#mando’a linguistics

[ranahan]

C, cy, yc—why are they pronounced like that?

I think I’ve mentioned before that the rule is very nearly regular, so here it is. I’ve reproduced Traviss’s original pronunciation guides here (so you can see whether what I’m saying holds true).

c (without y) is pronounced as /s/ before high front vowels /e i/

cerar [sair-ARR]

ceratir [sair-AH-teer]

ceryc [sair-EESH]

cetar [set-ARR]

cetare [set-ARE-ay]

cin [seen]

cinargaanar [see-NAHR-gah-nahr]

cinarin [see-NAH-reen]

cin'ciri [seen-SEE-ree]

cinyc [SEE-neesh]

ciryc [seer-EESH]

mircin [meer-SEEN]

mircir [meer-SEER]

mirci't [meer-SEET]

racin [ray-SEEN]

tom'urcir [tohm-OOR-seer]

ver'mircit [VAIR-meer-seet]

otherwise as /k/

That is, before other vowels:

ca [kah]

cabuor [kah-BOO- or]

cabur [KAH-boor]

ca'nara [KAH-nah-RAH]

can'gal [CAHN-gahl]

carud [kah-ROOD]

ca'tra[KAH-tra]

cuir [COO-eer]

copaanir [KOH-pan-EER]

copad [KOH-pad]

copikla [koh-PEEK-lah]

copyc [KOH-peesh]

cu'bikad [COO-bee-kahd]

cunak [COO-nahk]

cuun [koon]

cuyan [koo-YAHN]

cuyanir [coo-YAH-neer]

cuyete [coo-YAY-tay]

cuyir [KOO-yeer]

cuyla [COO-ee-lah]

du'car [DOO-kar]

du'caryc [doo-KAR-eesh]

ge'catra [geh-CAT-rah]

jorcu [JOR-koo]

ori'copaad [OH-ree-KOH-pahd]

vencuyanir [ven-COO-yah-neer]

vencuyot [vain-COO-ee-ot]

vercopa [vair-KOH-pa]

vercopaanir [VAIR-koh-PAH-neer]

…and in a word-final position:

balac [bah-LAHK]

bic [beek]

ibac [ee-BAK]

ibic [ee-BIK]

norac [noh-RAK]

tebec [TEH-bek]

yc is always pronounced as /iʃ/

aikiyc [ai-KEESH]

aruetyc [AH-roo-eh-TEESH]

balyc [BAH-leesh]

beskaryc [BES-kar-EESH]

burk'yc [BOOR-keesh]

chakaaryc [chah- KAR-eesh]

copyc [KOH-peesh]

dalyc [DAH-leesh]

daryc [DAR-eesh]

diryc [DEER-eesh]

duumyc [DOO-meesh]

etyc [ETT-eesh]

gaht'yc [GAH-teesh]

gehatyc [geh-HAHT-eesh]

haamyc [HAH-meesh]

haatyc [HAH-teesh]

haryc [HAR-eesh]

hayc [haysh]

hetikleyc [hay-TEEK-laysh]

hettyc [heh-TEESH]

hodayc [HOH-daysh]

hokan'yc [hoh-KAH-neesh]

iviin'yc [ee-VEEN-esh]

jagyc [JAH-geesh]

jaon'yc [jai-OHN-ish]

jari'eyc [JAR-ee-aysh

jatisyc [jah-TEE-seesh]

johayc [JO-haysh]

kotyc [koh-TEESH]

kyr'adyc [keer-AH-deesh]

kyrayc [keer-AYSH]

kyr'yc [KEER-eesh]

laamyc [LAH-meesh]

lararyc [lah-rah-eesh]

majyc [MAH-jeesh]

morut'yc [moh-ROO-teesh]

narseryc [nar-SAIR-eesh]

nayc [naysh]

neduumyc [nay-DOO-meesh]

nehutyc [neh-HOOT-eesh]

nu'amyc [noo-AHM-eesh]

nuhaatyc [noo-HAH-teesh]

ori'beskaryc [OH-ree-bes-KAR-eesh]

ori'jagyc [OH-ree-JAHG-eesh (or OH-ree-YAHG-eesh)]

ori'suumyc [OHR-ee-SOOM-eesh]

oyayc [oy-AYSH]

piryc [PEER-eesh]

ramikadyc [RAH-mee-KAHD-eesh]

ret'yc [RET-eesh]

ruusaanyc [roo-SAHN-eesh]

sapanyc [sah-PAHN-eesh]

shaap'yc [sha-PEESH]

shi'yayc [shee-YAYSH]

shuk'yc [shook-EESH]

shupur'yc [shoo-POOR-esh]

sol'yc [sohl-EESH]

talyc [tahl-EESH]

tomyc [TOH-meesh]

tranyc [TRAH-neesh]

tratyc [TRAH-teesh]

tug'yc [too-GEESH]

ulyc [OO-leesh]

urcir [oor-SEER]

utyc [OO-teesh]

verburyc [vair-BOOR-eesh]

verd'yc [VAIR-deesh]

vutyc [VOOT-eesh]

yaiyai'yc [yai-YAI-eesh]

Note that this is still true when yc occurs in the middle of a word instead of the end:

barycir [bah-REE-shir]

besbe'trayce [BES-beh-TRAYSH-ay]

dirycir [DEER-ee-SHEER]

ke'gyce [keh-GHEE-shay]

majyce [mah-jEE-shay]

majycir [MAH-jeesh-eer]

mar'eyce [mah-RAY-shay]

mureyca [MOOR-aysh-ah]

cy is pronounced as /ʃ/

burc'ya [BOOR-sha]

burcyan [BOOR-shahn]

cyare [SHAH-ray]

cyare'se [shar-AY-say]

cyar'ika [shar-EE-kah]

cyar'tomade [SHAR-toe-MAH-day]

mirshmure'cya [meersh-moor-AY-shah]

murcyur [MOOR-shoor]

oyacyir [oy-YAH-sheer]

Ret'urcye mhi [ray-TOOR-shay-MEE]

sheb'urcyin [sheh-BOOR-shin]

sho'cye [SHOW-shay]

tracy'uur [trah-SHOOR]

Exceptions

The above holds true except for some exceptions:

The first is a group of words with a combination of u + yc:

buyca [BOO-shah]

buy'ce [BOO-shay]

buycika [BOO-she-kah]

This might be related to the status of /ui/ as a diphthong in Mando’a & could be a piece of evidence against it. What do I mean? Well, every instance of ⟨uy⟩ in the dictionary, Traviss breaks up in two syllables /u.i/. Could be there’s no diphthong /ui/ in Mando’a? However, I think it’s more likely this is because Traviss gives the pronunciations with an English orthography (i.e. how an English speaking reader would know to pronounce the words), and there’s no diphthong /ui/ in English, so in order to represent those sounds in English, they have to be broken up in separate syllables.

