I mean that genuinely. If you’re not big on Dungeons & Dragons, save us both the embarrassment and just stop reading here.
Some gaming friends and I got around to discussing the nature of Common as a language within D&D fantasy settings. This was my take:
From what I understand, a lingua-franca is a previously spoken language that (through trade or perhaps diplomacy) comes into prominent use by non-native speakers. A pidgin is a language created from other languages to facilitate communication between speakers of the source languages. If a pidgin is then in turn passed on to another generation as their first language, taking on unique aspects of its own, it then becomes a creole language.
Given that Common in most campaign settings has been around for a while, it should be ruled out as a pidgin. Both lingua-francas and creole languages have or had native speakers at one time, which might be said for at least some interpretations of Common. I’m personally partial to conceiving of Common as a dead (or mostly dead) creole language that has become preserved as a lingua-franca. This way, it can have genesis in culture contact, still be a language unto itself, but be spoken by most characters as a second or third language. If Common still has native speakers, they would likely be clustered in areas of previous culture contact. Alternatively, they might be the current or just-previously “dominant” culture of the land, though this might lead to the ever-present danger of ECASiC (Everybody in the Campaign Always Speaking in Common).
I definitely like the notion of a “regional” language (Solamnic, Chondathan, etc.) being most characters’ first language, with their Common (and other spoken languages) affected with an accent indicative of that first language. I’m pretty sure that this how languages are described in the Forgotten Realms, though whether or not such an approach enters play is another issue entirely.
What I do not like is the binary approach to “knowing” or “not-knowing” a language inherent in every edition of D&D. Shadowrun does a much better job, treating languages as rated skills. I just thought of this, but if I were running a campaign, I’d swap “number of bonus languages” for “language points” that could be used to purchase levels of fluency. Functional fluency would be around, what, three? If a character wished to be able to pass as a native speaker, that would then require say, at least five points. (Even this is generous, provided skill points could be used tp purchase language points on a 1:1 basis through the Speak Language skill.) Diplomacy checks might then be subject to +/- based on the relative fluencies of the interlocutors.
Thoughts?
11 Comments
October 17, 2006 at 18:37
Very interesting:)
October 18, 2006 at 15:18
I think that common is assumed to be the “universal language”, much as English was considered to be the “universal language” (usually only by speakers of English), particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I’m willing to bet that if you spent a good deal of time in the Underdark, you’d discover that Common wasn’t nearly so common as you’d thought. Or, for that matter, in any of the Northern Realms cut off from “the rest of the world” by mountains, cold, and liches. In that order.
So then the other languages of the world(s) I think can be classed into various language groups. Perhaps Common is the most ‘common’ derivation of the D&D verion of ‘proto-indo-european’, or maybe even what our dreamers thought “Esperanto” would become. Huh. Those dreamers.
Anyhow; so if Common (pardon my tangents here) is the latest and most common descendent of the D&D version of PIE (heh), then it stands to reason that many other language groups are also branches of the same language and therefore have common ancestors and derivatives.
Sylvan, for example, would be related to all the other Elven languages (think of the Manx group), and while certainly there would be regional dialects of each parent group, there would also be separate linguistic *branches* of Elven. Similar, the Dwarven languages, and even the Orcish tongues. Iew. Orc tongues.
So I don’t think it’s a question of pidgin or concatenated language; I think it’s more a question of linguistic groups and I’ve probably done waaaay more thinking about this than anybody who doesn’t have a working knowledge of Klingon should have.
The reason why Everyone Speaks Common (even though Everyone Doesn’t) is that it just makes it Easier on your DM if Everyone At Least Understands It.
October 20, 2006 at 17:41
First off, there’s no way I can top a post that references both ork tongues and elven branches.
I’m definitely partial to language groups for races and sub-races, but I’m not sure it’s the best way to explain Common. How well does your butcher read Chaucer? When will the EU mandate PIE as an international standard for commerce? Given what seems like the artificially long histories of game worlds, as well as very common factors such as dimensional migrations (on a racial level), perhaps there’s no hope in bringing this up.
