How to Speak Genonosian.
Greetings citizen! Welcome to the Geonosian page! Here you will find:
- An introduction and history of Geonosian
- A dictionary of Geonosian terms
- A Lessons section
- Geonisian Language Sound Samples
- Transcriptions of all Geonosian dialogue known to humankind
- Alphabet and font gallery
- Related links
- Source section
All new material added as of the latest update will be highlighted in red for your convenience.
Droning On
Geonosian 101:
An Introduction
Very little is known about Geonosian. We first hear Geonosian in Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Sound effects editors Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood most likely developed it. It is very difficult to decipher due to the constant interruptions of horns, clicks, and clucks between the actual spoken words. The language probably incorporates these non-vocal sounds because of the Geonosians' physical structure which is similar to insects with dual mandibles: "one moving vertically, and a second, internal set moving horizontally" (10). Insects use chirps and clicks to communicate as well. It is a possibility that the developers of Geonosian for the film took inspiration from a group of African based languages known as Khoisan which use click consonants or phonemes (11).
According to Wookieepedia, "Matthew Wood, the Supervising Sound Editor for the prequels (as well as the voice of General Grievous) said that the sound of the Geonosians was one of the weirdest he had ever recorded for a Star Wars movie. It consisted of a penguin mating call as well as fruit bats fighting over a banana" (10).
Wookieepedia also states that it is unknown whether Geonosians were physically able to speak Basic or not or if they just prefered their own language. My personal opinion is that they were capable because alot of their language consists of actual spoken words anyway.
History
Geonosian is spoken by the sentient insectoid Geonosian species on the planet Geonosis, a rocky ringed world less than one parsec from Tatooine. Geonosians have four mandibles that click open and shut as they speak. All Geonosians have a hard, chitinous exoskeleton, elongated faces, multi-jointed limbs, and speak in a strange clicking language (9). They live in a caste system among catacombs and hives, the lowest of the caste are the wingless drones who are sentenced from birth to a life of work. There is also a winged royal caste which does not think twice about the thousands of drones they force to toil for their benefit. And a new caste of pilots which are raised specifically for that purpose (9). There are different tribes of Geonosians on the planet. Poggle the Lesser, a warrior drone who clawed his way to the seat of power (7) is leader of one of those tribes, is in cahoots with Count Dooku and the separatist movement from the Republic. Geonosians though simple minded, build droids and massive weaponry, the most infamous of which is the Death Star. They are also the race that built the Battle Droids that are widely used by the Trade Federation and one can see a similarity between the elongated face of the Geonosian and battle droid.
Grammar
I am debating whether or not the clicks scattered throughout a Geonosian's speech are part of the language or just ticks that appear on their own. What do you think? E-mail me and I'll put your theory on this page.
Here is fellow Geonesion scholar, Scott M.'s theory on the subject:
"My theory on this is that the clicks, clucks, and horn sounds in the geonosian language are used in a variety of ways. One way is that they could be sometimes separating syllables or words from one another when needed or the sounds sometimes could be spoken to show a place where a word is implied but not spoken for one reason or another. I've come to this theory after studying [The Complete Wermo's Guide's] transcripts and noticing that certain words in the language are not spoken sometimes." (4)
A contributor that wishes to remain anonymous writes in with this valuble information:
"It is my opinion that the clicks and horns are equateable to the tounge-clicks made in some African languages or they are perhaps audible punctuation marks or sounds used in conjugation. It is also possible that change the word they are in to make it have a different meaning." (5)
And Michael Engler writes in with this:
"The clicks in Geonosian are most likely consonants in their language. There is a real language group called Khoisan which contain languages with many click consonants. The movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" has a character who speaks one of these languages. The main languages in this group are in Africa. Linguists have come up with special symbols to denote ach of these special click sounds. Do a search for Khoisan languages and you might find some info to help understand Geonosian." (6)
Many thanks to Martha for contributing her theory:
"I myself think that the clicks and other sounds made by the Geonosians are part of the actual language. Their appearance can explain these sounds as sounds that insects make to speak to each other. It only makes sense that they use those noises to talk. Plus, it is in African languages that their language is based on." (12)
Geonosian-Basic Dictionary:
The dictionary entries are lucky guesses at best, based on context clues and grammar placement. Therefore I cannot say with any accuracy that they are correct.
Ah (ah) 1. Our. 2. What. (4)
Ann (an) 1. For. (4)
As-koh (ahs koh) n. 1. Catacombs.