I also think the long /uː/ in buy’ce etc. is likely simply an elision: try going slowly from /u/ to /i/ to /ʃ/, and you’ll notice it’s easier to slip directly from /u/ to /ʃ/. I would generalise it as the diphthong /ʊɪ/ being realised as /uː/ before palatal consonants (at least; maybe others as well).

and:

buyacir [boo-ya-SHEER] /bʊ.ja.ˈʃiɾ/

Which has no excuse for being irregular except for influence on its spelling from buy’ce, so you could alternatively spell it as buyacyir or pronounce it as /bʊ.ja.ˈsiɾ/ (either would be regular).

The other exception to the rule is:

acyk [AH-seek]

The rule for this could be formulated as “if y is the only vowel in a syllable, it’s pronounced as /i/ and the pronunciation of c follows that.” Except for…

tracyn [trah-SHEEN]

Which itself could be analysed as a combination of the above rules: y as an only vowel gets pronounced as /i/, but the consonant in cy is still pronounced as /ʃ/ (in which case it would be acyk that is irregular instead).

It’s the derivations that appear irregular:

tracinya [trah-SHEE-nah]

tracyaat [tra-SHEE-at]

tra'cyar [tra-SHEE-ar]

Tracinya is plainly a derivation of tracyn, just spelled with an i instead of y. Interestingly, in Harlin’s Mando’a tracyn is pronounced as /tra.ʃin/ and tracinya as /tra.sin.ja/. So perhaps it’s acyk which should be pronounced as /a.ʃik/?

I’ve chosen to adjust the pronunciation of the other two to conform to the rule of pronouncing cy as /ʃ/: /tɾa.ˈʃaːt/ & /tɾa.ˈʃaɾ/.

And then:

yacur [YAH-soor]

Idek? I have do idea where this one comes from.

And:

Coruscanta [KOH-roo-SAHN-ta]

which is a loanword and doesn’t count. Although I’d suspect that “Corusanta” might be a fairly common misspelling among native speakers.

Explanation

So why is it pronounced like that? The explanation is something called palatalisation, which is the same reason why c in Latinate words is sometimes pronounced as /k/ and sometimes as /s/.

In very simple terms, the high front vowels and the semivowel /j/ are pronounced such that the tongue is at or very nearly the palatal position. So they tend to pull the preceding consonants to the palatal place of articulation (instead of whichever place of articulation they used to be pronounced at).

So in Mando’a:

c → k

c + high front vowel /i e/ → /s/

c + semivowel /j/ → /ʃ/

Not sure if /k/ is the original value of ⟨c⟩ since this rule doesn’t seem to apply to ⟨k⟩. Maybe ⟨c⟩ had originally another value, which has later changed into /k/?

There will be a second part to this post later, but I’ll break this off here for now.

[ranahan]

I believe the Aay’han (Russian) dialect has analysed the root similarly as *kaan-, but with meaning ‘weapon,’ hence derivations like dra’kaan (cannon), gakaan (melee weapon), gor’kaan (warhammer), and kaan’goran (weapon smith) in their dictionary. I however have a different interpretation:

1

That is,

The root is *ak- (as seen in e.g. briikasak)

From there we get the base noun aka, ‘mission.’

Akaan is a collective of aka, i.e. “all missions.”

-kaan in e.g. ge’kaan is a contraction of akaan and has dropped the unstressed syllable. Properly it perhaps ought to be *get’akaan, but you know how Mando’a loves contractions…

2

Where the base word is hokaanir, ‘to cut,’ and the words with -kaan are compounds that have tossed the unstressed syllable (ho).

meshurok + hokaan > meshurkaan, “gem-cutter”

pel + hokaan > pelkaanir, “to soft-cut” or pel(gam) + hokaan > pelkaanir, “to cut skin”

-an/-aan seems like a common suffix, so I haven’t analysed it as the root.

Speculation on Mando'a Todays word: "kaan"

There are several words in Mando'a that include the element "kaan"

ge'kaan - military exercise ne'kaan - non-combatant akaan - war* akaan'ade - army akaanir - to fight akaata - battalion meshurkaan - jeweler/gem cutter pelkaanir - to shave

But what then does "kaan" mean? We can reasonably infer that “kaan” is a root related to action, precision, or conflict.

Let’s explore a few thematic clues:

1. Core war terminology

All the following stem from "akaan", which clearly relates to war:

akaan - war akaanir - to fight akaan'ade - army akaata - battalion

This suggests that "kaan" is a morpheme deeply embedded in militaristic or combative terms.

2. "ge'kaan" = military exercise

"ge'" appears to act as an adverb or modifier ("almost" or perhaps "mock" in this context). ge'kaan may literally translate to something like "almost-war" or "war-like," which tracks for “military exercise.”

3. "ne'kaan" = non-combatant

"ne" is a negative prefix. → So "ne'kaan" = not kaan = non-combat.

This supports the idea that "kaan" has to do with war or fighting.

4. "meshurkaan" = jeweler/gem cutter

This one’s a little more metaphorical. The root "meshur" refers to gems or jewels, and "kaan" here might reference the precision or cutting aspect, which metaphorically aligns with the precision of battle or skillful action.

5. "pelkaanir" = to shave

"pel" = soft "kaanir" here may evoke a precise or scraping action, again suggesting "kaan" relates to deliberate, skilled movement.

From all this we can do some speculation.

📚 "Kaan" likely connotes: 📖 Combat 📖 Precise action 📖 Controlled or skilled intensity

It sits at the root of both warfare and delicate craft, suggesting that Mandalorians conceptually link violence and craftsmanship. Both require discipline, skill, and purpose.

Concerning it's morphological role, "kaan" seems to operate as:

a root in verb and noun derivation

neutral in moral weight, used in war, training, crafts, grooming

"kaan" - core concept of intentional, skilled action; often combat, but not exclusively violent.

Think: "to engage with deliberate force or precision."

* "But what about 'aka' and 'akaan'?" I hear you say. Well! I propose that akaan is a actually a combination of "aka" and "kaan".

