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High Galactic alphabet

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"Does the weapon begin with the letter A?"

―Weequay bodyguard, speaking to his quay^[src]

The High Galactic alphabet was a form of writing in the galaxy. While not as commonly used as Aurebesh, this alphabet was frequently used in signatures and by nobles.^[1] It was most commonly used to write in Galactic Basic Standard.

1 Origins and history
2 Texts written in this alphabet
- 2.1 Signatures
3 Droid names examples
4 Other examples
5 Behind the scenes
- 5.1 Canonicity
- 5.2 Non-canon appearances
6 See also
7 Appearances
- 7.1 Non-canonical appearances
8 Sources
9 Notes and references
10 See also

Origins and historyEdit

The alphabet originated as part of the High Galactic language, which was spoken by the colonists of Alsakan prior to 17,000 BBY, and originated during the war between the Galactic Republic and the Tion Cluster. The alphabet entered widespread galactic usage in approximately 17,000 BBY, during the Alsakan Conflicts. The Alsakanese borrowed characters from Tionese language and introduced others of their own invention, creating a writing system with no ties to the Aurebesh or related scripts.^[1]

Millennia later, the alphabet continued to see fairly widespread use. By circa 22 BBY, Republic Census figures showed that the High Galactic Alphabet was used by nearly one third of Basic speakers when writing, and by over half of upper-class Basic speakers. As a result, Aurebesh and the High Galactic Alphabet were often presented side-by-side.^[1] Nearly all Basic advertising was presented in the High Galactic Alphabet, as was the case for corporate logos that incorporated written language, such as Industrial Automaton, the Corellian Engineering Corporation, and Sienar Fleet Systems.^[1]

The High Galactic Alphabet was also used for naming many starship models (such as the T-65 X-wing starfighter) and droid models (such as the R2 series of astromech droids).^[1]

Texts written in this alphabetEdit

Although the usage of this alphabet was less common than Aurebesh, there is indication that whole (although few) texts were written in it. Following are several examples:

Aro logo
Bureau of Ships and Services logo
COMPNOR logo
Corellian Security Force (CorSec) hovercraft
CSA logo
Declaration of a New Republic
Interstellar Parcel Service logo and signage (Non-canonical appearance)
Jedi code
R-duba police hovercraft
Sienar Fleet Systems logo
Sunburst Mining logo
Technical Specifications: Spacecraft of the Imperium and the Rebel Alliance
Trade Federation logo

SignaturesEdit

The signature of Leia Organa Solo, written in a cursive form of this alphabet.

Many Humans would use this alphabet in their signatures, in opposition to the more common Aurebesh, perhaps by tradition. Those individuals included:

Droid names examplesEdit

Droid names often derived from letters in this alphabet:

Other examplesEdit

The Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Gnisnal had corridors named Q and R.^[2]
C-beams

Behind the scenesEdit

This article describes the occurrences of the Latin alphabet in the Star Wars universe; it is a form of writing in the real world and is the most common alphabet of Western nations, usually containing about twenty-six letters. Although canon has established the fictitious writing system of Aurebesh, it is somewhat unsurprising that this alphabet, especially its American English variant, make their appearance in the Star Wars universe, as the Star Wars movies and most Expanded Universe materials are of American origin.

CanonicityEdit

"Well, actually, they do use the Roman alphabet in the Star Wars universe."

―Pablo Hidalgo^[src]

The Latin alphabet has appeared in several instances of the Original Trilogy and the Expanded Universe, but its appearance was ambiguous before explicitly canonized as the "High Galactic Alphabet" in the Hyperspace-exclusive article The Written Word.^[1] Roman labels in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope were edited into Aurebesh in the DVD release, indicating that George Lucas had some reasons to believe that real-world Roman letters don't belong in the Star Wars universe.

However, in the way that Basic is English, Roman letters were seen in some in-universe inscriptions (Jedi Code) or emblems, like that of the Jedi Order. The text seen on viewscreens in The Star Wars Holiday Special is in Roman, rather than Aurebesh, due to the fact that Aurebesh had yet to be invented at the time in the real world. Aurebesh was introduced later in The Empire Strikes Back (when R2D2's conversation with Luke Skywalker in the X-Wing on the way to Dagobah is translated on the ship's dashboard readout).

Some instances show both Roman and Aurebesh alongside (Corporate Sector Authority) showing that the two coexisted. Additionally, the use of characters from the Roman alphabet to describe various starfighters based on their shapes (X-wing, Y-wing, A-wing, etc.), as the shapes of these craft do not match the shapes of the corresponding letters in Aurebesh but do in the Roman alphabet while other craft was named after letters in the Aurebesh alphabet (Aurek fighter) or Greek alphabet (Lambda-class T-4a shuttle).

Except vehicles, droids too are named with the alphabet, such as R2-D2 being called Artoo Deeto, rather than "Reshtoo Dorntoo", and C-3PO is Cee Threepio and not Cresh-ThreePethOsk. Clone Troopers are also sometimes code named in games such as Star Wars: Battlefront.

Non-canon appearancesEdit

The Happy Nerf Herder's signage was in basic, as were various other Coruscant signs around 50 BBY.^[3] Darth Vader's diary was written in this script.^[4]