Hylian (Language)

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Hylian

The various forms of Hylian

Main appearance(s)

Type(s)

Written and Verbal

Hylian is the main language used inHyrule.^[1] Throughout theTimeline, many forms and iterations of both written and spoken Hylian have appeared, sometimes being interwoven and revived across whole eras. There are presently six forms of Hylian confirmed to be used by the residents of theKingdom of Hyrule, and many morelanguages used by other species as well.

Overview

Mudoran

Main article:Mudoran

Mudoran is the iteration of Hylian text that appears inA Link to the Past.^[2] Unlike later Hylian scripts, Mudoran is unintelligible. It is found on various important rocks and pedestals.

Era of the Hero of Time

The Hylian writing system from theEra of the Hero of Time was introduced inOcarina of Time and later appears inMajora's Mask. It is a syllabary based on JapaneseKana, merging bothHiragana andKatakana. However, unlike these scripts, this syllabary lacks sutegana and uses full-sized characters forYōon andSokuon. It also lacks punctuation marks, such asChōonpu, as well as distinction for diacritical letters viaDakuten andHandakuten, limiting the full dexterity of the syllabary when emulating Japanese text.

This syllabary appears all throughout Hyrule and Termina on signs and architecture.

Character map
	Monographs (Gojūon)															Digraphs (Yōon)
	a			i			u			e			o			ya			yu			yo
∅
∅	あ	ア	a	い	イ	i	う	ウ	u	え	エ	e	お	オ	o
K
K	か	カ	ka	き	キ	ki	く	ク	ku	け	ケ	ke	こ	コ	ko	きゃ	キャ	kya	きゅ	キュ	kyu	きょ	キョ	kyo
S
S	さ	サ	sa	し	シ	shi	す	ス	su	せ	セ	se	そ	ソ	so	しゃ	シャ	sha	しゅ	シュ	shu	しょ	ショ	sho
T
T	た	タ	ta	ち	チ	chi	つ	ツ	tsu	て	テ	te	と	ト	to	ちゃ	チャ	cha	ちゅ	チュ	chu	ちょ	チョ	cho
N
N	な	ナ	na	に	ニ	ni	ぬ	ヌ	nu	ね	ネ	ne	の	ノ	no	にゃ	ニャ	nya	にゅ	ニュ	nyu	にょ	ニョ	nyo
H
H	は	ハ	ha	ひ	ヒ	hi	ふ	フ	fu	へ	ヘ	he	ほ	ホ	ho	ひゃ	ヒャ	hya	ひゅ	ヒュ	hyu	ひょ	ヒョ	hyo
M
M	ま	マ	ma	み	ミ	mi	む	ム	mu	め	メ	me	も	モ	mo	みゃ	ミャ	mya	みゅ	ミュ	myu	みょ	ミョ	myo
Y
Y	や	ヤ	ya				ゆ	ユ	yu				よ	ヨ	yo
R
R	ら	ラ	ra	り	リ	ri	る	ル	ru	れ	レ	re	ろ	ロ	ro	りゃ	リャ	rya	りゅ	リュ	ryu	りょ	リョ	ryo
W
W	わ	ワ	wa										を	ヲ	wo
	Special characters
	Uvular nasal								Full stop								Comma

	ん		ン		n				。				.				、				,

Era Without a Hero

The Hylian writing system from theEra Without a Hero was introduced inThe Wind Waker,^[3] later appearing inFour Swords Adventures,The Minish Cap,Phantom Hourglass, andSpirit Tracks, and briefly inTwilight Princess. It is a syllabary based on JapaneseKana (bearing a resemblance toKatakana) and Hindu-Arabic numerals. It supportsChōonpu,Dakuten, andHandakuten, but typically lackssutegana, therefore using full-sized characters forYōon andSokuon. For example, the Japaneseきゃ (Kya) andきや (Kiya) are not differentiated in this writing system, except for a few rare occasions.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

This syllabary is used as early as theForce Era, persisting throughout theAdult Timeline until theEra of Hyrule's Rebirth.^[8]

InThe Wind Waker, the syllabary appears as an archaic dialect dating back to theEra without a Hero. By the time of theEra of the Great Sea, it had became almost obsolete; its remaining speakers being ancient beings such as theGreat Deku Tree,Valoo,Jabun, and theKing of Red Lions, as well as theRito appointed to the role of Valoo's attendant, who learned it to communicate with him.^[9] Despite the dialect not widely spoken in the Era of the Great Sea, its syllabary is commonly used throughout theGreat Sea and theWorld of the Ocean King by their inhabitants, and is later carried over intoNew Hyrule. It makes a small appearance inTwilight Princess on tombstones inKakariko Graveyard.

