Editing Languages in Star Wars (section)

== Galactic Basic {{anchor|Basic}} ==
Galactic Basic, often simply Basic, is ''the language of the work itself'' — in-universe, it is the [[lingua franca]] predominantly spoken by the inhabitants of the galaxy.<ref name="WSJ" /><ref name="TheNation"/><ref name="TechTimes" />

=== Accents ===
Lucas intended to balance [[American English|American accents]] and [[British English|British accents]] between the heroes and villains of the original film. He also strove to keep accents "very neutral", noting [[Alec Guinness]] and [[Peter Cushing]]'s [[Received Pronunciation |particular British accents]], which he perceived as "sort of mid-Atlantic neutral accents".<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Scanlon|first1=Paul|title=George Lucas: The Wizard of Star Wars|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/george-lucas-the-wizard-of-star-wars-19770825|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=August 25, 1977}}</ref> 
In critical commentary on [[Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace|''Episode I – The Phantom Menace'']], Patricia Williams of ''[[The Nation]]'' felt there was a correlation between accent and social class, noting that [[Jedi]] speak with "crisp British accents" while the "graceful conquered women of the [[Naboo]]" and "white slaves" such as [[Anakin Skywalker|Anakin]] and [[Shmi Skywalker]] "speak with the brusque, determined innocence of middle-class Americans".<ref name="TheNation">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/racial-ventriloquism/|title=Racial Ventriloquism|last=Williams|first=Patricia J.|date=June 17, 1999|magazine=[[The Nation]]|access-date=July 26, 2016}}</ref>

To decide on the sound of [[Nute Gunray]], a [[Neimoidian]] character portrayed by [[Silas Carson]], Lucas and [[Rick McCallum]] listened to actors from different countries reading Carson's lines. Eventually, they chose a heavily [[Thai language|Thai]]-accented English, and Carson rerecorded the dialogue to mimic the Thai actor's accent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/bts/profile/f20020530/indexp4.html |title=Silas Carson: Hero with a Thousand Faces |last=Chernoff |first=Scott |date=May 30, 2002 |publisher=[[Lucasfilm]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103130737/http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/bts/profile/f20020530/indexp4.html |archive-date=January 3, 2008 |access-date=July 26, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Gunray's accent was described by critics to be "Hollywood [[Orient]]al" that contributed to criticism of Gunray as an Asian stereotype.<ref name="TheNation" /><ref name="LATimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-may-26-ca-40965-story.html|title=A Galaxy Far, Far Off Racial Mark?|last=Harrison|first=Eric|date=May 26, 1999|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=July 26, 2016|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="USNews">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/990712/archive_001413.htm|title=Fu Manchu on Naboo|last=Leo|first=John|date=July 4, 1999|magazine=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011082808/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/990712/archive_001413.htm |archive-date=October 11, 2008|access-date=July 26, 2016}}</ref> [[Watto]]'s accent was similarly criticized as lending to [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] and [[Anti-Arabism|anti-Arab]] connotations.<ref name="TheNation" /><ref name="USNews" />

=== Non-standard Basic ===
{{Quote box
| quote = "When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be."
| source = {{mdash}}an example of Yoda's unusual word order from ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''
}}[[Yoda]] characteristically speaks a non-standard [[syntax]] of Basic, primarily constructing sentences in [[object–subject–verb]] word order rare in natural languages. This sentence construction is cited as a "clever device for making him seem very alien" and characterizes his dialogue as "vaguely riddle-like, which adds to his mystique". This tendency is noted to be written for an English-speaking audience; the word order is retained in [[Estonian language|Estonian]] subtitles, where it is grammatical but unusual and emphatic, and Yoda's dialogue is in [[subject–object–verb]] word order in [[Czech language|Czech]] dubs.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/hmmmmm/420798/|title=An Unusual Way of Speaking, Yoda Has|last=LaFrance|first=Adrienne|date=December 18, 2015|magazine=[[The Atlantic]]|access-date=August 1, 2016}}</ref>