Ease for the DM is the most convincing argument of all, but I still think there is merit to be found in adding complications.
October 21, 2006 at 08:27
Actually, my butcher reads Chaucer quite well, but I think he has a degree in English Lit, so maybe that’s not a good example.
No, your points are well taken, and ones I had thought of as well. I think my point was that I don’t think Common actually *is* as common as it is perceived to be. So, f’rinstance, if you are playing in one of my games, and you want to play a Halfling from the Northern Reaches, you don’t have Common. You just don’t know it. Why would you? Common is a tongue of commerce; it is a language spoken in large centres, and understood in the ‘common’ areas of travel. If you get too far off the beaten path, you’re up a creek without a language.
I think it really absoultely depends on the GM. In my game universes, Common is the language of travel, of commerce – it’d be like travelling through Europe in the middle ages. Chances are good that if you spoke Latin, you’d be understood *somewhere*.
Unfortunately, because the game is based on Tolkien, everything has that ‘British’ feel to it, in which there *is* a universal language (English) that everyone who’s anyone understands and speaks from birth.
October 21, 2006 at 16:56
Allow me to add the “uncommonness of Common” to my List of Reasons Why I’d Really Like to Play in One of cenobyte’s Games.
On the topic of Tolkien and Britain, I found myself wondering for the first time about the application of (post-)colonial theory in bringing to life game worlds, specifically as applied to our understanding of fantasy races. Perhaps this ties into the “artificially-deep” histories that I referenced in the previous post, but most conflict and power relations within game campaigns seem to have boiled down into a sort of steady-state that very seldom echoes the complications observed in our world.
January 31, 2008 at 16:13
I am not an expert in linguistics by any means (but I intend to major in it!), but allow me to add my own thoughts.
It is possible that Common could be the primary tongue of a dead empire in a game of D&D, much like Latin. If the nation collapsed quite recently, say, in the last century or so, there could still be a large population of native speakers in the game world. Or Common could have been a language created by this old empire to act as a language of commerce to simplify trade. If that is the case, it would have no native speakers, but it would still have a great use, and so would likely have survived.
However, again in the latter case, the status of Common could change with the political climate of the world. If the territories where Common was used as a trade language lost most of their commercial traffic due to an epic-scale war, plague, etc, Common could fall out of use and die quickly.
January 20, 2009 at 15:09
As far as a lingua franca, I think a good comparison is probably Koine Greek back in the Hellenistic days and even through the Roman Republican era… a language used for trade, with much regional variation, but also standardized by some official use.
February 7, 2009 at 20:11
I’m going to chime in here on this thread as well. I think it’s useful to make ‘common’ the common root language of the majority of the humans in the game world (or dominant commercial/political entity if humans aren’t). I think it is useful to make it a mother language (such as indo-european language family), with various sound shifts throughout its history.
There would be a number of different mother languages, and they would have branched out into the languages of the intelligent races. For D&D 3.5 I use the alphabet rules to determine the mother language, as such: Infernal, Elven, Draconic, Celestial, Common, Druidic, Dwarven. These languages then went through their own shifts over time.
In my game, these original languages all have their own magical properties and are either dead and lost or closely guarded by their creators. I use some supplemental rules and house rules to accomplish this.
Infernal split into abyssal, infernal, and various languages of evil outsiders who have been enslaved by or allied with the fiends. Its original language is still spoken by the demon princes and other overlords and uses the Dark Speech rules from the Book of Vile Darkness and Fiendish Codex.
Elven split into aquan, elven, sylvan, and undercommon, as well as any other fey, magical beasts, or other similarly themed creatures. The original elven tongue has been lost to all but the purest strain of the ancient elves. It is said that there was a silent version of the elven tongue, a kind of dance, which is the basis for somatic magic. Somatic gestures used in spells are all that is left of the language, in broken fragments. The sign language of the drow is based upon the elven language, but it is corrupted and twisted and has lost its magic. When the drow split from the elves, their language was shifted by the underdark and its denizens into a mad language that only echoes the original elven tongue.