Character map
	Monographs (Gojūon)															Digraphs (Yōon)
	a			i			u			e			o			ya			yu			yo
∅
∅	あ	ア	a	い	イ	i	う	ウ	u	え	エ	e	お	オ	o
K
K	か	カ	ka	き	キ	ki	く	ク	ku	け	ケ	ke	こ	コ	ko	きゃ	キャ	kya	きゅ	キュ	kyu	きょ	キョ	kyo
S
S	さ	サ	sa	し	シ	shi	す	ス	su	せ	セ	se	そ	ソ	so	しゃ	シャ	sha	しゅ	シュ	shu	しょ	ショ	sho
T
T	た	タ	ta	ち	チ	chi	つ	ツ	tsu	て	テ	te	と	ト	to	ちゃ	チャ	cha	ちゅ	チュ	chu	ちょ	チョ	cho
N
N	な	ナ	na	に	ニ	ni	ぬ	ヌ	nu	ね	ネ	ne	の	ノ	no	にゃ	ニャ	nya	にゅ	ニュ	nyu	にょ	ニョ	nyo
H
H	は	ハ	ha	ひ	ヒ	hi	ふ	フ	fu	へ	ヘ	he	ほ	ホ	ho	ひゃ	ヒャ	hya	ひゅ	ヒュ	hyu	ひょ	ヒョ	hyo
M
M	ま	マ	ma	み	ミ	mi	む	ム	mu	め	メ	me	も	モ	mo	みゃ	ミャ	mya	みゅ	ミュ	myu	みょ	ミョ	myo
Y
Y	や	ヤ	ya				ゆ	ユ	yu				よ	ヨ	yo
R
R	ら	ラ	ra	り	リ	ri	る	ル	ru	れ	レ	re	ろ	ロ	ro	りゃ	リャ	rya	りゅ	リュ	ryu	りょ	リョ	ryo
W
W	わ	ワ	wa										を	ヲ	wo
	Diacritics (Gojūon with (Han)dakuten)															Digraphs (Yōon with (Han)dakuten)
	a			i			u			e			o			ya			yu			yo
G
G	が	ガ	ga	ぎ	ギ	gi	ぐ	グ	gu	げ	ゲ	ge	ご	ゴ	go	ぎゃ	ギャ	gya	ぎゅ	ギュ	gyu	ぎょ	ギョ	gyo
Z
Z	ざ	ザ	za	じ	ジ	ji	ず	ズ	zu	ぜ	ゼ	ze	ぞ	ゾ	zo	じゃ	ジャ	ja	じゅ	ジュ	ju	じょ	ジョ	jo
D
D	だ	ダ	da	ぢ	ヂ	ji	づ	ヅ	zu	で	デ	de	ど	ド	do	ぢゃ	ヂャ	ja	ぢゅ	ヂュ	ju	ぢょ	ヂョ	jo
B
B	ば	バ	ba	び	ビ	bi	ぶ	ブ	bu	べ	ベ	be	ぼ	ボ	bo	びゃ	ビャ	bya	びゅ	ビュ	byu	びょ	ビョ	byo
P
P	ぱ	パ	pa	ぴ	ピ	pi	ぷ	プ	pu	ぺ	ペ	pe	ぽ	ポ	po	ぴゃ	ピャ	pya	ぴゅ	ピュ	pyu	ぴょ	ピョ	pyo
	Special characters
	Uvular nasal			Chōonpu			Full stop			Comma			Exclamation mark			Question mark			Quotation marks

	ん	ン	n	ー			。		.	、		,	！		!	？		?	「」			“”
	Numerals

	１	1	２	2	３	3	４	4	５	5	６	6	７	7	８	8	９	9	０	0

Twilight Era

The Hylian writing system from theTwilight Era is a cipher based on the Latin alphabet used in English,^[8] but with no letter casing. It appears predominately inTwilight Princess on signs and maps throughout Hyrule, albeit with a few lexical errors commonly surrounding Japanese transliteration of English, causing L and R to be used interchangeably. The non-canonical version of the alphabet found in theWii version ofTwilight Princess features its letters flipped horizontally.

InSkyward Sword, the alphabet is found on the box art as well as on walls in theSealed Temple andSky Keep.

Character map

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z

Sky Era

TheSky Era alphabet appears exclusively inSkyward Sword.^[8] It is a cipher mostly matching the Latin alphabet, with a few duplicate letters.D is identical toW,E is identical toK,G is identical toQ,I is identical toX,O is identical toZ andP is identical toT, which complicates translations.^[10]

Character map

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z

A Link Between Worlds

The Hylian writing system that appears inA Link Between Worlds,Tri Force Heroes,Breath of the Wild,Tears of the Kingdom, andEchoes of Wisdom combines elements of the Twilight Era and Sky Era alphabets, resembling the visual style of the latter but bearing an overall closer resemblance to the Latin alphabet like the former. This Hylian alphabet shares some symbols with the prior version, while other symbols are very similar or are mapped to different letters.^[8] Once again, there are several letters with duplicate Hylian characters, namelyD andG,E andW,F andR,J andT, andO andZ.

Writing appearing inLorule uses an inverted, but otherwise identical alphabet.

Character map

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z

Tears of the Kingdom

Tears of the Kingdom continues to use the same script fromBreath of the Wild, but also features Ancient Hyrulean from the era of Hyrule's founding which cannot be read by Link. If Link takes aPicture of Ancient Hyrulean text on anAncient Tablet and brings it toWortsworth inKakariko Village, he will read and summarize the text for Link. Ancient Hyrulean is written inMiddle English, rather than modern English.

Other Scripts

Link's Awakening DX

While the Hylian language does not appear in any form, one of the pictures in theDX version contains posters in plain English and Japanese. As Koholint Island is separate from Hyrule, this should not indicate an evolution of the Hylian language, though it has been derived from real life Japanese and English later on.