Atoe (ah toh) n. 1. Arena. (4)
Aukauk (owk owk) v. 1. Find out.
Bey (bay) v. 1. Let. (4)
Da (dah) 1. Your. (4)
Dee (dee) v. 1. Order. (4)
Dey (day) 1. Them. (4)
Ek (ehk) 1. To. (4)
Hoh (ho) n. 1. Retreat. (4)
Hundit (hun dett) v. 1. Begin
Irsh (ersh) 1. To. (4)
Kee (kee) 1. In. 2. We. (4)
Klee (klee) n. 1. Communications. (4)
Kleee (klee) 1. Found. 2. My. (4)
Kly (kly) 1. Of. 2. Been. (4)
Ko (koh) 1. Are. 2. If. 3. The. (4)
Kweep (kweep) 1. They. (4)
Mah (mah) 1. Our. (4)
Nvip (en vipp) 1. Away.
Oh (oh) 1. The. (4)
Petranaki [Array] (peh trank ee) n. 1. Traditional martial art arena combat. (7, 8, 10)
Picador (peek ah door) n. 1. Caste that performs Petranaki Array martial arts in arena. (10)
Pweep (pweep) 1. Course. (4)
Toe (toh) 1. And.
Toot (toot) v. 1. Have. (4)
Ty (tie) v. 1. Been. (4)
Veet (veet) adj. 1. Doomed. (4)
Venation (venn ay shun) n. 1. Spectacle. 2. Impressive beast battle. (2, 4)
Vis (viss) 1. You. (4)
Visgura (viss gur ah) n. 1.Expensive, chain-like thread made from the egg cases of
extinct spiders. (2,7)
Voo (voo) v. 1. Have. (4)
Watt (wott) 1. Charged. (4)
Woe (wo) 1. A. (4)
Basic-Geonosian Dictionary:
A (ay) 1. Woe. (4)
And (and) 1. Toe. (4)
Are (arr) 1. Ko. (4)
Arena (ah ree nah) n. 1. Atoe. (4)
Away (uh way) 1. Nvip.
Beast Battle (beest bat tul) n. 1. Venation. (2, 4)
Been (bin) v. 1. Ty. 2. Kly. (4)
Begin (bee ginn) v. 1. Hundit.
Catacombs (kat ah comez) n. 1. As-koh.
Charged (charjd) 1. Watt. (4)
Combat (cahm bat) n. 1. Petranki. (7,8)
Communications (cuh myoon ih kaysh unz) n. 1. Klee. (4)
Course (corss) 1. Pweep. (4)
Doomed (doomd) adj. 1. Veet. (4)
Find out (fynd owtt) v. 1. Aukauk.
For (for) 1. Ann. (4)
Found (fownd) v. 1. Kleee. (4)
Gladiator (glad ee ay tor) n. 1. Picador. (10)
Have (hav) v. 1. Toot. 2. Voo.(4)
If (iff) 1. Ko. (4)
In (inn) 1. Kee. (4)
Let (lett) v. 1. Bey. (4)
My (my) 1. Kleee. (4)
Of (uhv) 1. Kly. (4)
Order (ord ur) v. 1. Dee. (4)
Our (ow ur) 1. Ah. 2. Mah. (4)
Retreat (ree treet) n. 1. Hoh. (4)
Spectacle (spek tah kul) n. 1. Venation. (2, 4)
The (thuh) 1. Oh. 2. Ko. (4)
Them (them) 1. Dey. (4)
They (thay) 1. Dey. 2. Kweep. (4)
Thread (thred) n. 1. Visgura. (2,7)
To (too) 1. Ek. 2. Irsh. (4)
We (wee) 1. Kee. (4)
What (wutt) 1. Ah. (4)
You (yu) 1. Vis. (4)
Your (yoor) 1. Da. (4)
Lessons:
none at this time
Transcript:
Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones
The following is phonetically transcribed by me from Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns. Because the dialogue is written down by ear, spelling errors may occur. (n/a) means that the Basic translation is not available.
[Deleted scene, negotiation with Dooku.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"[Click] co veen [click] nvip."
(No translation given, probably something like: Take them away.)
[Deleted scene, sentencing of Padme and Anakin.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"[Click] vis toot [click] ty watt [click] toe [click] kleee [cluck] [click, click] kle kly atoe toe."