Draconic split into the various kobold and lizard dialects. The language, however, still exists in its pure form as spoken by dragons and is the language of magic. Whenever a spell is cast that uses a verbal component, it uses words in the ancient draconic language. Occasionally powerful artifacts and lost relics are discovered to expand knowledge of this language, and the spell Read Magic allows the user to understand ancient draconic.
Celestial is the only language that has not been corrupted, and it is the language of the good outsiders. It is called the song of the stars, and is sung or chanted, for it is the root of all music. Bardic music draws its power from the celestial language, and it has been said that the world itself was formed by music.
Common has split into literally dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects, with gnoll representing a unique early derivation. Halfling is very similar to a prominent early human language shift from common. The origin of common is a contentious debate among seers. Many of the sounds of the various tongues that are derived from common share characteristics with elven and dwarven, but there are also sounds that appear to be drawn from another source. There are several camps, often divided along racial lines. Some argue that the language of humans and other young races was drawn from elven or dwarven, while some humans assert that the language at its core was its own tongue, and that the various elven and dwarven languages were later incorporated into the language. Though the original language — if it even existed — has been long-lost, certain ancient True Names are known to grant power over those named. It has been speculated that these ancient names are words from the original language.
Druidic is a unique language that is known only to druids, regardless of race or culture. It is the language of the earth itself, of nature, and it can hadly even be interpreted as a language. It is more a kind of communication on a very basic level with nature and others who have these powers. The language is deeply magical, and is the core basis for all druidic magic, as it creates the conduit between druids and the nature that they draw their power from.
Dwarven split into the most commonly spoken languages, encompasing dwarven, giant, gnomish, the goblin tongues, orcish, and terran. The original language is said to have sounded like the earth itself, with the power of the avalanche and earthquake. The sound of the spoken language has been lost for all time, but the ancient runes of the original language still remain in the closely guarded glyphs of dwarven rune magic.
*A few notes: since I run an Eberron game, the dwarven language is at its core the language of the giants. The infernal language has been changed to Khyber. Undercommon has been altered to Daelkyr, the mad language of the aberrations. Drow is a derivation of the elven language that is unrelated to undercommon. The celestial language is Syberis. Common was the common trade language of Galifar, but has since split into the languages of Aundairian, Cyran, Brelish, Thranish, and Karrnathi. Orcish is the common language in the Shadow Marches and Droaam. Druidic is the language of Eberron herself. Many in Q’barra use a pidgin language that melds the languages of the lizardfolk and common. Many monstrous underwater races speak a language derived from both the giant/dwarven and elven languages.
draconic; khyber/fiendish (infernal,abyssal); giant; celestial (coatl)
Abyssal Demons, chaotic evil outsiders Infernal
Aquan Water-based creatures Elven
Auran Air-based creatures Draconic
Celestial Good outsiders Celestial
Common Humans, halflings, half-elves, half-orcs Common
Draconic Kobolds, troglodytes, lizardfolk, dragons Draconic
Druidic Druids (only) Druidic
Dwarven Dwarves Dwarven
Elven Elves Elven
Giant Ogres, giants Dwarven
Gnome Gnomes Dwarven
Goblin Goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears Dwarven
Gnoll Gnolls Common
