmm... English fails me? I have no idea how to describe this in English. The variant of a language one learns in school, the kind of which is exaggeratedly correct and essentially impersonal?
[/quote]

There are several different dialects of the Eireannach language, each of them with their own particular sound and sometimes even their own wordings and spellings.

The primary dialect is known as Urban Eireann. To us on Earth, it would sound very similar to a Dubliner's accent, with all of the typical 'th' sounds as 't' and so on. Urban Eireann is very much more of a nobleman's accent than anything else, the commoners in and around Ath Cliath, Cill Chainnigh and several others in the very heart of the Contaetha speak Urban Eireann, and it's considered to be a sort of 'Received Pronunciation' for Eireann itself as a language (perhaps what you were trying to articulate in this post). A relevant offshoot of Urban Eireann is Garmanic, and Garmanic is what Iridiel speaks in - hence why it's the only regional dialect I'll bring up. Garmanic is centralised around the town of Loch Garman - Iridiel's home town - and the eastern edge of the Contaetha proper, including the regions of Lonfoirt and Chill Mhantáin. Garmanic is a smooth, rich-sounding dialect with much emphasis on the vowels, perhaps best described as a mixture between Welsh and southern Irish.

The second major dialect is Albhain, also known as the Forestfolk Tongue. Albhain is a harsher, more guttural dialect that sounds rougher on the ears and is much faster-paced than Eireann or Garmanic - to an inexperienced listener, a conversation between two eireannach speaking Albhain is almost incomprehensible. Every sentence is full of contractions where they can be fit in. An example sentence could be "Wha'hae y'be'lassie, ye've be'go'a'lon'tiim!" "Ach, I'sor'fatha, I'd be busy gatherin'th'sheep." Perhaps not difficult to understand when typed out like that, but in a conversation combined with the thick accents that Albhain speakers are notorious for, it's hard to keep up when spoken aloud. The best "Earth" dialect that I can relate to Albhain is a mixture of Highland Scots and Glaswegian. Domhnall is a speaker of Albhain, though I don't think his accent's quite as bad as perhaps a man from Inbhair Nes or Innse Gall would be (both towns are very deep into Albhain territory).

The third major dialect is Cymric. Cymric is a horrible dialect for outsiders to try and learn, and all I need say is: it's Welsh. If that alone doesn't make you want nothing to do with Cymric, then I don't know what will. It's a southerner's dialect, and it's quite uncommon with the encroachment of Eireann into the old Cymric lands. It's not hugely relevant to the topic at hand, so I'll keep this one brief.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm back on the Guild after extended period of hiatus.