Common

Common, also referred to as Commonspeech or Common Tongue, was the trade language of Faerûn. Almost every sentient, civilized being spoke a smattering of it, and most were fluent. While most could not read or write the language, generally, the people of Faerûn were able to converse with each other in this language. The people of the continent of Zakhara referred to Common as Thorasta.Land of Fate: Adventurer's Guide to Zakhara p. 124 says "Such "outlander tongues" include Thorasta (and its dead ancestor, Thorass) from the distant North". With other sources stating Thorass to be the ancestor of Common, this implies that Thorasta is Common. However, the "Speaking in Tongues" article in Dragon Annual #4 lists Thorasta as a language spoken in the Western Heartlands. More likely, then, Thorasta is a regional variant of Common, and perhaps the "purest" form descended from Thorass. This is loosely confirmed by a pair of tweets from Ed Greenwood, here and here. Thus, it is presumed that the Zakharans simply called Common "Thorasta", perhaps after meeting a Baldurian speaker.
==Description==
Common was little more than a trade language; that is, it was not useful for complicated topics. It was simple and not very expressive as a language.
==Speakers==
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.
===Dialects===
Dialects varied from region to region but communication was generally possible. There were literally thousands of these local dialects. Calant was a melodious dialect spoken on the Sword Coast, while Kouroo was a Chultan variant, and Skaevrym was spoken in Sossal. Another regional variant was Thorasta, which was spoken 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. Thorasta itself had dialects: Baldurian (used in Baldur's Gate), Reaching (around the Reaching Woods), a Backlands/Prairie creole, and High Moor (used by barbarian clans of the High Moor, so thickly accented it was sometimes mistakenly thought to be a separate language).
In other realms, "Common" could be altogether different; these were not in fact dialects but different languages. An example was in the Underdark, as the residents there spoke what was known as Undercommon.
===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 had a tendency to confuse the issue; natives of distant areas sometimes regarded each others' accents as strange or silly, but they could still understand each other.
==Script==
Common used the Thorass alphabet. Elves sometimes wrote Common in Espruar. 
==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.
==Appendix==
===See Also===
* Common dictionary
===Notes===
===Appearances===
:;Novels
::The Glass Prison • Sentinelspire • The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin
===References===
===Connections===
Category:Human languages
Category:Languages
Category:Faerûnian languages
Category:Thorass languages
Category:Central Thorass languages
Category:Languages using Thorass
Category:Languages using Espruar
es:Común
fr:Langue commune