"aka" - mission

"kaan" - (hypothetical root) combat, deliberate action, precision, etc.

So:

"akaan" = aka + kaan → mission + combat/action → war, as "a mission of combat", or "a purpose-driven conflict."

How do I support this?

Conceptual logic: Mandalorians see war not as chaos, but as structured, purposeful. Combining "mission" with "action/combat" reflects that framing.

Linguistic patterns: Mando’a often uses compound formations to build words:

akaan’ade = akaan (war) + ade (people) = "warriors/army" pelkaanir = pel (soft) + kaanir (maybe "to act/shave") = shaving, a delicate precise action meshurkaan = meshur (gem) + kaan = gem-cutter, precise work again

So "akaan" as aka + kaan fits this structural tendency.

If aka = mission and kaan = action/combat → then akaan = the mission is combat, which is very Mandalorian.

This makes the derivations feel even sturdier:

akaanir - to fight (turning "war" into a verb)

akaan'ade - warriors (people of war)

ge'kaan - training in simulated, structured combat

ne'kaan - one whose mission is not combat

As such, I interpret "kaan" to mean:

Mando'a : kaan Pronunciation : [kahn] Word Group : noun English Meaning : intentional, skilled action; often combat, but not exclusively violent.

Feedback is as always warmly welcomed!

[ranahan]

e-, i- (prefix): “-ness”

vaar, ‘early, undeveloped, half-grown’ > evaar, ‘youth, newness’

viin, ‘run’ > iviin ‘speed, velocity’

jate, ‘good’ > ijaat, ‘honour’, lit. “goodness”

hut, ‘Hutt’ > ehut, ‘Hutt-ness’

The resulting word is a noun of quality, similar to English suffix “-ness”. The resulting nouns can also be used to derive other words, e.g. iviinyc, ‘fast’; ehut’la, ‘Hutt-like’ (although strictly speaking the canon dictionary has ast’ehut, which could also be analysed as “self-connecting vowel-Hutt”).

There are couple of other words that might also fit this scheme, but have less identifiable etymologies.

[ranahan]

Another possibility: consider if Mando’a did have a terms for cousins and other more distant relatives. Now maybe our chart above looks like that for your relatives within your clan, but you’d call your cousins and relatives in your cross-clan (the clan of your other buir that your buire didn’t join and you don’t live with) by different names.

Basically, let’s say that when two people marry, they can decide which clan they want to belong to (which afaik is pretty common among peoples who use the Hawaiian type kinship terminology and live in societies organised in clans). And when you’re grown you too can decide which of the clans you want to belong to, but until then, you’re part of your parents’ clan. And children are brought up communally, so you call all the children you grew up with vod, even if they’d be your cousins in English. But your cousins in the clan you don’t live with, those you call “cousins” (perhaps ba’vod or ba’vodu’ad).

Something like this (sorry, it’s too-much-a-clock to draw clean diagrams):

Where green is cousin and purple is ba’vodu (same as blue) or another term for aunt/uncle.

So even if Mando’a did have a word for cousin, who’s to say it would apply to the same people English cousin applies to?

i keep trying to phrase a post as like a helpful tip for people who like worldbuilding but. i have to be honest with myself. it is not a helpful tip because no one asked for it. i just want to rant about kinship terminologies.

[nastika-ti-gar]

Olarom __ taap

Tionas par cyar'tomade be mando'a!

Which preposition do you use for constructions with "welcome to (place)" or "to welcome (someone) to (place)" in Mando'a? Example sentences:

Olarom _ epar'yaim! (Welcome _ cantina!)

Olarom _ Coruscanta! (Welcome _ Coruscant!)

Olarom _ tsad! (Welcome _ the group!)

Mhi moruta gar _ cuun yaim. (We welcome you _ our home)

Val moruta tomade _ keldab. (They welcome allies _ the fortress)

Reminder of the poll prepositions: at - towards, at, to (direction, movement); sha - at (located/present at, not direction); bah - to (dative); lo - into.

Meh pirimmu ashi miit, ra ash'la miite par ash'la taape, ke miit'gaana bal me'dinui, ba'gedet'ye!

If you use another word(s), or different words for different places, please write and share!

[ranahan]

On one hand, Mando’a roots only started to make sense to me once I realised that the same root could show up in one place with a long vowel and in another place with a short one.

But on the other, we have e.g. hibir/hiibir, which looks mightily like a minimal pair.

So I think that maybe Mando’a at some point used to have vowel length based on stress. But the patterns of stress changed and now it has phonemic vowel length (which has fossilised the old stresses as long vowels). At least that’s how I would interpret the data.

(However I’m not gonna interrogate the stress of Ancient Mando’a through this hypothesis, it sounds like that way lies madness…)

[djarins-cyare]

I LOVE BE WLL AND BESKAR IM RWADING IT RN ON AO3 I LOVE IT I LOVE YOU

Also can I say you being a linguist is so incredibly cool???

THANK YOU 🙏🏻 I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I love you for reading it!

I’m constantly surprised by how many people think my linguistics geekery is cool! Mando’a is such a beautiful language, and the way its constructed makes it easy to create new words once you understand it the grammar 😌

[ranahan]

Ba’ is the contracted form of bah, the dative prefix, used in compound words. Lots of Mando’a roots have special forms for compound words, and they typically alternate depending on whether the word they attache to begins with a vowel or a consonant (compare r’/ru’, ge’/get’, etc). You could translate bah as “to” (as in I gave it to him) or “for” (as in I made it for her). It’s also used in lots of compound words to express “next order” meanings.

So ba’buir is parent’s parent and ba’vodu is the parent’s sibling (or somebody else’s parent/sibling).

Ba’gedet’ye is “for thanks”

Ba’jurir is “to carry for” or “to carry someone else.” Metaphorically lifting up your students.

Ba’yair is “to/for the belly,” as that’s where the food goes after you chew it.

Ba’slanar is to depart or literally “to go to/for (something).”

Karbakar is literally “star to star.”

Ba’viinir is coined by the Aay’han Community. I guess the idea is that whatever you’re scattering, the scattered bits run away from you or to somewhere else.

I'm using Mando'a in a story I'm writing and I wrote myself into a little linguistic hole. A number of words and verbs (ba'buir, ba'vodu, ba'gedet'ye, ba'jurir, ba'viinir) have the prefix of ba', but I haven't been able to figure out it's purpose. Because when added to buir, it becomes grandparent (ba'buir), and when added to vod, it become ba'vodu (aunt/uncle), so it sounds like a...a lifting term, like "above parent" sort of, but the other words don't use this rule. Help, please?

