Sasha ot Sulem's dialect

A young woman by the name of Sasha ot Sulem made use of a unique dialect to converse. As a child, Sasha ot Sulem had been kidnapped from her family by Mandalorian raiders. After spending years among them, Sulem was eventually able to flee their custody and stow away aboard the Ebon Hawk, a starship belonging to the former Sith Lord, Revan. When the reformed Sith found Sulem, he attempted to convince Sulem to return home to her family, but found she spoke in a dialect unique to her, though Revan thought the language bore some resemblance to the Mandalorian language of Mando'a. Despite his unfamiliarity with the strange dialect, through practice and possibly the Force, Revan managed to converse well enough with the young woman to persuade her to leave the Ebon Hawk with the Twi'lek Lur Arka Sulas, who had been searching for Sasha ot Sulem on behalf of her father, Rundil ot Sulem.
==Words and phrases==
This language included the following sentences or words:
*abds - hurt
*bristag - spaceship
*esowon - to see
*hoot bad liaz Manlorey? - Why are you scared of the Mandalorians?
*gon-disen - to love
*in- in
*kapsie- speak/talk
*kesta-won - take, move
*laesfa - house, home
*ma - I; me; my
*ma na esowon - I'm hiding
*ma voule kesta-won miam nu ghis - I'd like some food right now
*manlorey - mandalorian
*yum - food
*na - [negation adverb]
*na abds - don't hurt me!
*na esowon - to hide
*na nu ghis - not now; before
*nu ghis - now
*stin-quiw - sleep
*tabed - talk about
*tabed me - tell me
*wooba - my
*wooba soosa __ - my name is __
*yooba - you
*yooba palkie - You have to go
*Yb - Goodbye/bye
==Behind the scenes==
The dialect and its primary speaker, Sasha ot Sulem, first appeared in the Star Wars video game Knights of the Old Republic, created by BioWare and released July 15, 2003. Dialogue between Sasha ot Sulem and the player character, Revan, serves as a minor puzzle, wherein the player is required to decipher and respond to the unfamiliar language in order to further the questline and aid Sulem.
While speaking with Sulem, Revan states that he understands the Mandalorian language—suggesting some similarity between the two dialects—but notes that Sulem's dialect is different, her words "mixed up" and altered into a unique language removed from the one spoken by the Mandalorian people. The Mandalorian language proper was later developed as a functional constructed language by musical composer Jesse Harlin and author Karen Traviss for the Republic Commando game and novel series. The true Mandalorian language, given the name Mando'a, bears little resemblance to the dialect spoken by Sasha ot Sulem, with a number of specific vocabulary deviations evident between Sulem's dialogue and the established Mandalorian lexicon.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
==Notes and references==
Category:Mandalorian culture
Category:Unidentified languages