Gungan Basic

Gungan Basic, also called Gungan or Gunganese, was a dialect of the Basic language that was spoken and written by the Gungans of the planet Naboo. It was distinguished by speech patterns and certain phrases that were specific to the Gungans. It was mostly derived from the Naboo settlers' language, Basic, spoken in an accent. Occasionally, a word from Old Gungan would appear in dialogue, a term usually without any obvious meaning unless translated.

Humans could usually understand it and, similarly, Gungans could understand Humans speaking Basic (even in written form). Most one-syllable words pertaining to the self would contain a suffix of -sa, for example, "We-sa" and "You-sa". Many one-syllable words ending in a consonant would end with -u.

Counting in Gunganese

una -
duey -
dee -
foosa -
fife -
seeks -
sevin -
ate-a -
ninee -
tenska -

Common altered words

"Berry." -
"Bombad" - or
"Dowopee"
"Mesa" -
"My" -
"Mui" - or
"Moole" - or
"Yousa" - or or
"Mula" - or
"Yu" - Objective of
"Yous" - or plural of
"Hesa/Shesa" - or or
"Wesa" - or or
"Daysa" or "Desa" - or or
"Dalee" (or "Daree") -
"Them-sa" -
"Yesa." -
"No" or "Nosa." -
"Dat" -
"Disa" or "Dis" -
"Okeeday." -
"Outlaunder" -
"Looky." -
"Smilin." -
"Spake." - or
"Skeebeetle" -
"Palos." - or
"Gos." -
"Hair." -
"Hep." -
"Hisen." -
"Tello" -
"Nutsen" -
"Longo"-
"Hot" -
"Boyos"-
"Messen" -
"Maken" -
"All-n youse" -
"Machineeks" - or
"Nutsen" -

Known phrases

"Heyo dalee!" -
"Heyo-dalee! Mesa goen to Hoth in da bombad Star Toursa skeebeetle." -
"Hidoe!" -
"How Wude!" -
"Oie boie!" -
"Oyl, moole, moole." -
"My no know." -
"Ex squeezee me." -
"Daysa dalee"/"Dalee daysa" -
"Mesa doen nutten!" -
"What yousa spake?" -
"Mesa yous humbule servant." -
"Mesa luv yous." -
"Tank yu." -
"Mesa greeting. In peles mesa comen." -
"Mesa like to visit yousa city. Can wesa goen dalee?" -
"Tanken yousa per da meal invitateon." -
"Oh pass pleasa da liquid." -
"Disa foosa isa berry good." -
"Fraidee frog." -
"Okee day!" -
"Selongabye!" -

The verb to be

To be ():
I am - (if followed by an adjective) or * (if followed by another verb)
You are -
He is -
She is -
It is - (pronounced "izzuh")
We are -
You (plural) are -
They are -

* You would use "my" if there was a verb after the "I am", such as "I am jumping" or "I am going". For "I am going", you wouldn't say "Mesa going". But you would say "My goen" due to of this rule. (Also, the suffix -ing is replaced by -en. It's "goen", not "going".)

Behind the scenes

The Gungan variant of Basic was first heard in the 1999 movie Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the first installment of the prequel trilogy. Actor Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in the movie, theorized that Star Wars creator George Lucas created the Gungan language based on the way his son Jett, who was six years old at the time, processed language. After the release of The Phantom Menace, writer Ryder Windham created a Gungan glossary for internal use at Lucasfilm. This document provided English-to-Gungan translations of several common phrases and the numbering system, and also set down the rules for sentence construction.

Numerous commentators noted similarities with the so-called "Ebonics" dialect of English and considered "Gungan Basic" to be racially or ethnically insensitive towards people of African descent, particularly those of recent Caribbean extraction. Both George Lucas and actor Ahmed Best (who is African-American) refute this assertion.

Sources

"Around the Galaxy" — Star Wars Galaxy Collector 6
Secrets of Naboo
Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide
Ultimate Alien Anthology
Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
"We Need to Talk About Jar Jar" — Star Wars Insider 131
Nexus of Power