I like to think it's another tier of something. Whether it's before or after is dependent on context though. Things coming before: Buir is "parent", ba'buir is their parent Vod is "brother/sister", ba'vodu is your parent's brother/sister Jurir is "bear arms," ba'jurir is education and raising children. In a literal sense this can be taken as ensuring the next generation has the knowledge they need to protect themselves and pass that on also. Things coming after: Slanar is "go," ba'slanar is "depart." Gedet'ye has more tiers, where gedet'ye is "please," gedeteyar meaning to be thankfu and "ba'gedet'ye" is "You're welcome" I'm not sure where ba'yair fits...? It means to chew?? I mean it's a step during eating so???? As for specifically ba'viinir, it is a fan created word stemming from the word viinir meaning to run. Which with my rule of tiers, is so much funnier that the next tier of run is "EVERYONE RUN!!!" But another way it can be used is to scatter something, rocks, credits, animal feed, pretty much anything that can be spread quickly I'd assume. I hope this helps ✌️

[makeitrealfromfictional]

Others

Fake Languages You Can Actually Learn: 

Klingon — a pretty famous fictional language from Star Trek. You can even learn this one on Duolingo. (Apparently, one Klingonist raised his child from a newborn with Klingon as their first language (along with English), though the child gave up Klingon at the age of five.) Klingon Dictionary and Klingon Handbook KLI (Klingon Language Institute) 

Unlike with some other retroactively created languages, supposedly Tolkien started by inventing languages before writing, with the most famous and elaborate ending up being the Elvish languages. http://councilofelrond.com/content/guide-to-learning-elvish/. Among these (Westron, Sindarin, Quenya, Khuzdul, Entish, Black Speech, Adûnaic, Rohirric/Rohanese), you can learn to speak the Elvish languages Sindarin and Quenya, as well as possibly Westron and Adûnaic, to an extent… There is a book, "The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth" by Ruth S. Noel, that might help…

Na’vi – Created by linguist Paul R. Frommer for the making of the Avatar movie. You can learn Na’vi here on https://learnnavi.org//their YouTube channel or here: https://kelutral.org/   

Dothraki – from A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. You can learn Dothraki on https://dothraki.org/. This language also has a subreddit (r/learnDothraki) and a Living Language book. 

High Valyrian – You can learn High Valyrian from ASOIAF/Game of Thrones. It has a course on Duolingo.  

Second Tier:

Mando’a – http://mandoa.org/. From my understanding, this is the most fleshed-out Star Wars language (the language of Mandalore and the Mandalorians.) The Oyu'baat community and Project Shereshoy both have reference materials on the Mando’a language (and culture.) Mando'a Lessons - YouTube 

Ewokese — A Star Wars language from the planet Endor. You can’t really become fluent, but there are quite a lot of words you can learn. The same is true for the Jawa and Huttese languages. The Complete Wermo's Guide to EWOKESE

Jawa – The Complete Wermo's Guide to JAWAESE

Huttese – The Complete Wermo's Huttese Transcript  

Might be helpful: Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide 

Chenuh – The language of the Chiss from Star Wars. While it was not canonically fleshed-out, fan-made projects made learning Chenuh possible. On the other hand, the Chiss have superior vocal capabilities, so you’ll never be perfect.   The Cheunh projekt by the_wicked_memer Writing system for it by Zombiepixlz-gamr Resource list compiled by deathcupcake 

Ur-Kittât (Sith) – Star Wars language of the Sith species. Imperial_Cadet on Reddit and YouTube is working on analysing and developing the language. 

Dovahzul, Skyrim’s Dragon Language → Thuum.org

Eragon’s languages – Paolini.net covers the Ancient, Dwarf, Nomad, and Urgal languages from Eragon.

How to Speak the Ancient Language from the Inheritance Cycle

Yautja – The Predator language. Alphabet

Translator (with Yautja alphabet)

Dictionary: here or here (English alphabet)

This does not account, however, for the other aspects of the language like their ‘silent hand’.

(Keyboard)

Bonus: A Few Alphabets: 

Aurebesh/Galactic Basic Standard – a Star Wars alphabet (‘Aurebesh’) seen here. You can learn more information on https://aurebesh.org/. Once you learn that, you can even have Aurebesh key caps (here, here, here). (<-- I don’t like the fact that some of the non-letter keys are just Star Wars symbols; it doesn't seem to me like people in the galaxy would just have a key for the rebel alliance, etc.)   

Gnommish — the language of the People, or faeries, from Artemis Fowl. This language is traditionally written in spiral order outwards. There’s a guide to the original alphabet in the Artemis Fowl Files. (This one is less complete than the others, as it is only an alphabet and occasionally contradicts its canon; it is mostly here for sentimental value.) Gnommish alphabet (Note: The new Gnommish looks like this, and was the version created for the movie.)  

Standard Galactic Alphabet — The “Minecraft Table language” is, in addition to being used on Minecraft enchanting tables, actually from the Commander Keen games. Unfortunately, it won’t get you very far, because, while it IS a real translatable alphabet, these translations often lead to nonsense ramblings and useless information in the Minecraft games. Here's what it looks like. 

Hylian – The Legend of Zelda. Hylian’s more complicated than it appears, even if it is just an alphabet. There are several different Hylian scripts from across the games: look here, as versions of either Japanese or English cyphers, in addition to the Gerudo and Sheikah scripts.   Unlabeled links lead to —> amazon.com, verbalusmater.com, klingon.wiki, learnnavi.org, youtube.com, kelutral.org, dothraki.org, reddit.com, amazon.com, mandoa.org, project-shereshoy.tumblr.com, youtube.com, completewermosguide.com, completewermosguide.com, completewermosguide, youtini.com, reddit.com, reddit.com, deathcupcake.tumblr.com, thuum.org, paolini.net, wikihow.com, reddit.com, avpcentral.com, avpcentral.com, yautjaencylope.altervista.org, reddit.com, reddit.com, aurebesh.org, kono.store, etsy.com, reddit.com, omniglot.com, reddit.com, reddit.com, and reddit.com, respectively.

[mutalune]

my clone culture headcanon is that they have almost no traditional mandalorian ties, they picked up almost nothing culturally/linguistically from the mandalorian trainers, but the one thing they DID get were endearments/affectionate and-or comforting words/etc.

b/c 1) that was the only way the trainers could somewhat express affection for their favorites without getting dinged for being too attached to them since no one there actually spoke mando’a 2) kaminoans would be Unhappy if the clones expressed affection openly so secret language words were the only way to safely verbalize caring and loving, so they picked up on those few kind words VERY quickly

(The way I see it working is that the trainers had favorites, would occasionally say something like “chin up, hang in there, good job kiddo,” and said favorites picked up those terms without actually ever getting Direct Translations of what they mean. So they get the words and some context but have to jumble it together themselves and pronunciation and meaning change the further away it spreads from the original favorites - because all of this is spread in private, quietly, until it grows its own legs in different iterations with different battalions imho

like they know adding -‘ika to a name is affectionate and feels like a diminutive but they don’t know what it means exactly and sometimes plug it into names in grammatically odd ways, so instead of “Trap’ika” you get “Trapper’ika” which sounds more like “Trapperka” when you’re talking fast.)

(i’m just a fan of gentle soft pet names and showing affection quietly and how love finds a way and how the clones can take what little scraps they were given and make it their own)

[ranahan]

Alternatively, -la could be simply the adjectival suffix, as in gila, “fishy” or “having fish.” -r/-ar seems to be a pretty common nominal suffix.

Fuck Canon Tiingilar

i hate the canon tiingilar recipe with my whole heart. Look at this (original source Galaxy's Edge cookbook). This is supposed to be "blisteringly spicy Mandalorian stew or casserole"? This is a mild chicken curry.

It sounds good, but it's not the rich, spicy, flavor-packed mandalorian stew of my dreams.

Let's start by breaking down the etymology of tiingilar.

Tiingilar is broken into 3 parts: Tiin, gi, and lar.

Tiin is an underived form of tiin'la, or coarse.

Gi is the word for fish.

Lar is a bit up in the air; it could be related to laar, for sing (which anyone who's seen someone bite into something spicier than they can handle can understand), or galar, for spill/pour (makes sense for stew), or even olar for "here", which I suppouse could be extrapolated to mean "whatever is here" for a stew which has flexible ingredients.

But the really important bits are the "tiin" and the "gi"! The first chunk of tiingilar means "coarse/rough fish(y)".

The other food word we have with "gi" in it from canon mando'a is "gihaal", (which, hilariously, breaks down into fish-breath), a pungent fishmeal. It's long lasting and stable which means its probably a staple ration food. It sounds like it'd put most people off at first, but given mandalorian tastes prioritize strong flavors (draluram), possibly including pungent flavors, and "richly nourishing" foods (yaiyai) it's probably a pretty common ingredient.

Guess what fishmeal is! A very high protein (typically 50-60%, but up to 70% for some varieties!), nutritionally dense, and coarsely textured! It's used in any cuisines; some is processed for human consumption but I cannot find any sources that use it in food except in research aiming to combat malnutrition (shout out to researchers at the Abeokuta University of Agriculture for being the best resource about fishmeal in food!). Although we can't know that gihaal would be the same as our version of fishmeal (which is normally processed from whole fish), I think that we can assume that mando'ade woudn't be skimping on the inclusion of bone, which include a lot of valuable nutrients, and would make it coarse.

So, gihaal is a pungent, likely coarse fishmeal that is a staple nutritional supplement in, at minimum, field cookery. It would make nutritionally-dense, protein packed, and strongly flavored base for tiingilar. Makes sense linguistically and practically for mandalorians to build their cooking around nutritionally valuable and shelf-stable rations.

Which brings me to the mandalorian values in food! Draluram (bright mouth: intense, bold flavors), heturam (spicy as in heat burning in the mouth), hetikleyc (spicy as in sinus burn), and yai'yai (richly nourishing, which I personally take to mean both nutritionally dense and satiating) are the 4 canon words that express the priorities in mandalorian cuisine.

These values fit in with the inclusion of gihaal as a base for tiingilar, adding yai'yai if not draluram, but where's my spice? Where's my layers of spice, the sharp sinus burn that makes your eyes water and the creeping warmth that leaves you panting and the bright heat and the numbing and tingling sensation at your lips?

Definitely not in that yellow curry recipe.

The inclusion of ginger and cinnamon (from garam masala) are both nice, but think bigger and broader! Obviously, we don't have mandalorian herbs, but add spice with chilies, cayenne, ginger, horseradish, mustard seeds, sichuan pepper! Bring out warming spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, star anise! Highlight the different elements of spice and warmth and flavor with enthusiasm and delight!

As for draluram, I think the pungent flavor of fish is a nice, bold addition to something for a unique flavor, but let's not forget other players. Aliums like garlic and onions are always lovely, but what about citrus? If mandalorians have behot, what's stopping you from adding in citrus juice or peel or some kaffir lime leaves? What about strong bitter flavors from vegetables you choose, like mustard greens or kale, or the rich savory taste of browned meats if you want more protein in your dish?

Yai'yai, we have a good base of protein and fat and nutritional content from the fishmeal, but why not build it out? Add sugar, both to balance flavors and because energy is energy and mandalorians certainly like their sweets. Fats and oils, other meats and proteins, vegetables and carbs. Add nuts, peanut butter, sesame for added bulk and another element of flavour. I want to see an end product that sticks to your ribs, that makes me skip seconds on not because I don't want more, but because I'm full on one serving.

Back to the etymology. Mild chicken curry is not tiin, nor does it have gi. It's fairly yai'yai, got decent draluram, negligible heturam, and no hetikleyc.

Tiingilar with a gihaal base (in irl cooking, any kind of fish base) and heavier seasoning to add multiple kinds of heat would fit all of those categories so much better.

So I guess in the end, I'm saying I don't have an idea of tiingilar as any one recipe, but tiingilar as a general dish that leans into mandalorian food culture and the literal meaning of the word. Maybe it's little gritty and somewhat fishy, but it's a rich and spicy and flavorful meal you can make with whatever on hand as long as you have a handful of staples.

