#먹읏노???ㅋㅋㅋ

[aenaxes]

i’d like to think that the clones teach themselves standard mando’a, but over time, the physical separation from mandalore and the uniqueness of their circumstance results in them developing their own distinct dialect.

to some extent, the slightly hardened vowel sounds, altered intonations, the idioms specific to the clone experience—they’re just inevitable parts of learning and practicing language in an environment that isn’t wholly “authentic.” but by nature of merely existing and being passed down as a core part of clone culture, the dialect becomes authentic.

and it’s more than happenstance that really cements the dialect in the clones. having their own language is empowering.

there’s a very special kind of safety and pride in talking with a brother and seeing your general struggle to pick up what little fragments they recognize. a clone’s existence is so cruel, devoid of control, slated for military initiative over the simplicity of living for living’s sake. they don’t truly own anything, not even their own bodies. so it’s only fair that they can have their language, this single thing, as theirs alone.

and it’s something to pass on to shinies that can’t be lost or replaced in the ways blasters and buckets can. the older clones teach the younger batches the basics, and the younger clones offer them hip new catchphrases in return (it’s how you can tell who’s really old).

companies have impromptu lessons on slang over dinner. captains offer feedback on informal oral exams between briefings. squadrons designate a specific comm channel for shinies to practice tongue placement exercises during uneventful patrols (to really nail those tricky sounds).

better yet, battalions create their own shorthand and develop their own accents. oh, you were under doom’s command? that’s why you rely so much on active articulation. wolffe? your alveolar t and d sounds are nearly indistinguishable (and it makes fox want to pull his hair out). your first deployment is with bacara? good fucking luck—his battalion’s accent might as well be its own new language entirely. but once the shinies have caught on, once they’ve completed that rite of passage, they emerge having forged one of the strongest bonds of kinship in the entire army.

language—their language—builds systems of support and trust. it shapes how they celebrate and grieve and nurture each other. soldiers they may be, but there are at least twenty different ways in the grand army to say ‘i love you’—colt tells his men ‘you are my pride,’ and monnk’s translates loosely to ‘let me be your shield.’ each means the same thing on a rudimentary level, and yet their nuances make them nothing alike. the words they share cannot truly be understood by anyone but themselves.

it lets them bond as much as it allows them what little measures of autonomy they can glean from the republic and the jedi. their dialect may be a clone of their mother tongue as much as they are clones themselves, but it is no less real. they are no less precious. (and it lets them talk shit about their generals.)

their language makes them unique, practiced in mirrors and shared in the waning tide of war. it makes them them. and it’s one of the first things to go after order 66.

#again not clonecest #i also use the word authentic loosely because authenticity is ? relative #it’s authentic to them and thats all that matters #linguistics is cool :-) #pity i couldnt major in it :/ #this was inspired by that last ask about kote but also my daegu cousins lol #먹읏노???ㅋㅋㅋ #the clone wars headcanons #tcw headcanons #yaej.metas