PT Jedi Accents

To my understanding, Jedi Younglings were identified at birth by virtue of their abnormally high midi-chlorian counts. These infants were then whisked off to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to begin their training. It would seem to follow that, since they spent their formative years together in the same place and surrounded by the same people, that all Jedi would speak with the same accent.

As we know, this is not the case. Yoda speaks with a peculiar accent and uses very strange grammar. Mace Windu speaks with a smooth American accent, Qui-Gon Jinn speaks with an Irish lilt and Even Piell (as depicted in the Clone Wars series) seems to have a Russian accent.

I know that Yoda is over 900 years old and comes from a bygone era. Therefore, this is reflected in his speech. I cannot, however understand why the other Jedi have these different accents. Perhaps, with some alien species, accents are biological traits and are part of their genetic heritage as opposed to being a product of the environment in which the child is raised. Perhaps I am missing something. Does anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

 

You are born with your accent. Research has shown that babies pick up on the accent in the womb.

 

If that's the case, why do I lack the Brooklyn accent of my father and mother?

 

To say one is born with an accent is only half of the case. While it's true that the parents and other immediate family are most influential for a kid's developing speech at first, other environmental factors (such as others at school or workplaces) can be huge, especially if one is to move elsewhere. My mom was born in England but moved to the northeastern US when she was 3. Had a distinct English accent until she was around 13. Sounds 95% American now, but that being said - my grandparents, who lived in England for much longer, retain their accents even to this day. Can also be seen in certain celebrities. How long has Arnold Schwarzenegger lived in the US?

Likewise, I'd assume it's much of the same with the Jedi, who come from different planets across the galaxy. Your native accent can stick for quite a while. It can be funny when they start to mix together too

I assume Jedi don't just spend all their free time in the temple. They probably go all over the place, and they likely spent some time at their home planets anyways

Phew, that was rambly

 

I was born in Brooklyn, and lived there my first 6 years. If you hear tapes of me at 6, I have a very accent. God was pronounced 'Gawd' for instance. At age 6 at the end of 1996, I moved to Jersey. I had a year of speech therapy. By 1998, at age 8, I had a weird mixture of a Brooklyn accent and no accent, which made me sound almost British. Moved back to Brooklyn in 2001. Nowadays, I have no accent unless I'm truly relaxed or angry, at which point it comes back full force. Otherwise, I have a typical American accent with only the slightest lilt of a regional tongue.

 

casting didn't overthink it

neither should we

 

No, they don't.

 

Accents are cool anyway ... =)

 

Yoda trains younglings in the ways of the Force, yes but are we certain he actually raises them all too? Does he change their diapers, dress them, take care of them, feed them? I would imagine there is a whole staff of Jedi or non force sensitive workers in the temple who take care of all non Jedi child rearing needs. They would have a representative of all major species to best take care of their own and each would have different accents.

 

My guess is those tasks would be done by droids. As we see all over the saga they can be programmed for pretty much anything. In ESB we have medical droids, in ROTS one delivers babies, in the PT we have battle droids etc. So why not use droids to care for Jedi children? Most logical choice in my opinion. SW is not Dune, where AI has been outlawed. There is a widespread use of robots for all kinds of purposes.

 

Here is your proof
https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews....borns-cry-accent-study-finds/story?id=9006266

Accents can of course change over time though.

 

Maybe different parts of the Temple have different dialects. I guess different species could explain it partly. Part maybe time spent on missions/spying etc. Got to say I liked Aayla Secura's accent in TCW.

I think the movies though had a more Coruscant accent for the Council members right? Save for Yoda. There seemed to be a degree of class/sophistication in the air about the Naboo and Coruscanti (but not the crime ridden underworld in AOTC).

 

That's no proof. There's no link to any study (whose legitimacy is unknown) whatsoever.

 

There is a study that claims that you can identify where someone grew up initially in their voice, regardless of their accent at the moment.

Language and communication is rather sensitive though to neurological circumstances though. e.g. autism and the emotional development of the individual.

 

Then how many years count as "growing up"? Is being born somewhere enough to affect your accent? The first 5 years? I doubt it. If you say until the mid-teens then you could be right. But it always depends on the individual situation. You just cannot make generalized statements. You get vastly different results with different individuals, cultures, environments as well as the languages themselves. Language and accents depend on many different factors.

 

That's why I said it was dependent on several factors. I didn't generalise.