Sources:

Adegoke, Bakare & Adeola, Abiodun & Otesile, Ibijoke & Adewale, Obadina & Afolabi, Wasiu & Adegunwa, Mojisola & Akerele, Rachael & Bamgbose, Olaoluwa & Alamu, Emmanuel. (2020). Nutritional, Texture, and Sensory Properties of composite biscuits produced from breadfruit and wheat flours enriched with edible fish meal. Food Science & Nutrition. 8. 1-21. 10.1002/fsn3.1919.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_meal

https://mandocreator.com/tools/dictionary/index.html# for mando'a translations and definitions

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mandalorian/comments/mp1x7o/recipe_for_tiingilar_medium_heat_add_garlic/ for the recipe

[necromancindencin]

So m studying linguistics in university and i spent half a year trying to force myself into learning viet it’s terrible I don’t know shit yet i can talk about mando’a for hours

Worst part that was why i chose linguistics and Vietnamese is surprisingly similar in some gramatical aspects

I have exam in an hour and my brain is filled with mando’a this will be a disaster

[transitranger327]

Ehn’yuste: the Three Ways, Chapter 4: Building Ranks

Summary: A flashback to the beginning of Sabine’s journey as a Jedi. In the present, Shin and Sabine contemplate their future. Sabine offers guidance to a struggling Bo-Katan.

Notes: This chapter kept growing longer and longer, until I couldn’t finish a scene. Then I realized I could just move the scene to the next chapter. So I did. Did you know there’s an S in Vizsla? I didn’t!

A Mando’a glossary is in the end notes (below the cut), but you should check it out, I did a bit of linguistics

Eight years before the Ignition

The former Jedi stepped off onto a cold desert moon. The remnants of the Jedi holy site still breathed, but it was a halting, wheezing breath. She couldn’t bear to venture to the crater formerly known as the Holy City. Instead, Ahsoka turned to the outskirts, where the crew of the Ghost were assisting the remnants of Gerrera’s Partisans trying to expel the remnants of the Imperial presence. Not exactly a welcoming place for a meeting, but she supposed it would do. As she approached the rebel camp, she heard familiar voices shouting from tents. “I’ve been playing with explosives since I was a TODDLER! I know EXACTLY how much rhydonium we’ll need for a bomb that size!” She saw a Mandalorian woman storming out in a huff, whose mood improved immediately upon seeing the former Jedi. “Ahsoka! You made it!” she said as she embraced an old friend. Sabine radioed her crewmates to join her in the Ghost, then turned to Ahsoka, “Come on, let me take you to the family.”

The freighter-turned-rebellion symbol was at once familiar and yet distinct. Kanan and Ezra’s absences were palpable, yet a new kind of joy had begun to take their place. The former imperial Kallus (she was looking forward to learning how he became a turncoat) had taken Ezra’s old bunk, and Zeb seemed to be a lot warmer to his presence than the young Jedi. Rex now seemed to be living on the Ghost full time, and he was using Kanan’s old room. And this new member, Omega, well…

“Commander! Ezra told me you survived Malachor, but I couldn’t believe it until I saw you with my own eyes.” “Rex, what did Kenobi always say?” “Yeah yeah, I know, ‘your eyes can deceive you’, but not all of us have force powers. Anyway, this is Omega. Omega, this is Ahsoka, my old commander I always told you about.” “Another sister? Older, I sense?” “Wait how did you know?” Omega was surprised, very rarely had anyone guessed that correctly. “Like I said, looks can be deceiving. Anyway, so glad to meet you.”

Allegedly, Omega was staying with her brother in Kanan’s room, but more of her personal effects seemed to be in Hera’s room. A story for another time, perhaps, when they didn’t have war plans to make. After making their plans to liberate the Kyber mines, the crew began to ask what Ahsoka had been up to. She began to explain her recent travels, “There has been some disturbances in the Force lately. Not significant exactly, but concerning. Sabine, Ezra said you were with him when he visited the World Between Worlds. Can you tell me more?”

Sabine thought back to that day, the last days of Lothal’s occupation. The last days she saw her dad and brother. “Ezra and I were investigating the Empire’s looting of the Lothal Temple. We discovered a mural, one that could be changed to open the gateway Ezra used.”

A mural would line up with what Ahsoka had discovered on Malachor. “Can you show me the mural?” She assumed Sabine had made either a copy or her own art inspired by it. 

As Sabine went to her room to grab a sketchbook, Omega worked up the courage to inform Ahsoka of her own personal history. “For 3 years after the Empire started, there was a secret cloning research program focusing on m-counts. Kids my age and younger subjected to a bunch of medical testing. My brothers and I staged a breakout that destroyed most of the research, but do you think it could have anything to do with what you’re dealing with?” She hoped she wasn’t making a bad impression, and had learned how to be a bit more tactful since meeting Ventress all those years ago.

Ahsoka was intrigued. “It’s certainly possible. The Empire has a habit of kidnapping kids who would’ve been Jedi younglings. Would you be willing to put me in contact with the ones you rescued?”

An offer to be in contact with a Jedi for more than just generic rebellion? Omega leapt at the chance, “Of course, some of them still live with us.” 

Sabine returned to the commons, sketchbook in hand. She projected up a page featuring a charcoal illustration of three figures. “The mural looked mostly like this, but the arms of these three moved depending on if the gateway was opened or closed. The imperial leading the looting was convinced they were gods of some sort.” 

Ahsoka frowned. “He was right. I’ve met those gods. They called themselves The Ones: Father, Son, and Daughter. The Son was the embodiment of the Dark Side. The Daughter was the embodiment of the Light Side. The Father attempted to keep them in balance. I found a mural of just the Son, deep in the Malachor Temple. It helped me start to piece together how these mysteries work.” Sabine asked what happened to them. “They’re dead. But their legacy lives on.”

—

As the impromptu conference came to a close, and the crew of the Ghost dispersed to prepare for the fight, Sabine lingered with Ahsoka. She was trying to find an angle to ask for Ahsoka’s…help? Guidance? Tips and tricks�� “ugh why does this ha—”

“Sabine, do you have something you want to ask me?” The Mandalorian’s silent pleading could’ve been noticed by anyone, but the Force made it much easier for Ahsoka to sense the intentions. Curiosity, not sorrow. 

For a moment, Sabine was thrown mentally off balance. She had known Jedi could read minds, but it had been more than a year since a Jedi was close to her (The Skywalker kid was off hanging out with Rogue Squadron), and she had forgotten. So the story started spilling out of her mouth “EzraGaveMeHisLightsaberOkay? AndAnd, ItFeelsLike, LikeHeWantsMeToUseItOkay? iHaveDarksaberExperienceBut, ButItDoesntFeelEnough?”

