Aqualish was the official language of the planet Ando, spoken by the Aqualish species.^[1] The three subspecies of Aqualish—Aquala, Quara and Ualaq—each had a different dialect. However, these regionalisms were so similar that they were easily understood by speakers of the separate dialects.^[1]

Aqualish vocal cords caused harsh guttural sounds, which were common in the Aqualish language, but uncommon in Basic. If an Aqualish spoke Galactic Basic Standard, it sounded coarse and brutish. Most Aqualish did not learn Basic unless they needed to, which usually meant they had been forced to leave their homeworld.^[1]

When the young Human Luke Skywalker entered Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in Mos Eisley in 0 BBY, a drunk Aqualish thug named Ponda Baba gave Skywalker a rough shove, bellowing "Out of my way, human excrement!" in his mother tongue.^[2]

Behind the scenesEdit

The sound effect of the Aqualish language was created for the Cantina scene of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.^[3] In the novelization by Alan Dean Foster and in the Revised Forth Draft of the film by George Lucas, the line spoken by the Aqualish Ponda Baba was "Negola dewaghi wooldugger?!?"^[4] Baba's ranting went untranslated until the publication of the 1995 short story Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe.^[2]

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novel (First appearance)
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
• Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe
• The Emperor's Court (Non-canonical appearance)

SourcesEdit

• Ultimate Alien Anthology

Notes and referencesEdit