The Speech

"The Speech" refers to a language spoken by bards. It is attained at full by those bearing the Gift at no particular age. Though the language can be learned by other means, as was done by the Dhyllic people, it held no Bardic virtue to those without the Gift.

Bards use the Speech when speaking of important matters because it was believed to be "impossible to lie in the Speech." This belief was disproved, as Hulls are in fact able to lie in the Speech. However, this usage of the language was considered improper and referred to as Dark or Black Speech.

The Speech is not subject to the same change and variety as other languages are. Nevertheless, there would be a slight but noticeable difference when comparing the Speech of Afinil to the Speech in Maerad's time, or the Speech of the southern Edil-Amarndh regions to the northern, according to the Appendices of The Naming.

A list of known words and phrases in the speech are as follows: