#clonelang

[clonehub]

Clone language headcanons:

I believe that the clone troopers are a vast, connected, and diverse enough group of people to have developed their own conlang and/or pidgin so that they can communicate clandestinely/privately with one another.

This communication includes subtle and complex body language that non-clones don't notice and don't understand. The clones use both the verbal and body language to pass jokes, commentary, and critiques. The body language is especially crucial because clones are not often given a space for their opinions to be heard. This way, a clone can express their thoughts without having to wait for permission from a higher up (especially a ranked non-clones) to say what they want to say.

One of the most important aspects of the clones language is the pronouns. Clones don't gender their society the way we do. As in, they wouldn't try and split society into groups based on assumed reproductive capability and arbitrary feminine/masculine appearance (like we do IRL)

The clones are a hierarchical society, and their hierarchies are based in rank. When they're not based in rank, it's based on things like merit and experience, but for the time being were just gonna talk about the explicit ranks they have. Because ranking and deference are so important to them, their language reflects that. They have three pronouns, and they are self-referential, meaning that the pronouns of others change based your position relative to them.

Clones above you in rank get one set of pronouns. Clones the same rank as you get another. Clones you outrank get a third. This means that at any given moment, there's a clone for whom all three pronouns are being used to describe them. Take for instance Captain Rex. Cody outranks him, so Cody would call Rex pronoun set C. Captain Keeli and Rex are the same rank, so Keeli would refer to rex with set B (if he was alive RIP 💯🪦🕊️) rex outranks all Shinies and everyone in the 501st, so he'd also be referred to with the final set of pronouns.

I haven't decided yet if the pronouns get conjugated for number yet. I also just realized I'm not sure how a first person plural pronoun would work in a mixed group. Maybe they have a fourth pronoun that ignores rank and is specifically for "us/we" statements.

For verbs and tenses, the clones have only three tenses: simple past, simple present, and simple future. Their unnaturally short lifespans and speedy development get factored into their understanding of time.

The clones have to borrow a lot of words as well from other languages. They have multiple ways to say brother, every term needed for rank and weaponry, probably seven different words for March and a bunch to describe laser fire and specific shades of white. This is because these are the things they saw most in their environment on Kamino and I'm their daily lives. They don't/wouldn't have a word for uncle or aunt, though, because they've never had to refer to someone as such. They might have a word for mother and father.

"brother" Is functionally gender neutral in their language, but when speaking Basic, they'll use "sister" for their clone siblings who are girls/women or otherwise just prefer the term. Clones have a LOT of euphemisms for basically everything around them, but also a lot of teasing or derogatory terms for Shinies. The teasing terms Shinies make up for vets never stick. Of course, as we've already seen in canon, the clones also have a lot of words for helmet.

The clones are HIGHLY secretive about their language. Non-military are the most likely to catch bits and pieces, but military non-clones are actively excluded from access to the language. This includes the Jedi.

As loyal as the clones are to the Republic and the Jedi, they're aware of how tenuous their culture is because of their short lifespans, their restricted lives, and their inability to spread naturally the way other cultures do. So they hold on tight to what they have and resist study. They resist outsiders knowing too much because they value what little privacy they have.

Back to the pronouns for a moment. Theyre 100% accepting of any clones who are trans or nonbinary. That's a personal and sacred as finally choosing a name for oneself. So along the same vein, they respect when someone changes their name.

I think the clones have a Spiritual belief system of sorts, but I haven't really developed it yet. The clones have accents that vary by battalion. There's the strong Kamino accent, and then they pick up the accent of the battalion or company they join. The 501st and Coruscant guard have wildly different accents. Everyone gets teased about how they speak, especially when a battalions been separated from the rest of clone society for a time. The language changes constantly, too.

[kookyburrowing]

Adventures In Clonelang Part 1: How The Fuck Do They Sound

Hi. Hello. I’m finally starting on this gigantic horrible project for real. So first up is phonetics! Because in order to make a language I need to know how it sounds.

Overview

It’s pretty similar to english but with some exceptions—it includes a glottal stop and like Mando’a has no “f” or “x.”  Unlike Mando’a, it makes frequent use of “z” and related sounds.  Also, it does NOT have “Q” because “Q” is nonsense. 

Vowel Sounds

A, E, O, U - this spelling indicates short vowel sound. These are the same as in English. 

Exceptions: “I” is pronounced as a long “E,” and “O” is always long.  “E” can also sometimes be pronounced as a long “A” in Mando’a loan words.

AA, II, OO, UU - this spelling indicates a long vowel sound, except with “O” where it indicates “Ooh”.

Vowel doubles:

AU - Pronounced “ow.”

AI - Pronounced “eye.”

AY - Pronounced like the “ay” in the English word “way.”

Consonants

B, D, G, H, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, W, Y, Z: pronounced the same except for G and Y.  G is only a hard G, while Y is only used in conjunction.  

Consonant doubles: 

ZH: Soft “J” sound.

DJ: Hard “J” sound.  

CY/C: “Sh” sound.

Notes

This is a very basic draft of the sounds. I think the language should have at least some influence from te reo Māori, so I have tried to include some influences from there but my knowledge of the language is very, VERY limited so some of this will change as I learn more. If anyone has any advice on that score it would be greatly appreciated—I’d rather be told I’m wrong now than later once I’ve done a ton of work.

[clonehub]

how do we think clonelang sounds guys. what consonants do they have and what ones do they not have. what vowels do they have. how many letters do they have in their alphabets. how do the variants change--from rhotic to non rhotic to alveolar trill for /r/ (i am not an expert in this).

there's a whole world of possibilities. the hawai'ian language i believe has 12 letters and is not tonal. you can end up with some very long names and words bc of a need to repeat syllables i think. on the other hand, igbo has 36 letters and 3 tones. it's a dense (and conceptual) language. don't even get me started on verb suffixes. a lot can be conveyed in a very short number of syllables. chinese have 5 tones and can convey even more in less.

i think clonelang would be quite the dense language for efficiency purpose. i think it might sound clipped to people who aren't used to it, but it's got a roll/flow to it that's pleasing to the ear. it's not guttural or nasally.

[clonehub]

lowkey i think the clones would not have a strong culture of like. consistent place names and the like. names to them are personal and may or may not carry significant history, but when it comes to naming places--well. they have no place. they don't settle anywhere. their history doesn't bleed into any earth and it isn't carved into any rivers or mountains. any settlement or place they name i think would be more literal since I think they'd have a more literal than conceptual language (and notice how their language is unnamed [for safety reasons]).

so their village could easily be Blue River Village because it happens to be by a blue river. It could be Settlement A until they come up with something else. It could also be 501st village. they might choose a name from their language. but place names convey as much as they do because they have the benefit of sheer time on their side--years, decades, centuries of conflicts and compromises and movements and changes from all sorts of people. but they're one people with a linear and brutally short history.

[clonehub]

I know I've said this before I'm really a broke record when it comes to this HC, but clones with their own language that varies between battalions. It's everything from specific vocabulary to using a P instead of a B. It's pace and pitch and what they choose to drop/include.

[clonehub]

You know what would make a language really dense? Verb suffixes. Why say "about to" when you can just add on one syllable. I think the clones do this

This is a great mediation between whatever is floating in my head for them now and them just having a tonal language bc while tonality (from what I've seen) can make things denser, they'd have less than ten years really to get it all down before they're shipped out. which. Lol.

[clonehub]

I want you to know I am absolutely VIBRATING about your clone language and culture posts and tenna reblog ALL of it lmao

DKSBDKSNDLSKDKS

The way tenna is operating I think I defaulted to just. How finna works almost BDKSBDKSNKSSK often times when I'm writing the clones in my head, especially during high energy + emotionality moments, I have to remember not to just default to AAVE the way I or Kiki would because they wouldn't be speaking it 😭

But you'll love everything in the #clonelang tag, absolutely. What I can think of off the top of my head:

Limited tenses: past, present, and future.

Pronouns are relative each individual and are gender neutral, meaning if you are one rank, everyone above you gets one set of pronouns, everyone equal to you gets another set of pronouns, and everyone below gets another. At any given moment, a middling-ranked clone is being referred to with three different pronouns.

I've also got a list of slang terms floating around somewhere that are generally making fun of Shinies but also are pretty funny.

[kookyburrowing]

i keep coming up with new words for the clone language im making and having hysteria about different cultural concepts. send help.