[[Gungan]] characters, notably [[Jar Jar Binks]], speak in a heavily accented Basic [[dialect]] critics described as a "Caribbean-flavored [[pidgin]]",<ref name="LATimes" /> "a pidgin mush of [[West African languages|West African]], [[Caribbean English|Caribbean]] and [[African-American English|African-American linguistic styles]]",<ref name="TheNation" /> "very like [[Jamaican Patois|Jamaican patois]], albeit a notably reductive, even infantilized sort",<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages|last1=Conley|first1=Tim|last2=Cain|first2=Stephen|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood]]|year=2006|isbn=978-0313331886|pages=173–176}}</ref> and suggestive of stereotypical [[African-American culture]].<ref name="CNN">{{Cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9906/09/jar.jar/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030225015424/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9906/09/jar.jar/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 25, 2003|title=Jar Jar jarring|last=Okwu|first=Michael|date=June 14, 1999|publisher=[[CNN]]|access-date=July 26, 2016}}</ref> This was cited as a trait that led to criticism of the Gungan species as a racially offensive stereotype or [[caricature]].<ref name="LATimes" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name="CNN" />

=== {{anchor|Aurekbesh}} Aurebesh ===
[[File:Tokyo Disneyland (Oct 2020) 13.jpg|thumb|Aurebesh signage at [[Star Tours – The Adventures Continue|Star Tours]], in [[Tokyo Disneyland]]]]
Aurebesh is an [[alphabet]] used to represent spoken Galactic Basic (i.e. English) and is the most commonly seen form of [[written language]] in the ''Star Wars'' franchise;<ref name="TechTimes">{{cite web|url=http://www.techtimes.com/articles/111268/20151127/google-translate-s-star-wars-easter-egg-adds-support-aurebesh.htm|title=Google Translate's 'Star Wars' Easter Egg Adds Support For Aurebesh|date=November 27, 2015|website=techtimes.com|last1=McKalin|first1=Vamien|access-date=July 26, 2016}}</ref><ref name="VentureBeat">{{cite news|url=https://venturebeat.com/2015/11/25/googles-latest-star-wars-easter-egg-is-aurebesh-support-in-google-translate/|title=Google's latest Star Wars easter egg is Aurebesh support in Google Translate|date=November 25, 2015|work=[[VentureBeat]]|access-date=July 28, 2016|last1=Novet|first1=Jordan}}</ref> its letters correspond to each English letter, plus certain English [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s.<ref name="EchoStation"/>

The alphabet was based on shapes designed by [[Joe Johnston]] for the original trilogy, which are briefly featured in screen displays in ''Return of the Jedi''. Johnston's design, called ''Star Wars 76'', was used to create a [[font]] and again used in ''Attack of the Clones'' by Metschan, who incorporated the font alongside the later Aurebesh version used in the spin-off products.<ref name="Metschan" />

In the early 1990s, Stephen Crane, art director at [[West End Games]], became intrigued with the shapes as they appeared on the [[Death Star]]. He sought to develop them into an alphabet to be used in West End Games' licensed ''Star Wars'' products, primarily to allow players to render their characters' names, and received permission from [[Lucasfilm]] to do so as long as it was  presented as one of many alphabets in the ''Star Wars'' galaxy, not the sole and exclusive alphabet. After copying the letters from screenshots by hand, he standardized the letters based on shapes similar to the [[Eurostile]] font. He named and assigned a value to each letter, and derived the name "Aurebesh" from the names of the first two letters: aurek and besh. Once Crane completed the alphabet, Lucasfilm requested a copy to distribute to other licensees.<ref name="EchoStation">{{Cite web|url=http://www.echostation.com/features/aurebesh.htm|title=Aurebesh Soup|last=Crane|first=Stephen|date=October 21, 2000|website=echostation.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429204741/http://www.echostation.com/features/aurebesh.htm|archive-date=April 29, 2011|url-status=usurped|access-date=August 13, 2016}}</ref>

In anticipation of the December 2015 release of ''The Force Awakens'', [[Google Translate]] added a feature to render text into Aurebesh in November 2015, which was subsequently removed in February 2016.<ref name="TechTimes" /><ref name="VentureBeat" />