"The troll root sign language is now lost, even to the mistress race. Many
different languages are used in different regions of trolldom, each thought
by those natives to be the original set of signs ... Such sign language is
subsumed in the learning of the troll native tongue of Darktongue." - - RQ2
Trollpak, Uz Lore, p57.
So it seems the trolls do have regional language variations.
To expand, I suspect that this is referring to the sign language used by Troll Hunters, more than to Darktongue itself. Thus, though trolls from different regions would be able to communicate, they might not be able to communicate silently, and they would have distinct "accents" of sign and posture (possibly leading to MGF misunderstanding -- like the different meanings of the term "fag" in the US and UK)
Extrapolating from the above, the "sign language" of trolls is a sort of slang that has been found extremely useful by hunters, and Uz that want to speak privately around other races. These trolls have expanded on the inherent non-verbal components of darktongue over the centuries, leading to different "argots" of sign, without losing their "mother language" (pun intended ;-). The REAL "root sign language" is probably darktongue itself, as no Dark Troll would dare to think that they might be able to do something useful that the Uzuz never thought of... they would always think "The ancestors knew the real version. We just fergot how it goes, and do it this way now"
(It also makes sence that the more complex Physical aspects of the laguage would be the primary area of change, since almost all comunication with the ancestors is through their spirits, who have no bodies to sign with)
danm
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #27
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