Are Kobolds tailless though?
Edit: yea they're tailless. I tend to imagine them as having tails sometimes.
...*hides tail under cloak protectively*
Tails would be interesting as a genetic trait for Kobolds.
The kobold language is based entirely on how we used to talk to our cats growing up. The nonsense words would have a roughly consistent meaning for days at a time, but it was very fluid overall, and it's not really about communicating novel ideas to people, especially those that weren't around when a given word became attached to a given object.
So, do kobolds not have the capacity to learn other languages, period? I'm asking from a world perspective, not the effect-of-[UTTERANCES] perspective.
The way I interpret this is that the Kobold's language has a culture of change. So a Kobold would forget a language quite quickly until it realises how its language differs from 'normal' languages. Given that Kobolds don't naturally communicate ideas, this makes a very steep inital learning curve, but it shouldn't be impossible for a Kobold to learn a 'normal' language.
Assuming Toady one has implemented proper Kobolds, I wouldn't expect to see Kobold liasons or diplomats except under unusual worldgen conditions.
Traders might be likely, since accepting or declining a deal can be easily communicated with gestures. Though Kobolds might bring pet Rhesus macaques or something taught to steal like NetHack kittens. Which would be amusing and frustrating.