[clonehub]

I sent in an ask about this idea a while ago, but tumblr must have ate it. For clonelang, I think clones have a different word for themselves vs other clones. Because their experiences can be pretty different. Not every cloned being in the galaxy has their personhood denied. Heck, not being able to make this distinction makes fandom discussions ambitious. Mahajoo and Luuke are clones in star wars, but not the way you think when you say "clones in star wars".

If Boba and some clones ever came together and talked about their life experiences fully, I think there would be some debate if Boba was a clone or a nonJango clone, because his experience was so different.

Hmmm interesting perspective! I've also been thinking about "clone" as an identity--the literal aspects of it, and then the social, political, and cultural aspects of it. Like how there could be a phrase or term to describe a clone trooper who abandons his brothers. Since clonehood is so based on war and loyalty, doing that could in a way disqualify one from being considered a "real" clone. Clones who are more interested in being a civilian/playing civvie than being a good soldier, etc.

[clonehub]

re: rank-based pronouns in clonelang, you could take it another step further and have specific vocabularies assigned to the level of deference (like in krama inggil in javanese) - maybe not to the extent of having entirely different sets of nouns (which might not be practical in a military setting) but grammar n pronouns could definitely differ. it’d also probably work better for the ABC rank system u described. idk it’s so interesting !!!!

omggg if i get the chance ill look that up! for a military setting though it might work out better if they keep the one set of nouns but have the pronouns switch places easily enough. i dont know if there's a language that exists irl that's structured around the speaker and not around the spoken-to but itd be interesting to see how they organize their pronouns!

[clonehub]

ur clonelang stuff is great!!!!

Thanks!!

[clonehub]

The clones obviously have different accents depending on what battalion they're in, but there's something incredibly distinct about the 501st variety that people like to poke fun at. When the commanders come in contact with each other, normally they start greetings in their language because they know Rex doesn't have choice not to respond in kind (it's rude not to) so he just sighs and says hello and the other command clone is like "LMAOOOOO"

[clonehub]

im reading a book about linguistics so you know what that means! more clonelang headcanons

the clones are very much a tightknit community, but they're also very much hierarchical. in casual conversation, im thinking that anyone can open a topic of conversation, but that a) seemingly irrelevant subject changes can be seen as rude, and b) interrupting is definitely rude

to the second point, obv when conversations get excited or animated within a group of people, there's going to be overlap and interjections, and they can't really be avoided. but clones are distinctly focused on turn-taking and waiting for one person to finish (esp a higher up) before speaking. there's no set order (like age or rank or vet status) to a conversation, but they're v organized in that way. one shows that they pay attention by more or less being silent and facing the speaker (the way one would when receiving orders) and only making small noises or physical displays of assent/dissent.

[clonehub]

Your clonelang ideas are wonderful and have made me wonder if you've thought about giving them a sign language? I figure it would be based off the hand signals they learn in training but maybe you'd have a different origin for a clone sign language?

OMG a sign language would also be great aaahhhhhh

Ok ok. So yeah battlefield sign language but then I wonder if there's a Galactic Standard Sign Language (GSSL) that most species can learn.

Ik there's visible accents in ASL so if there's not variations by battalion then their must be a way that clones use GSSL that's notably different (but still understandable) to non-clone signers. So:

1. A very "straight" and sharp method of signing bc of kaminoan rigidity

2. Less an emphasis on facial expressions bc so much of the communication is also done w buckets on. This makes the users focus more on body movement and position

Also I'm no signing expert so if there's anyone that would like to add on (or correct) to anything I said feel free!!

[clonehub]

wait clones having a variant of Basic that's uniquely from Kamino and then they leave Kamino and they have their specific regiment > battalion > squad > idiolect AND they're picking up things from both the Jedi and the cultures they come across....there's so many different ways the clones will communicate. They will codeswitch when necessary (which is basically all the time) but you have:

1. kamino basic variant (easiest to communicate with)

1.5 Battalion basic variant

2. Unnamed language

2.5 unnamed language variant

3. Armored clone body language

3.5 armored clone body language variant

[clonehub]

the clones gatekeeping their language from the jedi brings such satisfaction to my soul

your post about obi wan trying to say cody’s other name comes to mind, like the jedi would mispronounce the clonelang words and just be overall nosy assholes about it

I think obiwan would be the most annoying about it for sure