Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked by Mike Ounsworth on July 6, 2021
We all know about Yoda’s iconic Yodaspeak. Like most people, I always assumed that this a cultural or personality trait of Yoda, but on a recent re-watching of The Empire Strikes Back I noticed that during the “Yoda’s Hut” scene, in his brief moment of clairvoyance while communing with Ben, Yoda’s grammar is proper. I find this both interesting and unsettling. Yes, throughout the series he Yoda-speaks some sentences and not others, but here there is a clear change of expression, change of behaviour, and change of grammar, as if we’re getting a glimpse into his former self – and there’s no Yoda-speak.
Here is the interesting bit from the “Yoda’s Hut” scene, quoted from IMSDb: The Empire Strikes Back
CREATURE
Ah, your father. Powerful Jedi
was he, powerful Jedi, mmm.LUKE
(a little angry)
Oh, come on. How could you know
my father? You don’t even know
who I am.
(fed up)
Oh, I don’t know what I’m doing
here. We’re wasting our time.[begin moment of clarity]
CREATURE (irritated) I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience.
BEN’S VOICE
He will learn patience.YODA
Hmmm. Much anger in him, like his father.BEN’S VOICE
Was I any different when you
taught me?YODA
Hah. He is not ready.
The fact that, in his moment of temporary sanity, he uses proper grammar suggests that the broken sentences are a side-effect of his mind’s deterioration from living on Dagobah, rather than a cultural trait. Based on this, you would expect him to talk normally in the prequels.
Have other people noticed this? Are there other explanations of this scene that do not break the character of Yoda?
I am, of course, aware that prequel Canon and many Legends sources establish that Yoda has always spoken Yodish. Fine. My question was more along the lines of “When Lucas sat down to write the prequels and only had ESB and RotJ as sources for Yoda’s character, should this scene have been pivotal for the character? (Clearly Lucas chose “No.”) The discovery of this scene seems to introduce a conflict between ESB and the prequels.”
No. Yoda is one of only two members of his species that we see in Canon (the other is Yaddle), and the only one we hear speak. We just don't have enough information on Yoda's species to draw a conclusion.
There's evidence to suggest that Yoda's unusual grammar is not necessarily related to his species. Vandar Tokare, a Jedi Master of Yoda's species introduced in the Knights of the Old Republic video games and comic books, speaks without Yoda's odd sentence construction; for example:
Vandar: It would do all the Jedi High Council members good to get out more on Coruscant.
Many more examples can be found on his Wookieepedia page.
That doesn't discount the possibility that it may be cultural; other members of Yoda's species do use the same sentence construction; Yaddle, for instance:
Yaddle: Your hold over these people will end by your own hand. Rule by terror you do. Die by fear you will.
However, notice that Yaddle also makes occasional mistakes; she does in that quote, for instance. As I see it, there are two main possibilities:
A fan blog I discovered, which dissects Yoda's grammar for a linguistics class, offers another possible explanation:
SEV [Standard English Vernacular, i.e. the exceptions noted in the question] sentences are used by Yoda when it is especially important that the non-Yodish speaker understand him. A large group of samples exist and most, if not all of them could be translated into Yodish. Many of these are in response to a question put forth by Luke Skywalker, a non-Yodish speaker, and therefore the response is in SEV.
This is almost certainly a mistake on the part of the writer (either by Lucas himself, or by scriptwriters Leigh Brackett or Lawrence Kasdan) or by Frank Oz when delivering the lines. Truthfully, the essay I linked to earlier ends with what is likely the only correct answer; that George Lucas just isn't a very skilled linguist:
Yodish is not an arbitrary grammar which simply confuses that of SEV willy-nilly but there is a standard pattern of rules which are applied, though not likely purposefully designed by creator George Lucas. If this were the case, the errors I have mentioned would very likely not exist.
Correct answer by Jason Baker on July 6, 2021
until the prequels the commonly held believe is that, his odd grammar was part of the cover identity he was portraying akin to the "country bumkin", whereas when he speaks to obi-wan this is the real yoda.
Answered by yaddle on July 6, 2021
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