Here is something I wrote on the subject some six years ago, which may therefore be somewhat out of date. For example, I now see the analogy of Carmania as Persia extending to the language. Still, I think this advances the discussion, so I offer it for that purpose. I also have some notes on Mostali which I will dig up and send separately.
We really know very little about the languages of Glorantha: what they sound like, what their grammar is like, their literary traditions, their writing methods (alphabetic, ideographic, or syllabic), the materials used to write them, or who in the society can write. As for that last question, I think we can start by disregarding the RQ 3 character creation rules, which give many professions writing skill. That does not fit a bronze age society, even a magically-charged one.
Here, then, are some speculations about Gloranthan languages. We begin with the human languages.
Arbennan: The languages of inner Pamaltela, these correspond to the Bantu languages of central and south Africa. It has no written form. Its notable characteristics include combinations of consonants heard in no other languages: kp, gb, and mb. All of its words end in vowels. The grammar is fairly simple, but agglutinative, meaning that word formation involves tacking on prefixes and suffixes to a root. (Arbennan is what outsiders call these languages; the Arbennans themselves have no word for the language family.) The sacred tongue of the Agimori Lodril priests of Prax is an Arbennan language, but the Agimori speak Praxian for everyday uses. This implies that they were not always so aloof as they are now.
Artmali: Another inner Pamaltelan language family (though with only one surviving member: Veldang), this corresponds to Xhosa. To non-speakers, its most distinctive feature is its peculiar clicks, whistles, pops, and nasal sounds. These odd sounds, combined with the blue skins of the Artmali, has led some outsiders to see the Artmali as a non-human species. Among the blue skins of Fonrit, traces of the ancient tongue survive in personal names. It has no written form now, but indecipherable inscriptions appear on stone ruins in Kothar and Zamokil. The grammar is complex, which adds to the difficulty of learning Veldang.
Errinoru (Maslo): This language family has no good analogue on Earth. To non-speakers, it sounds somewhat monotonous. Stress is indicated by certain words, not by elongating vowels or speaking loudly, as in many other languages. Even questions are spoken in the same monotone.
Fonritian: In this language family, the consonants are strong and the written forms, in fact, use only consonants. The grammars are notable for their social stratification. Different social classes have different vocabularies, and vary their grammar when speaking to higher or lower classes. In Afadjann, there is a thieves' cant which is unintelligible to outsiders.
Hsunchen: These languages have no earthly analogues. Each is unique, but there are some shared characteristics. The vocabularies are starkly limited, as befits a primitive existence. The languages are very concrete, and ill suited to expressing abstract ideas. The numbering systems are limited to between three and ten, with higher numbers being "many."
Pelorian: The languages of Peloria are related to the Theyalan and Western languages, although distantly. The Pelorian languages can be analogized to the Slavic branch of the Indo- European family. It uses a distinctive alphabet adapted from the Western, but recognizably related. To the ears of outsiders, it sounds slurred and sibilant. It contains sounds heard in no other languages, such as a "shtch" combination and "dn" at the beginning of a word.
Pentan: This corresponds to Mongolian.
Praxian: This language resembles some of the Plains Indian languages.
Teshnan: The closest earthly analogue to this language family is the south-east Asian Kadai family, which includes Thai, Lao, and Shan.
Theyalan: This corresponds to the Germanic family of languages, although it also has some resemblance to the Celtic family. Thus, it is noticeably related to the Pelorian family (Slavic) and the Western family (Italic). The Fronelan sub-family resembles the North Germanic or Norse group. The Pelorian sub- family is analogous to High German, which eventually leads to German and its sisters, but in the bronze age was more unified. The Ralian sub-family is analogous to Low German, which includes Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian. The Manirian family is analogous to Anglo-Frisian, the family which contains English. The ancestral tongues in that family are Old English and Old Frisian. The Umathelan group can correspond to East Germanic (Gothic), if you want to keep the analogy going. The analogy breaks down with Tusk Rider and Stormspeech.
Theyalan sounds sibilant and guttural to outsiders. All the languages are highly inflected, meaning they have many forms for nouns, verbs, and adjectives (unlike modern English).
The written form uses runes similar to those used in Norse or Old High German, an alphabet adapted from the Western language and suited to carving in wood.
Vithelan: This family resembles the Chinese family of languages on Earth. They are tonal languages, with most words being monosyllables. Meaning is expressed in part by the tone of a word: rising, falling, wavering, or flat. This gives these languages a sing-song sound to outsiders' ears. Note that Imperial is related to Kralori even though Japanese (which is analogous to Vormain) is not related to Chinese. The written form is ideographic, like Chinese. That is, the symbols represent ideas, not sounds.
Western: This family corresponds to the Italic family. The written form
parallels Latin, with the spoken dialects corresponding to early French
(Loskalmi), Castilian (Seshnegi), Italian (Safelstran), and Rumanian
(Carmanian). The vowels are strong, spoken with clear enunciation and
requiring considerable lip movement.
Now we turn to an even more challenging task: analyzing the nonhuman languages. Here we venture into wilder fields.
Aldryami: The language of the elves should be light and airy, like the wind in the trees or the music of a woodwind instrument. What words we have confirm this, with the letters r, l, and m predominating over k and ch. It may be a tonal language, with the rising and falling voice being part of a word's meaning.
The grammar is complex, with many inflections shading meaning. One wonders whether the Aldryami would have writing. Writing is Making,which is alien to their philosophy of Growing.
Auld Wyrmish: This is a form of communication that is only partly oral. The oral part is sibilant and guttural in the extreme. The grammar is highly inflected and uses some concepts alien to the human mind. Thus, it is not well adapted to communicating things to humans which they can understand.
Baboon: This is a highly modified form of the hoots and cries of unintelligent normal-sized baboons. Emphasis is indicated by volume and repetition.
Broo: This is a family of mutually-unintelligible languages, though clearly derived from a common source. Their vocabularies are geared toward the broo existence, so they have no words for concepts like "mercy," "friendliness," or "honor." It sounds very harsh, and the way it is spoken indicates the relative position of the speaker and hearer. A superior bellows at his subordinates, snapping off his words and sounding as ferocious as possible. An inferior purrs and squeaks. Broos learn local languages for the few inter-species communications they need.
Cetoi: This language is ideal for communication under water. It uses only vocalized sounds, almost none of which require the release of air. Rather, the language is hummed, clicked, and squeaked. There is no written form.
Darktongue: The trolls speak a language adapted for subterranean living, using repetition and many sounds in the high registers (which carry better). Since coming to Komor, the surface world, the trolls have found that the high sounds are inaudible to humans, which has tended to shift the language even higher. However, speaking low carries a connotation of power, much as having the right to stand upright does. Females have deeper voices than males.
The written form is ideographic, meaning that the symbols represent ideas, not sounds. The symbols can be carved in surfaces or punched through hides or cloth. Carving is preferred, because some nuances are conveyed with texture. For example, the darkness ideogram (the darkness rune) has seven forms: a carved circle outline with a fine narrow line, the same with a rough broad line, a circular area with a smooth flat inner surface, a circular area with a concave inner surface, a circular area with a pebbly inner surface, a circular area with a hatched inner surface, and a circular area with a convex inner surface. Whether carved or punched, the symbols are easily read with darksense. Only humans write the language with ink on paper.
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