(You have been charged and found guilty of espionage.)
"Wack a [cluck] kee [horn] loke a teedyo [horn] kitty mah tok."
(We build weapons, Senator...that is our business!)
"[Click, horn] pweep a wok a tok."
(Of course we're prepared!)
"Da kleebadora oon mittah."
(Your Jedi friend is waiting for you, Senator.)
"[Horn] dey [horn, horn] kly atoe."
(Take them to the execution arena!)
[Before Padme's admission of love for Anakin:]
Geonosian worker:
"Doh [click] wee a nee."
(No translation.)
[Arena.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"[Horn] kwy atoe a kray [click, click] yu [click, click]."
(Settle down. Settle down.)
"[Horn] bey [click] oh zee barote hundit."
(Let the executions begin.)
[War room.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"Ah [click] klee oo [click] voo kly atoe."
(Our communications have been jammed.)
"[Horn] ohwah [horn, cluck] irsh [horn] dee woh hoh."
(We have to order a retreat.)
"[Cluck, cluck] kleee [cluck-cluck, horn] kee [horn] as-koh."
(I'm sending my warriors to hide in the catacombs.)
"Mwayn bebesee [click] ann ko [horn-horn]."
(The Jedi must not find our designs for the ultimate weapon.)
''Ko kweep aukauk kee ah [horn] kee [horn] ko kos kee em ek vah, moke veet."
(If they find out what we are planning to build, we're doomed.)
Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Wars Campaign
There were way too many clicks and the like in between the spoken dialogue so I have only included what was actually spoken.
Geonosian Fighter Pilot:
"Thum chibah poont." (n/a)
"Thok chaldo." (n/a)
"Thok chal dosza." (n/a)
"Thok go zaldo." (n/a)
"Che paggio." (n/a)
"Che bozan toe ah." (n/a)
"Che tezwin cow bah." (n/a)
Elite Geonosian Warrior:
"Jehs eeh toe pah." (n/a)
"Uuh jem whot." (n/a)
"Tah too mott!" (n/a)
"Uuh, joss whot." (n/a)
"Uh uh, johm moss ott tem." (n/a)
"Uh uh, jehs oo de mott hundit." (n/a)
"Che brrrrr aaahhhh...." (n/a)
- An introduction and history of Geonosian
- A dictionary of Geonosian terms
- A Lessons section
- Geonisian Language Sound Samples
- Transcriptions of all Geonosian dialogue known to humankind
- Alphabet and font gallery
- Related links
- Source section
All new material added as of the latest update will be highlighted in red for your convenience.
Droning On
Geonosian 101:
An Introduction
Very little is known about Geonosian. We first hear Geonosian in Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Sound effects editors Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood most likely developed it. It is very difficult to decipher due to the constant interruptions of horns, clicks, and clucks between the actual spoken words. The language probably incorporates these non-vocal sounds because of the Geonosians' physical structure which is similar to insects with dual mandibles: "one moving vertically, and a second, internal set moving horizontally" (10). Insects use chirps and clicks to communicate as well. It is a possibility that the developers of Geonosian for the film took inspiration from a group of African based languages known as Khoisan which use click consonants or phonemes (11).
According to Wookieepedia, "Matthew Wood, the Supervising Sound Editor for the prequels (as well as the voice of General Grievous) said that the sound of the Geonosians was one of the weirdest he had ever recorded for a Star Wars movie. It consisted of a penguin mating call as well as fruit bats fighting over a banana" (10).
Wookieepedia also states that it is unknown whether Geonosians were physically able to speak Basic or not or if they just prefered their own language. My personal opinion is that they were capable because alot of their language consists of actual spoken words anyway.
History
Geonosian is spoken by the sentient insectoid Geonosian species on the planet Geonosis, a rocky ringed world less than one parsec from Tatooine. Geonosians have four mandibles that click open and shut as they speak. All Geonosians have a hard, chitinous exoskeleton, elongated faces, multi-jointed limbs, and speak in a strange clicking language (9). They live in a caste system among catacombs and hives, the lowest of the caste are the wingless drones who are sentenced from birth to a life of work. There is also a winged royal caste which does not think twice about the thousands of drones they force to toil for their benefit. And a new caste of pilots which are raised specifically for that purpose (9). There are different tribes of Geonosians on the planet. Poggle the Lesser, a warrior drone who clawed his way to the seat of power (7) is leader of one of those tribes, is in cahoots with Count Dooku and the separatist movement from the Republic. Geonosians though simple minded, build droids and massive weaponry, the most infamous of which is the Death Star. They are also the race that built the Battle Droids that are widely used by the Trade Federation and one can see a similarity between the elongated face of the Geonosian and battle droid.
