Accents in the Forgotten Realms?

[Uncumber]

Hey everybody,

So I was just thinking this over the other day - obviously, different places in the Realms have different languages and accents.

My question is, is there any indication amongst all the books and everything, that suggests (or implies) what those accents actually are?

I mean, for example, I can't imagine a book saying, for example, 'people of Amn have Italian sounding accents', but, uh, has something similar like that been said? Or is it purely up to us as players to imagine this all for ourselves?

I mean, it's fairly easy to imagine the Shou having 'oriental' accents, because they're heavily influenced by our real-world far-east, but I mean, this is a fantasy world, they could have a heavy French accent for all we know, couldn't they? How about, I don't know, a Scottish accent, does any region have that accent, to our knowledge? Do we have any knowledge regarding this? .. I'm all a bit muddled.

If anybody would shine any light on this it would be very appreciated! Thanks for reading =)

[Bahamut7]

I don't recall any lore outright suggesting accents, but I think the tolkien stuff may have had some influence, especially the movies.

Traditionally people make Dwarves Scottish, but my player who is a Dwarven Paladin of Moradin, impersonated Woody Allen for a battle and it was hilarious.

You could give accents based on our world's accents if you are focusing on a similar trait. Like Dwarves being Scottish could reflect the stereotypical depiction of a drunk Scotsman and Dwarves are known to be legendary drinkers. If it were me, I would give Dwarves German as German engineering seems more reflective of traditional Dwarven Forge work.

[Uncumber]

I don't recall any lore outright suggesting accents, but I think the tolkien stuff may have had some influence, especially the movies.

Traditionally people make Dwarves Scottish, but my player who is a Dwarven Paladin of Moradin, impersonated Woody Allen for a battle and it was hilarious.

You could give accents based on our world's accents if you are focusing on a similar trait. Like Dwarves being Scottish could reflect the stereotypical depiction of a drunk Scotsman and Dwarves are known to be legendary drinkers. If it were me, I would give Dwarves German as German engineering seems more reflective of traditional Dwarven Forge work.

A Scottish accent was what got me thinking on all this in the first place actually, I just didn't know if there was anywhere like that in the Realms. Like you said, we can definitely follow tropes - but that only goes so far before we have to use our imagination, unless it's been officially stated somewhere.

For example, if I wanted to play, uh, a human or an elf with a Scottish accent - does that now mean they've been raised by dwarves (or something like that)? It would be weird being the only scot-speaking elf in an otherwise queens-english society.

Also, just like you've said, players could have vastly different ideas on what different races/regions typically sound like.

I gotta say I've got nothing against inventing/imagining things like this. It's just useful to have a reference if there is one, you know.

[HappyDaze]

The Waterdhavian accent sounds remarkably like modern Seattle-speak.

[Uncumber]

The Waterdhavian accent sounds remarkably like modern Seattle-speak.

I genuinely can't tell if that's a joke, I can hardly read sarcasm in real life let alone on the internet!

[LtPowers]

Damaran names use Slavic morphemes, so it's reasonable to expect Damaran accents to resemble Slavic ones. Same with Shou / Asian; Maztican / Mesoamerican; Cali****e / Arabic; and (to a lesser extent) Chultan / African.

Mulhorandi people literally came from Egypt so it's likely their language is very close to Ancient Egyptian.

It's likely Illuskan resembles Norse, but I don't recall if there's any linguistic evidence for that. Tethyrian is probably Spanish/Italian/Latin.

Chondathans, who knows? I usually lean French myself, but I'm not aware of any evidence for that.


Powers &8^]

[Uncumber]

Damaran names use Slavic morphemes, so it's reasonable to expect Damaran accents to resemble Slavic ones. Same with Shou / Asian; Maztican / Mesoamerican; Cali****e / Arabic; and (to a lesser extent) Chultan / African.

Mulhorandi people literally came from Egypt so it's likely their language is very close to Ancient Egyptian.

It's likely Illuskan resembles Norse, but I don't recall if there's any linguistic evidence for that. Tethyrian is probably Spanish/Italian/Latin.

Chondathans, who knows? I usually lean French myself, but I'm not aware of any evidence for that.


