Hardic

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Hardic is a fictional language in the Earthsea series of short stories and novels by Ursula K. Le Guin. One of three languages spoken in Earthsea, along with Kargish and Osskili, it is remotely descended from the Old Speech (the language of magic). It is the mother tongue of nearly all characters in the books, including Ged. According to A Description of Earthsea, there are as many dialects of Hardic as there are islands. The language is written using a runic system about which little is known.

[edit] Phonology

From the limited words of Hardic given in the Earthsea books, it is known to have the following phonemes:

	bilabial	dental	alveolar	velar	glottal
plosive	p  b		t  d	k  g
nasal	m		n
trill			r 1
fricative		θ	s  z		h
approximant			ɹ 1
lateral approximant			l

1. Hardic <r> is presumably either an alveolar trill or approximant.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Word lists of the Old Speech, Hardic, and other languages and dialects of Earthsea