Grammar
I am debating whether or not the clicks scattered throughout a Geonosian's speech are part of the language or just ticks that appear on their own. What do you think? E-mail me and I'll put your theory on this page.
Here is fellow Geonesion scholar, Scott M.'s theory on the subject:
"My theory on this is that the clicks, clucks, and horn sounds in the geonosian language are used in a variety of ways. One way is that they could be sometimes separating syllables or words from one another when needed or the sounds sometimes could be spoken to show a place where a word is implied but not spoken for one reason or another. I've come to this theory after studying [The Complete Wermo's Guide's] transcripts and noticing that certain words in the language are not spoken sometimes." (4)
A contributor that wishes to remain anonymous writes in with this valuble information:
"It is my opinion that the clicks and horns are equateable to the tounge-clicks made in some African languages or they are perhaps audible punctuation marks or sounds used in conjugation. It is also possible that change the word they are in to make it have a different meaning." (5)
And Michael Engler writes in with this:
"The clicks in Geonosian are most likely consonants in their language. There is a real language group called Khoisan which contain languages with many click consonants. The movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" has a character who speaks one of these languages. The main languages in this group are in Africa. Linguists have come up with special symbols to denote ach of these special click sounds. Do a search for Khoisan languages and you might find some info to help understand Geonosian." (6)
Many thanks to Martha for contributing her theory:
"I myself think that the clicks and other sounds made by the Geonosians are part of the actual language. Their appearance can explain these sounds as sounds that insects make to speak to each other. It only makes sense that they use those noises to talk. Plus, it is in African languages that their language is based on." (12)
Geonosian-Basic Dictionary:
The dictionary entries are lucky guesses at best, based on context clues and grammar placement. Therefore I cannot say with any accuracy that they are correct.
Ah (ah) 1. Our. 2. What. (4)
Ann (an) 1. For. (4)
As-koh (ahs koh) n. 1. Catacombs.
Atoe (ah toh) n. 1. Arena. (4)
Aukauk (owk owk) v. 1. Find out.
Bey (bay) v. 1. Let. (4)
Da (dah) 1. Your. (4)
Dee (dee) v. 1. Order. (4)
Dey (day) 1. Them. (4)
Ek (ehk) 1. To. (4)
Hoh (ho) n. 1. Retreat. (4)
Hundit (hun dett) v. 1. Begin
Irsh (ersh) 1. To. (4)
Kee (kee) 1. In. 2. We. (4)
Klee (klee) n. 1. Communications. (4)
Kleee (klee) 1. Found. 2. My. (4)
Kly (kly) 1. Of. 2. Been. (4)
Ko (koh) 1. Are. 2. If. 3. The. (4)
Kweep (kweep) 1. They. (4)
Mah (mah) 1. Our. (4)
Nvip (en vipp) 1. Away.
Oh (oh) 1. The. (4)
Petranaki [Array] (peh trank ee) n. 1. Traditional martial art arena combat. (7, 8, 10)
Picador (peek ah door) n. 1. Caste that performs Petranaki Array martial arts in arena. (10)
Pweep (pweep) 1. Course. (4)
Toe (toh) 1. And.
Toot (toot) v. 1. Have. (4)
Ty (tie) v. 1. Been. (4)
Veet (veet) adj. 1. Doomed. (4)
Venation (venn ay shun) n. 1. Spectacle. 2. Impressive beast battle. (2, 4)
Vis (viss) 1. You. (4)
Visgura (viss gur ah) n. 1.Expensive, chain-like thread made from the egg cases of
extinct spiders. (2,7)
Voo (voo) v. 1. Have. (4)
Watt (wott) 1. Charged. (4)
Woe (wo) 1. A. (4)
Basic-Geonosian Dictionary:
A (ay) 1. Woe. (4)
And (and) 1. Toe. (4)
Are (arr) 1. Ko. (4)
Arena (ah ree nah) n. 1. Atoe. (4)
Away (uh way) 1. Nvip.
Beast Battle (beest bat tul) n. 1. Venation. (2, 4)
Been (bin) v. 1. Ty. 2. Kly. (4)
Begin (bee ginn) v. 1. Hundit.