Halfling Halflings Common
Ignan Fire-based creatures Draconic
Infernal Devils, lawful evil outsiders Infernal
Orc Orcs Dwarven
Sylvan Dryads, brownies, leprechauns Elven
Terran Xorns and other earth-based creatures Dwarven
Undercommon Drow Elven
Aboleth: Aboleth’s
Abyssal: Demons
Armandish: Armands
Asherati: Asherati
Auran: air creatures
Aquan: water creatures
Avolakia: Avolakias
Beholder: Beholders
Bhuka: Bhukas
Blink dog: Blink dogs
Boggle: Boggles
Buommi: Buommans
Busos: Busos – OA
Celestial: celestial creatures
Common: everyone else
Darfellan: Darfellans
Dark One: Dark ones
Desmodu: Desmodus
Diabolan: Diaboli -DM
Diopsid: Diopsids -DM******
Draconic: dragons
Drow sign language: Drow
Druidic: druids
Dvati: Dvati -DM*******
Dwarven: Dwarves
Elven: elves
Feline: Catfolk
Formian: Formians
Ghost Elven: Ghost Elves -DM
Gnome: Gnomes
Gnoll: Gnolls
Gol-Kaa: Goliaths
Giant: Giants
Githyanki: Githyanki*
Githzerai: githzerai*
Goblin: Goblins
Grimlock: grimlocks
Kappa: Kappas – OA
Hadozee: Hadozee’s
Halfling: Halflings
Hengeyokai: Hengeyokai -OA
Howler: Howlers **
Ibixian: goatfolk
Ignan: fire creatures
Illumian: Illumians
Infernal: Devils
Jermlaine: Jermalines
Kaorti: Kaortis
Kenku: Kenkus
Khen-Zai: Ethergaunts
Kobold: Spriggans *****
Kuo-Toan: Kuo-Toa
Loxo: Loxos
Lumi:lumi
Lupin: Lupins -DM
Neraph: Neraphim
Nerra: Nerras
Nezumi: Nezumi -OA
Nycter: Nycters
Odopis: Odopis
Orc: orcs
Phiuhl: Phiuhl ***
Rhek: Rheks
Rokugani- OA
Sahuagin: Sahuagins
Slaad: Slaadi
Shadowlands- OA
Shadowswyft: shadowswyft’s
Sphinx: Sphinxs
Spirit Tongue -OA
Sporebat: sporebats ****
Stonesinger: stonesinger
Susurrus: susurrus
Sylvan: fey
Tako: Tako’s -OA
Tasloi: Tasloi’s -OA
Tengu- OA
Terran: earth creatures
Tirbana: Tirbanese insects
Treant: Treants
Tusk Terror: tusk terrors
Tuilvilanuue: Raptorans
Undercommon: drow, mindflayers
Vanara: Vanara -OA
Windsong: windblades
Worg: worgs
Yuan-ti: Yuan-Ti
Zern: Zerns
February 23, 2009 at 22:45
In our Mystara-based campaigns, we don’t have the Common problem. There is no such thing, and I love it! In the Known World, the area where adventures often take place, it happened that Thyatis, quite like Imperial Rome, had conquered half of the lands and seas. After the fall of the great Thyatian empire few decades ago, Thyatian language is used for trade and administration in many places. It is still far from universal Common, and the area of the empire did not cover even a half of Known World, which itself is a small piece of a much bigger continent.
I as a player and as a GM, fail to see the problem in the lack of a communication provided by a spoken language, which both parties are able to communicate in. In D&D, using roleplaying or Sense Motive -skill, characters should be able to change thoughts with people speaking unknown language. Asking for food, shelter, directions, old stories and so on, these things should be possible for a group of players to manage in a foreign culture. And to not even mention about all the D&D spells that can make you speak and/or understand any language in existence.
I don’t like the idea of having a universal language, except for arcane symbols (which we consider to be closer to mathematics than any language). It just doesn’t make any sense that all creatures from aberrations to undead and all magical beasts and peoples in between could share a common language with humans and other nice races “just in case”.
@Crisco In Greyhawk, there is no place in Flanaess history for an ancient empire to exist. All peoples in Flanaess have different roots and centuries old own languages, with most of them never been conquered under the same culture.
M
Just for fun for science freaks, http://www.pandius.com/ethno.html, Ethnographic History of Mystara.
June 27, 2009 at 19:14
Common refers to the language the players speak. It is an easy way to communicate without worrying about translations or with what language you’re trying to speak with.
September 10, 2009 at 11:01
4th edition is even worse. 1 feat will give you 3 languages (IIRC).