Chuckling, Ahsoka replied. “All right, okay, slow down. Does the lightsaber call to you?” Sabine’s face changed, as if digging deeper into memory than she was used to, then nodded “Yes.” Smiling, Ahsoka proposed a solution. “I may not be able to train you as a Jedi, but I’m more than willing to train you how to connect and wield a lightsaber. Especially one as connected to you as a parting gift from family.” 

—

One and a half years after the Ignition

Two Jedi were meditating together. If you had told either of the them two years earlier that they’d be meditating with their wife, neither would’ve believed you. For Sabine, the idea of meditating was far-fetched, much less meditating with someone else. “Been there, tried that” had been her mantra when it came to the Force. Shin had no such misgivings. Steeped in the Jedi traditions of her master, she had a deep connection to the Force. But a wife? She had never fallen so deeply in love as she had with Sabine. The taunting of enemies had become a teasing between lovers so subtly that she had barely noticed the change. The more they competed, the more compelled to each other they had felt. And now their spirits were intertwined, feeling the air and the water and the beskar and the trinitite around them together, a small pocket of a thriving world. 

But Sabine sensed some nagging doubts in her wife’s mind. “Cyar, what’s wrong?” A simple question that could be answered as simply or complexly as Shin needed. 

The question was unexpected. Shin didn’t think that those feelings were notable for even a Jedi to sense. But if anyone was good at reading people, it was her wife; an abnormal Jedi whose strength arose in relationships and attachments. “I love how we’re teaching each other. I really do. But…I think I need to find a Padawan of my own. Like you and Grogu.” 

“Waitwaitwait, Grogu isn’t my padawan. He’s just…” Sabine tried finding the right word, but the implication of being a traditional Jedi had short-circuited her. 

Shin decided to fill the space. “Baby, the Dins practically live at our apartment now.” Sensing her wife’s defensiveness, she pivoted. “We can call your mentor-student relationship something different, if you want. But I would like to also be teaching someone new. I think the Galaxy can use more Jedi.”

The ideas started solidifying for Sabine. “Are you suggesting we start a new Jedi Order?” A small smile and nod came from Shin. Sabine started brainstorming out loud, her preferred method of planning. “I think we can do that. It would still have to be Mandalorian. I don’t think I can disentangle my heritage from my training. Which means family and relationships would be allowed and encouraged.”

A laugh emerged from Shin, “Well I certainly wasn’t planning to be hypocritical. I definitely want to be your riduur.” She kissed her wife, with all the feelings of love and support she could offer. “But we would need a temple. We can’t just have everyone in our apartment.”

Sabine remembered something Ezra had found. “Temples tend to be built around vergences in the Force. What about that small one Ezra and Jacen discovered? Were you able to learn anything about it?” After her brother and nephew found an anomaly, she and her wife occasionally visited, trying to understand what and why it was, but Shin was also researching historical documents to learn more. 

“I think it was Tarre Vizsla’s childhood home. Something about his connection to both the Jedi and Mandalore left a small knot in the force there.” Shin understood the immense irony of starting an order where you didn’t have to choose between Jedi and Mandalore at the place where that choice was first made. “Do you think the Vizslas will give us any trouble for wanting to use one of their family’s homes as a Jedi temple?” 

“Didn’t the old Jedi Temple have a massive library? If we established our own library there dedicated to preserving Jedi and Mandalorian history, and made it open to everyone, maybe they would see the temple as an honor to their family and not a desecration.”

—

“Stars, I really need more advisors.” Bo-Katan sat on her throne-turned-conference-seat, exhausted from the sheer amount of decisions she had to make. Her beloved Armorer was willing to advise, but even she looked to the Manda’lor for final decisions. A younger her, the one that joined Death Watch, would’ve relished in the power. But now the weight of tradition was starting to crush the Duchess, and most people were unwilling to share the burden if they couldn’t have all the power for themselves. 

Footsteps approached the old throne room. “You’re stressed.” A woman in purple and teal walked thru the doorway. “I would ask if you have time for me, but I know you’re ani’ures’hukaan”

Bo-Katan snorted, “trying to Jetii’layari?” She had been friendly with some Jedi for years, but occasional caf meetups with Ahsoka was very different from multiple self-avowed Jedi running around on Mandalore. Even as she grew more accustomed to them (Sabine was a family friend, after all), most of her people were still unsure. Whether it was traditionalists who opposed Jedi on principal, the remnants of her sister’s faction who hated their hypocrisy, or the select few who were close enough to think the Jedi could’ve helped during the purge and didn’t. 

“No, you accidentally sent me your entire schedule for the next week and it’s booked.” Sabine hoped she could ease some of the stress Bo-Katan was under, so showing off her Jedi skills wasn’t an option. “How did this not happen when you were governor all those years ago?” 

The older woman sighed, “You might be too young to remember, but we used to have an elected assembly. We had a council and a prime minister, the duchess never ruled alone.” She tried to not feel hurt while remembering her sister. “Gar Saxon and the Empire destroyed all that. We never knew peace afterwards. We had to function purely as a military, and look where that got us.” Her souring mood would’ve been evident to anyone, but she knew Sabine could feel the deeper despair. “Even now, everyone looks to me like I’m their general and not their duchess.” She felt two hands on her shoulders and another forehead press against hers.

“Hey, hey, hey, ner vod, you’re fighting too many enemies alone.” Sabine could tell Bo-Katan was surprised by her physicality, but not opposed. She reached out in the Force, not to communicate, but to build a sanctuary where Bo-Katan could feel safe while vulnerable. 

She felt safer the longer Sabine remained. “I want to do the most I can to rebuild Mandalore, but the more I succeed, the more work there is.” For some reason, it was now easier to rummage thru her feelings. “I love Mandalore and I love that we have so much history and I’m scared that if anyone else tries taking over they’ll try ignoring all of that in favor of their personal vendetta.” Tears started silently dripping out of the corners of her eyes as she tried to catch a breath. “Stars, why am I crying over this?”

The younger woman heard that thought loud and clear, but tried to craft a response that wouldn’t come off as knowing-too-much. So she produced a small handkerchief from a belt pouch and offered it to Bo-Katan with, “it’s okay to be overwhelmed with running an entire planet.” She watched as Bo-Katan wiped away her own tears, then continued. “I find it helpful to meditate; to clear my thoughts and refocus my energy, both at the beginning and end of the day. Even the middle sometimes.” When Sabine saw the older woman’s grimace at the thought of doing something Jedi, she added, “this isn’t just sitting, legs crossed, connecting to the Force. It’s also spending time free from distractions, like target practice alone. Ahsoka and her master often meditated by tinkering with machinery. I’m willing to bet the Armorer achieves a similar state of mind while smithing. It’s all about letting go of your conscious self and acting on instinct.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” mused Bo-Katan as she relaxed back into her throne. “That’s nice, but I only have a finite amount of time in the day. Do you have any suggestions for my practical needs? Not just my spiritual ones.”

