Following the shattering of theInfinite Empire, theRakatan's former slaves exterminated them and started to build their own empires with their masters' technology.[8] Once theCore Worlds were joined by renewed communication channels and trade, they united as the firstGalactic Republic. To allow easy communication among the new government's members, a trade language later known asOld Galactic Standard was chosen as the new official language of government and commerce. While Old Galactic Standard was mostly derived from Old Coruscanti, the mother tongue of the Humans of Coruscant, its vocabulary incorporated many words from over a dozen other languages,[9] includingDurese[10] andBothese.
By the lifetime ofPeshosloc, aholowright who lived between15,762 BBY and15,609 BBY, the language had evolved significantly enough to be considered a distinct historical division, which was latter dubbedMid-Galactic Standard.[11] Galactic Basic was further influenced byDromnyr after theVultans joined the Republic around14,000 BBY, resulting ultimately in the modern Galactic Basic Standard.[12][9]
"It appears the people here speak Galactic Standard, and that is a point in this world's favor... the life of a translator droid can be a weary one, you've no idea...."
Most sentient species that made galactic contact could and did speak Basic in addition to whatever native or regional language they might have used on a daily basis. Some beings normally did not possess the organs necessary to speak Basic, includingPolis Massans,Ssi-ruuk,P'w'ecks,Wookiees, and a number of insectoid races. MostGamorreans could not speak Basic, though there were exceptions (such asCaptainGriknaz).[13] Whether or not a being could speak Basic, it was usually in their best interest to comprehend it, and most did.
High Galactic was a dialect intended for displaying reverence and honor to religious figures.
Various cultures created different accents aroundthe galaxy, each with its own unique set of pronunciations. Some also used distinct dialects, which could have vocabularies or grammatical structures that different from the standard.
Barabel accent—as exemplified bySaba Sebatyne. The word "I" and any other word associated with it like "am" was not present in the language. The letters was often pronounced as /z/.
Corellian accent—exemplified byHan Solo andWedge Antilles. It was distinct enough that a Corellian could instantly recognize another Corellian's speech.
Concord Dawn inflection—as exemplified by members of theFett family and the majority ofclone troopers. This was the most common accent amongMandalorians (perhaps due to the influence of their native language,Mando'a), with the tendency to pronounce words that had ane with an /ɪ/, such as the word "delta [dɛltə]," pronounced "dilta [dɪltə]."
Coruscanti accent—as exemplified byObi-Wan Kenobi,Palpatine, andDooku. Most inhabitants of theCore Worlds, such asMon Mothma, also spoke in this manner, whereas those from farther reaches did not, such asPadmé Amidala (Naboo) andLuke Skywalker (Tatooine). In several instances, though, both Amidala and Organa spoke with a slight Coruscanti inflection when speaking toNute Gunray andWilhuff Tarkin, respectively. It was suggested that this was their "court" voice to adopt an imperious air or bluff, since they lost this accent when in casual or stressed situations.
High Coruscanti—a more refined style of the Coruscanti accent. It was very posh and clipped and conveyed a sense of upper-class sensibility, sometimes described as sneering and using more pretentious words (sheen, emerald, and ruby instead of shine, green, and red). The accent may also be faked to sound more important much likeDannl Faytonni.[14]
Eriaduan accent—as exemplified byGrand Moff Tarkin. It might have simply been an artifact of the heavy influence of Coruscant, or "standard" language throughout the Core Worlds, and by implication, the elite of society, since people in theColonies andOuter Rim spoke differently. The accent was described as "more Core than Core,"[15] reflecting Eriadu's late settlement compared to the Core Worlds.
Neimoidian accent—exemplified byNute Gunray andRune Haako, and to a lesser extent the Imperial governorMerillion Tarko. The accent places particular emphasis on certain vowels in a deep pitch (particularly, "a," "e," and "o").
Offworld Neimoidian Commander's Accent was spoken by Neimoidian people who spent considerable time offworld likeSeparatist CommanderLok Durd.
SoutheasternNaboo accent—as exemplified byQueenJamillia. Her accent made the Queen enunciate the consonants powerfully.[16]
Yoda's dialect—an unusual form of Basic utilized by JediGrand Master Yoda and others of histridactyl species, includingYaddle; it was characterized by an object-subject-verb format. However, another member of this species,Vandar Tokare, did not use this dialect.
Towani family dialect—this they taught to the Ewoks when they crashed on Endor. However, it was not enough for those creatures to understand standard Basic a year later, when they metPrincess Leia, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker,C-3PO,R2-D2 and the rest of the Rebels.
The WookieeRalrracheen spokeShyriiwook with a speech impediment. Due to the differences in the vocal abilities of Ralrra, his dialect was more clearly understandable by non-Wookiees learning the language; it was further suggested that some Wookiees with this condition could speak Basic, at the loss of all forms of Shyriiwook.
Basic-speakingRodians tended to suffer from speech impediments as well, most notably a lisp.Avaro Sookcool andTeeloo were two such Rodians; the phonemes [ɹ], [ɫ] and [s] proved to be the most problematic to vocalize.[17][18][19]
Behind the scenes[]
Basic's relation to English[]
InStar Wars media, Basic is the same asEnglish, with the exception of a few words and phrases devised by authors.
In translations into non-English languages, Basic is assumed to be English but translated to the other language.
While the letters are different in Basic than English, there are multiple examples whereLatin alphabet letters are mentioned, such as in Obi-Wan Kenobi's quote, "Do you have a plan B?,"[21]Mission Vao's habitual reference toZaalbar as "Big Z,"[22] and most droid designations (in-universe, this is referred to as the High Galactic alphabet). Greek letters (Old Tionese letters in theStar Wars universe) are used at times, examples includingDelta Squad.
Accents[]
This article or section may containoriginal research or unverified claims.
Please help Wookieepedia by adding references.
Dialects in English correspond to differentin-universe accents in the movies.Ewan McGregor's andIan McDiarmid's faint upper-class Scottish accents are, for example, Coruscanti accents in the movies. As a general rule, Imperial characters speak withRP-like British accents while Rebels usually have American accents. However, this is perhaps a representation of social class, as stormtroopers and other low-ranking Imperials speak with American accents, while some Rebels (Mon Mothma, for instance) speak with British accents. There are several exceptions to the rule: several high-ranking Imperial officers, such asAdmiralMotti andSiward Cass, clearly have American accents.
Star Wars authors have coined original English-like words derived from real English elements but which don't exist in the English language; they seem useful to a space-driven civilization of theStar Wars characters, but totally useless for our daily language. Some such words are "gentlebeing" (equivalent to "gentleman," but applicable to all species, including non-humanoid ones), "offworlder," "bird" (slang for spaceship, similar to how an aircraft is a "bird" in US military slang), "hyperspace," "homeworld," "spacer," "sentientologist," "youngling" ("young" plus suffix "-ling," meaning "person") and other technological terms likeblaster,midi-chlorian,droid (from android),durasteel,astrogation, etc.
However, Basic vocabulary includes some totally original words, of unexplainable etymology, unrelated to English, likeMoff,Jedi,Padawan,Darth, etc., or even compounds likeTwi'lek ("twinlekku"). It is possible that such terms are loanwords or are derived from other languages.
Notes[]
Basic is usually written from left to right; however, it can also be written from top to bottom (as seen inJunior Jedi Knights: Lyric's World, in theMassassi inscriptions).
Australian onWikipedia (theSerrocoans, as well as some Mandalorians inStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)
The Written Word onHyperspace(article) (content obsolete and backup link not available)
Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut,Part 2 - Ancient Coruscant onStarWars.com(backup link)
