Common

Common is the trade language of Faerûn. Almost every sentient, civilized creature speaks a smattering of it, and most are fluent. While many cannot read or write the language, generally, the people of Faerûn can converse with each other in this language.

Dialects

Dialects varied from region to region, but generally, communication was possible. Calant was a melodious dialect spoken on the Sword Coast, while Kouroo was a Chultan variant, and Skaevrym was spoken in Sossal, but there were thousands of other local dialects.

The Common spoken throughout Faerûn was properly called Thorasta by linguists and peoples from other continents, such as Zakhara. The purest version of Thorasta was spoken mainly in the Western Heartlands, from Way Inn in the north to Beregost in the south, and from Baldur's Gate in the west to Hill's Edge in the east.

Limitations and Advantages

The obvious advantage to Common was that practically every sentient creature could speak it. Even in remote areas of Faerûn like Murghôm, Samarach, and the Great Glacier, the inhabitants could speak at least enough of it to make themselves understood with a little creative pantomiming. Admittedly, regional accents tended to confuse the issue; natives of distant areas sometimes regarded each others' accents as strange or silly, but they could still understand each other.

However, it also had its disadvantages: not every concept could be easily related to others. Nuances of speech, names, and phrases could be expressed easier in older languages such as Illuskan and Dwarven.

History

According to Faerûnian linguists, Common developed directly from Thorass, or "Old Common", which was itself a pidgin variant of the Jhaamdathan language ("Old Chondathan") and Alzhedo. Among living languages, Common was most closely related to Chondathan.

Common was grouped with the Central Thorass languages in the Thorass language group.

Writing System

Common used the Thorass alphabet. Elves sometimes wrote Common in Espruar.

Geographical Distribution

Nearly everyone on the surface of Faerûn spoke Common as a second language, including non-humans. Those in remote areas spoke it badly, but most could get by.

Dictionary

1 Words.

Common Phrases

Anyhail

Anyhow, anyway

The Art

Arcane magic and its mastery