Sabine understood the gravity of Mandalore’s situation, and considered how similar it was to the Rebellion. “Elections for an assembly would take a while to set up. Why not start with a council of the heads of each clan?” She realized, too late, that this would mean more responsibility for her. “Then we build a consensus on how an assembly would run.” She glanced at her chrono, and saw her meeting with the Vizslas was fast approaching. “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your work.”

“Hang on you can’t just come in here, listen to me pour my heart out, and walk out!” Bo-Katan was now shouting at the unexpected departure.

Sabine retorted from across the room, “Actually Duchess, I can!” 

“Once a rebel, always a rebel I guess,” Bo-Katan sighed, before realizing she had no idea what Sabine was up to. “Wait, why did you come here in the first place?” 

“Shin and I are planning on starting a Jedi temple, just wanted to let you know!” The doors to the throne room closed behind her.

“Stars, she’s gonna be the death of me.”

—

Deep in the Unknown Regions

A Mirialan man was strapped to a hospital bed. His blood was slowly being drained for Imperial research. He bore stitches where large tissue samples had been taken. His only hope was that his longtime friend would be able to find him before it was too late.

—

Mando’a Glossary: Cyar: love Riduur: spouse Ani’ures’hukaan: in over your head. This one I spent a lot of time on, because it really wouldn’t make sense for a Mandalorian to say “swamped” because there are no swamps on Mandalore. So I figured “exposed during a fight” would make sense, so this is literally “completely without cover” Jetii’layari: showing off Jedi powers, lit. “Jedi-swagger” Ner vod: “my friend/sibling”

[trudemaethien]

normal fic writer ask game: 4 and 5. bonus round: what kind of scholar is reading your fic and why?

from this very normal ask meme

4. Which fic are you using to scare away unwanted suitors?

The Scourge Lays Low All In Its Wake (🔒), what with the weird kinks as torture and the murder-suicide and all

5. When future scholars analyse your work, which fic will they find most puzzling? 

Puzzling as in hard to figure out? Idk. Interesting/curious? …probably less a specific fic, and more any of the fics in which I use my own version of mando’a; my personal dialect, if you will, words and concepts of which have been occasionally used with permission (and attribution) by other writers. From an outside perspective I think it would be a fun puzzle to decipher fans’ (both individual and groups) interpretations of the partial conlang and determine what influenced each person from within and without the fandom and canon. My very first fic on AO3 was written entirely in mando’a, actually. (Haar Jai’galaar bal Haar Laar’senaar, 🔒) but many others contain not insignificant amounts of the language as well.

bonus: conlanger/linguists, I would hope. I do have my mando’a tagged, so it should come up in a search.

[ranahan]

I wanted to add a footnote to this about loanwords in Mando’a, since I mention those a couple of times.

Loanwords in Mando’a

Mando’a prefers creating native coinages for new terms instead of making direct loans for new concepts. However��and this is a pretty big however—because of the strong cultural perception that all different dialects of Mando’a are one single language, Mandalorians have a low threshold for borrowing from other Mandalorian dialects.

So the major dialects of the core Mandalorian worlds are rather resistant to borrowing words from other languages. The smaller dialects of the wider Mandalorian diaspora however aren’t. See, those small clans living on other worlds are surrounded by a wider community that speaks a different language, which they too have to speak in order to function in that society. And their children will grow up more or less bilingual. And they will mix up the languages, and their children will grow up in bilingual homes and not even be aware some words aren’t native Mando’a.

And when those Mandalorians move to Mandalorian worlds, or serve in Mandalorian regiments with other Mandalorian soldiers, or work for mando businesses, the other Mandalorians won’t necessarily recognise their dialectal words as borrowings, especially if they don’t even speak the source language of those loans. And because of the cultural perception of all dialects of Mando’a being more or less equal and acceptable forms of Mando’a, those words can then get borrowed into other Mandalorian dialects. By this stage, those loans are thoroughly nativised phonologically and look and sound just like native Mando’a words.

I’ve almost no understanding of linguistics. But this post and also @thefoundationproject ‘s fics, which include bits about how the Journeyman Protector dialect might be related to Standard Mando’a, have me trying to hypothesize Mandalorian language trees. based on what we know about Mandalorian history.

I KNOW some of you are language nerds and I also did this in fifteen minutes please yell at me about your own headcanons and also about everything I got wrong/missed/forgot. It would be cool to turn it into a real graph to reference eventually (:

[darlin-djarin]

Hi hi!! it’s me -> the same anon who asked about cotw a couple days ago and I agree with everything you said, and I think it’s so cool that you were able to find something in Star Wars that spoke to you so well :)

something I really like about the cotw is their just utter love and respect for their own culture, especially after we see in clone wars that satine got rid of a lot of it. I think her storyline shows how even people within cultures abandon them for safety or protection- which is something I have personal experience with in my family history. I think what I love most about them is the language, and how they preserved it. Idk if this is canon but it seems like not many during Satine’s reign spoke Mando’a, either because it was banned or fell out of use. I’m Welsh, and so I relate to this a lot, because the English state has tried for a long time to get rid of Cymraeg, our language, with kids being shamed for speaking it in schools and it being viewed as backwards and something only peasants speak. So I think I project a lot of that onto the cotw and Mandalorians in general. Anyway, this was really long, but since you shared what you loved I figured I might too?? Idk, sorry if this was too long!!

ohhhh anon it's so lovely that you can feel so connected to this fictional culture in a different way than i do, but we can still both appreciate it. i think it's so special for you to relate the cotw to your culture and language in a similar but also different way than mine. i think that's so beautiful. i love hearing from you!!

i also wish we got more mando'a in canon star wars. i have many mutuals who are really into linguistics and love analyzing mando'a, and i do think the perseverance of the language even after mandalore was lost is super interesting!! i love satine and all but i do think it's sad how much satine's pacifist mandalore strayed so far away from their roots as warriors. anyway

i'm glad to hear from your perspective!! really opens my eyes and stuff, yk. thank you :)