Welcome to episode 4 of Language Stories. This time we’re in Tikal, Guatemala and we’re talking all things…Star Wars. In particular the languages of Star Wars.

Why Star Wars languages?

Because the new Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, is out today of course!

It seemed like a great chance to take a look at a bit of an anomaly in the constructed fictional languages world.

And besides, it’s Hollywood, right? So it still fits with the series topic of The Americas. Ha!

Why Tikal?

Because I’m very reliably informed that Tikal was used for filming scenes from Star Wars set at the rebel base of Yavin 4.

Also, Tikal is beautiful. This may be my favourite place to film a Language Stories episode yet!

The Video

The Podcast

Further Reading + Resources

Languages in Star Wars Wikipedia page – a good starting point.

Object Subject Verb Wikipedia page – if you want to learn more about how this word order works in various existing languages.

Star Wars: Linguists Explain The Way Yoda Speaks – great article from The Atlantic going into detail about Yoda’s speech.

Yoda in Different Languages Reddit thread – fascinating thread about how Yoda speaks in different languages when dubbed. The key info has been summarised at the top.

Yoda Translator – translate your (English) speech into Yoda speech!

Star Wars accused of race stereotypes – an article from 1999 when the first of the prequel series came out exploring the possible racism Star Wars has been accused of.

Jar Jar Binks: A Cultural Rorschach Test – an interesting article from the Chicago Tribune about Jar Jar Binks, including his use of language to an extent.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi will bother some people. Good. – an article (with spoilers!) about the latest film and inclusivity. A good follow up to the previous articles about Jar-Jar Binks.

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