While joking about short attention span and forgetfulness, I came across an idea: how would a race with a really short memory be able to amount to something?
Then, I thought of the Chant. Everything important is chanted, and the individual can repeat a certain amount of information in his chant; by listening to the Chant of others, he has access to various bits of information. All worth knowing is kept alive in the Chant.
The ways to till fields, harvest fruit, to work the fabrics... chants of gods and fiends alike, the laws and ideals.
The language of the Chanters has several boons: it carries highly condensed information, it is near impossible to pronounce by outsiders, it carries far and clear.
Chanter cities are never silent; they're built so that chants resonate within them and are carried into the most distant corners.
By necessity, Chanters are very social, for a lone Chanter soon forgets who he is.
The race is intended more as color; they do not make good adversaries nor PCs.