Powers &8^]

Thanks for the reply! Hmm, yeah maybe you're right - I mean, that without any official source we should just rely on their real world counterparts, as close as possible. Well, that gives me a little to think about now!

Edit. I thought Chondathans were the Italians? Eh, who knows!

[Bieskaon]

Hi Uncumber,

a little while ago, there was a good thread here.

www giantitp com/forums/showthread.php?573697-D-amp-D-Human-Ethnicities

It concentrated mostly on the assumption, that some countrys in Forgotten Realms are based on realworld countrys.
I am sure, this will help you in your search for specific accents.

[Edenbeast]

Here's quite a detailed list I stumbled across back in 2005. It's not my own, I copied the post (don't recall the forum) and sent it to myself via email. It was thrown together for fun during play, and admittedly the group was unsure about the list's accuracy. I found it interesting nevertheless, and thought it's nice to share.


Icewind Dale, the northern Islands, and some parts of the
North: Norse

The North: Canadian

Waterdeep & northern Sword Coast: American West Coast

The southern Moonshaes: Irish

Baldur's Gate and southern Sword Coast: southern
Californian

Amn: Latin American Spanish

Tethyr: European Spanish (just add lots of "th" sounds for
"z"s and "s"s)

Calimshan: Arabic

The Interior Sword Coast: American Midwest (from
"Fargo-esque" around Secomber to bland Midwestern around
Irieabor)

Cormyr: Eastern American

The Dragon Coast: New England/Newfoundland

The Pirate Isles: Hollywood Pirate :-)

Sembia: BBC English

The Dales: Various English West Country and Northern
accents (although it
does seem odd to think of Elminster speaking like the
Beatles!) :-)

The Moonsea area: Welsh

The Vast: Dutch

Impiltur: Low German

Damara and Vaasa: High German/Swiss

Narfell, Sossal, and other areas around the Great Glacier:
Scandinavian

Great Glacier: Inuit

The Great Dale: Czech

Thesk: Polish

Rashemen: Russian

Aglarond: southern Slavic

Thay: Hungarian/Romanian (think Transylvanian)

Mulhorand: Ancient Egyptian (think "The Ten Commandments".
Liberally sprinkle
"So let it be written, so let it be done" in conversation)
:-)

Semphar: Iranian

Unther: Ancient Babylonian (I have no idea how to properly
implement this,
though!)

Chessenta: Greek

Chondath: Italian

Turmish: Turkish

Sespech, Hlondath, the Lake of Steam: French (it's between
the Spanish and
Italian areas)

Chult: African (West African? Swahili? South African click
languages? I
guess just pick one and go with it)

Lantan: West Indian/Caribbean

The South: American Southern (from Virginian and Carolina
near Chult, to Deep
South around Lapliiya, to Texan in the Shaar)

Nimbral: New Zealand (it's an island way down south, after
all)

Halruaa: Australian

Durpar, Estagund, Var, Ulgarth, the Utter East: Asian
Indian (perhaps Hindi
in Durpar, Bengali in Ulgarth, etc.)

Zakhara: Arabic (from Iraqi in the north to Arabic proper
in the center to
Northern African in the south)

Malatra and other nearby south coast cities: Thai,
Cambodian, Vietnamese from
west to east (there's room for all of them down there)

Tu Lung: Cantonese Chinese

Shou Lung: Mandarin Chinese

Tabot: Tibetan (duh)

The Hordelands: Mongolian

Koryo: Korean

Wa and Kozakura: Japanese

Maztica: American Indian

[Edenbeast]

If you're looking for a more "official" resource, check the Faerûnian languages page (https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Faerûnian_languages) on the Forgotten Realms wiki. There they list on which real world languages the fantasy languages are based on.

Or read it up in Dragon Annual 1999 (https://www.scribd.com/doc/288128287/Dragon-Annual-1999) (starting on page 24).

[Uncumber]

Apologies guys, I fell asleep last night!

Didn't want to appear ungrateful or anything so just wanted to say thanks so much for your replies - that link to the other thread and Edenbeast's list were really very interesting and helpful!

Thanks once again!

[solidork]

In our game, Cormyrians speak with a French accent. I'm not sure why, though.