I have collected here the results of a discussion on the Birthright Mailing List about the Evolution of Cerilia's languages. If anyone in the future has something to add to this discussion then I will add it below.
 

Theory 1
We've been chewing over the question about the reading/writing in high/low brect and it came to my attention that Cerilia, for all its realism falls short on the number of languages that it contains.
Think of it, after the Roman Empire collapsed we saw the birth of several languages based on Latin: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Provencal.
It has already been 500 years since the Anuirean Empire collapsed and I would think that we would already be seeing the same thing here.
Therefore I have created a list of the languages that I think would exist in Anuire, and where they are located.

Anuirean - This is the language that most resembles the language of the fallen Empire. It is spoken near the center of the old Empire, the Countries that speak it are: Avanil, Endier, Ghoere, Medeore, Roesone and Ilien.

Alam - This language developed in the vast nation of Alamie over a period of several centuries. Although similar to traditional Anuirean there is still sufficient variation to make it an independent language. It is now spoken
only in Alamie and Tuornen, which broke away from that country.

Peninsular - This language developed on the western coast of Anuire as a result of the isolation provided by the Seamist Mountains. The countries that speak it are Brosengae and Taeghas.

Talin - Language spoken on the northwestern coast of Anuire. It has some influence from the goblin languages of Thurazor and the Five Peaks. It is spoken in Talinie and Boeruine.

Dhoesonean/Cariele - These two languages are extremely similar. So much so that  they are generaly put together as one language. Due to their isolation from the rest of Anuire the language has developed to a point where it can hardly be recognized. It has heavy Rjurik, as well as some Sidhelien and Goblin influence. It is spoken in Dhoesone and Cariele.

Mhor - This language develpoed in the Mhoried as a mixture of the Anuirean, Cariele, Alam and Eastern languages. It is unique to that country.

Eastern - This language has Brect and Khinasi influences and is spoken in the countries of Aerenwe, Osoerde, Coeranys, and Elinie.

Well, that is a list of the languages that have developed in the Anuirean empire. If this post gets enough responses to encourage me, I'll do the same thing for the other regions of Cerilia and maybe a chart like the
one that came in the Time of the Dragon boxed set...
 
By Bearcat
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Theory 2
Read/Write is divided into four sub profs.

1. Andu alphabet (as our latin alphabet)
2. Karamhul alphabet (as our crylic alphabet)
3. Sidhelien alphabet (a mix of latin alphabet and symbols)
4. Sign alphabet (something like Chines "alphabet", my suggestion is that humanoids usually uses this system)

To be able to write and read a language you have to know the language and the alphabet, so to write/read Karamhul you have to take the Language prof. in Karamhul and a Read/Write prof for the Karamhul alphabet.

Anurian languages:

Andu (alphabet 1): You get a half the profs (rounded down) to understand modern Anuirean
South Anuirean (alphabet 1): You have half profs (rounded down) in Andu and -3 penalty in North Anuirean
North Anuirean (alpahbet 1): You have half profs (rounded down) in Andu and -3 penalty in south Anuirean. This dialect is influenced by the Rjuven language, so you have a profs value 2 in understanding talked form of Rjuven.

Rjuven languages:

Rjuven (alphabet 1): You understand some of Woodland Rjuven as if you had half profs in it and Anuirean as if you had 2 in it.
Woodland Rjuven (alpahbet 4): This is influenced much of the elven language and thereafter developed. It's mostly only talked in Torne, Oulu, Rovan, Jurva and Jokkajoen. You understand Rjuven to half your profs and Sidhelien as if you had profs 3 in it.

Brecht languages:

High Brecht (alphabet 2): You will understand the lowebrecth dialects to half your profs.
Low Brecht, West (alphabet 1): You will understand High Brecht to the half profs and East dialect with a -3 penalty.
Low Brecht, East (alphabet 2): You will understand High Brecht to the half profs and West dialect with a -3 penalty.   

Khinasi languages:

Basarji (alphabet 1): You will understand Inland Basarji with a -2 penalty
Inland Basarji (alphabet 1): You will understnad "costal" Basarji with a -2 penalty

Vos languages:

Each tribe has it's own dialect and different alphabets in those cases they have a written language, you will always have a -2 penalty when talking with someone outside your tribe.

Demihuman languages:

Sidhelien (alphabet 4): You will understand all evlen dialects with your normal profs, while you understand Low-Sidhelien (Woodland Rjuven) only to your ((half prefs) - 2), never lower than 2.
Karamhul (alphabet 2): You understand all dwarven dialects to your normal profs, High Brecht you understand to ((half prefs) - 2), never less than 2.

Nonhuman languages:

Giants, Ogrish uses alphabet 2. Giants gets a -2 penalty to understand another giant race's dialect of the language. The penalty between Giant and Ogrish is -10. Ogrish is divided into two dialects (Norht/South) and there is a -4 penalty between those dialects.
Gnoll, Goblin, Orog uses alphabet 3 and they have a -4 penalty to understand West/East dialect of their own language and a -10 penalty to understand one of the other languages.
Troll (usually no alphabet, but known to sometimes use alphabet 1 or 4): Each forest has it's own dialect, and the penalty to understand another woods dialect is -2 plus -1 for each forest between.

As you notice, it's not always the same penalties in both directions, it's no error from my side but what I thought would be right. You will not get any bonus understandings from a bonus understanding, so a person with North
Anuirean will not understand the elven language without taking a profs in it. There will be no bonus if you know North Anuirean and Rjuvien.

I would suggest that you use the following check modifiers instead of those in the PHB, the second on is for your native language.

Languages: Int - 2   (Int)
Read/Write: Int - 3   (Int - 1)
 
If you don't like the suggestion, then don't use it or modify it.

By Trizt
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