Catacombs (kat ah comez) n. 1. As-koh.
Charged (charjd) 1. Watt. (4)
Combat (cahm bat) n. 1. Petranki. (7,8)
Communications (cuh myoon ih kaysh unz) n. 1. Klee. (4)
Course (corss) 1. Pweep. (4)
Doomed (doomd) adj. 1. Veet. (4)
Find out (fynd owtt) v. 1. Aukauk.
For (for) 1. Ann. (4)
Found (fownd) v. 1. Kleee. (4)
Gladiator (glad ee ay tor) n. 1. Picador. (10)
Have (hav) v. 1. Toot. 2. Voo.(4)
If (iff) 1. Ko. (4)
In (inn) 1. Kee. (4)
Let (lett) v. 1. Bey. (4)
My (my) 1. Kleee. (4)
Of (uhv) 1. Kly. (4)
Order (ord ur) v. 1. Dee. (4)
Our (ow ur) 1. Ah. 2. Mah. (4)
Retreat (ree treet) n. 1. Hoh. (4)
Spectacle (spek tah kul) n. 1. Venation. (2, 4)
The (thuh) 1. Oh. 2. Ko. (4)
Them (them) 1. Dey. (4)
They (thay) 1. Dey. 2. Kweep. (4)
Thread (thred) n. 1. Visgura. (2,7)
To (too) 1. Ek. 2. Irsh. (4)
We (wee) 1. Kee. (4)
What (wutt) 1. Ah. (4)
You (yu) 1. Vis. (4)
Your (yoor) 1. Da. (4)
Lessons:
none at this time
Transcript:
Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones
The following is phonetically transcribed by me from Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns. Because the dialogue is written down by ear, spelling errors may occur. (n/a) means that the Basic translation is not available.
[Deleted scene, negotiation with Dooku.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"[Click] co veen [click] nvip."
(No translation given, probably something like: Take them away.)
[Deleted scene, sentencing of Padme and Anakin.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"[Click] vis toot [click] ty watt [click] toe [click] kleee [cluck] [click, click] kle kly atoe toe."
(You have been charged and found guilty of espionage.)
"Wack a [cluck] kee [horn] loke a teedyo [horn] kitty mah tok."
(We build weapons, Senator...that is our business!)
"[Click, horn] pweep a wok a tok."
(Of course we're prepared!)
"Da kleebadora oon mittah."
(Your Jedi friend is waiting for you, Senator.)
"[Horn] dey [horn, horn] kly atoe."
(Take them to the execution arena!)
[Before Padme's admission of love for Anakin:]
Geonosian worker:
"Doh [click] wee a nee."
(No translation.)
[Arena.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"[Horn] kwy atoe a kray [click, click] yu [click, click]."
(Settle down. Settle down.)
"[Horn] bey [click] oh zee barote hundit."
(Let the executions begin.)
[War room.]
Poggle the Lesser:
"Ah [click] klee oo [click] voo kly atoe."
(Our communications have been jammed.)
"[Horn] ohwah [horn, cluck] irsh [horn] dee woh hoh."
(We have to order a retreat.)
"[Cluck, cluck] kleee [cluck-cluck, horn] kee [horn] as-koh."
(I'm sending my warriors to hide in the catacombs.)
"Mwayn bebesee [click] ann ko [horn-horn]."
(The Jedi must not find our designs for the ultimate weapon.)
''Ko kweep aukauk kee ah [horn] kee [horn] ko kos kee em ek vah, moke veet."
(If they find out what we are planning to build, we're doomed.)
Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Wars Campaign
There were way too many clicks and the like in between the spoken dialogue so I have only included what was actually spoken.
Geonosian Fighter Pilot:
"Thum chibah poont." (n/a)
"Thok chaldo." (n/a)
"Thok chal dosza." (n/a)
"Thok go zaldo." (n/a)
"Che paggio." (n/a)
"Che bozan toe ah." (n/a)
"Che tezwin cow bah." (n/a)
Elite Geonosian Warrior:
"Jehs eeh toe pah." (n/a)
"Uuh jem whot." (n/a)
"Tah too mott!" (n/a)
"Uuh, joss whot." (n/a)
"Uh uh, johm moss ott tem." (n/a)
"Uh uh, jehs oo de mott hundit." (n/a)
"Che brrrrr aaahhhh...." (n/a)