Legends say Yoda's master spoke as he did. He speaks that way to honor his master, N'Kata Del Gormo. A Force-sensitive Hysalrian. The four-limbed, serpentine Jedi also had crafted a staff imbued with a large crystal at its summit. According to legend, N'Kata Del Gormo was residing on a swamp world when two visitors crossed his path. A young hermit named Yoda and a Human friend had crash-landed on the world and came to Del Gormo for assistance. After a couple days, Master Del Gormo met with the duo and informed them that they were Force-sensitive, offering to train them as his Padawans.

Yoda speak backwards is because he likes to do it for fun, giving off the image of an eccentric but wise mentor.

Poor Yoda. I can't even imagine what it feels like to outlive countless generations, watching all the younglings you trained die in battle, join the Dark Side, or die of old age, not to mention witnessing how the Order you protected during your long lifetime was destroyed in one night. Truly a horrible life

I think Yoda speaks in such a unique way to force his listeners, well, to listen to everything he says. To process his words. A type of emphasis.

It makes him both insane and uniquely smart at the same time. If only yoda speak existed with other yodas

Imagine all the fans that thought for years Yoda talked in that way because he was very old, and then they saw in KOTOR Vandar Tokare (another member of Yoda's species) speaking in a completely normal way thousands of years before Yoda's birth. Without a doubt, someone felt trolled there 😅

Sometimes I feel that Yoda does it to occasionally troll others. But it's to also catch them off-guard and get them to stop doing something impulsive because they need to take a moment to realize what he's saying. As stated, it probably helped keep the younglings' attention because they would be drawn to the flowery language. But it could also get an impulsive teenager to slow down for a moment because they need to process what he said, and in that moment, they could calm down and come to a proper rationalization as to what they should do in the situation. Anakin was wise to go to him for counsel when he was plagued with nightmares, because those precious moments of having to pause to realize what Yoda is trying to say probably would have gotten him to act a lot more rational. It's just a shame that Palpatine already had his claws in him.

I imagine he just speaks the way people spoke galactic 800 years ago. He adopted the speech pattern of whoever raised him

The canon explanation has been that modern galactic basic is not his primary language. He likely grew up with some unknown language, then learned archaic galactic basic, and never bothered to keep up with the ever morphing “modern” dialect as it developed over the centuries since everyone that knew basic understood him well enough and at 900, he’s allowed such eccentricities. And Jedi talk a little different than most people anyway.

I think it's both. It's deliberate by him when he's teaching, (and I'm thrilled to hear you giving the theory exposure with this video) yet this doesn't mean that his native language could not use the same pattern: only that Yoda doesn't have to think in another language without thinking about it.

Good theory, it makes sense. Plus, I can see Frank Oz's interpretation as a valid addition to the theory put forth by Generation Tech, i.e., if Yoda learned from that way of speaking from his own master, it would make sense for Yoda to incorporate the same pattern of speech for his own teachings. One other thing; perhaps Luke was actually expecting the Jedi Master who instructed Obi-Wan to be a tall human with blonde, shoulder-length hair and matching trimmed beard, ya know, the way Qui-Gon Jinn looked. 😉😄 (edit: name spelling)

My thought is he did it as a way to make sure people paid more attention when he spoke, having to parse out his abnormal pattern, meaning that, along with his typically slower cadence, his listeners are basically forced to engage with everything he says

I think this literary device is called "sentence inversion" for emphasis or dramatic effect.

I taught English overseas for a number of years. There were two very broad categories of accents where English learners would land: 1. English but with a spectrum of accent 2. Stereotypically bad, barely understandable English There were people who could communicate complex ideas in English but never got past a certain stereotypical Chinese accent and grammatical errors. VERY competent businessmen and leaders, but they never got the "native" proficiency with English. Yoda could totally be like that.

My head canon is that when Yoda was in his 200's he fought a powerful darkside user and while he was victorious, the dark jedi damaged the speech center of his brain and he spent years healing and re-learning to talk.

Wow love this version of yoda ❤

Yoda: "Hilarious, I am. And quote everything I say, you will."

Obi-Wan's sprit: "Luke, you must find Yoda, the man who trained me" Qui-Gon's spirit: 🖕

Yoda's way of speaking has many similaryties to how sentences are created in Pali language

Tech of Generation, I do Love.

love your videos so so much, i've watched like all of them lol please keep up the good work we all love you!!

Fun video Allen 🏆

First video I've seen the creator tackle this very important issue, well done!

Never did consciously take into account how much changing your pitch and tone mattered in holding attention. Thanks dude

I've always believed that the way Yoda speaks is a carry-over from his own species' native language, which most likely used a *strictly* Object-Subject-Verb word order. This specific order is very rare in real world languages, but can happen in certain conditions and is never to be ruled out - ergative constructions can lead to the passive subject being reanalyzed as the object, and the active agent becomes the subject, so it would be "Hotdogs by me are loved", but the agentive preposition "by" becomes a subject marker, while the passive verb becomes an active verb

Generation Tech, a long time have I watched.

Yoda’s word order actually seems to be the most important part of the sentence comes first, followed by the other words in a form that makes sense. For example, “Your father he is.” The most important bit of information is the “your father” part, the rest amplifies in a way that Luke instantly understands.

This was a very nice Video but something to tell you Star Wars The Stupendous Wave channel talked about one of Yodas masters talked like this and he adapted the way Master talked and Started talking like this hope this helps.

You mentioned that people seem to prefer the order English is spoken because it's easy to listen to and people are impatient; this may be why Yoda speaks this way. Patience is an important part of the Jedi way as is the idea that being attentive and thinking over things will lead to better results then rushing into things. He's forcing everyone around him to practice these things in a small way whenever he talks to them.

The title made me smile when I was sad. 10/10 love ya stuff

Great video man and I like your ultimate conclusion. When I was a kid in the 80s I thought he was speaking in Ye Olde Galactic because he was so ancient. It kind of made everything he said into a riddle as well.

Way back when Lucasfilm released a Making Of book for the Empire Strikes back, it stated that time and speech patterns have changed and evolved a lot in the 900 years Yoda has been alive. He speaks as they spoke 800+ years ago. This mirrors how English had changed from it's latin roots to a more Germanic structure over the centuries.

Christmas lights under the shirt!? Allen is reaching his final form...

I'm from Ireland and in school we were thought the Irish language. The word order was Verb Subject Object. The word order sounds normal in Irish but in English the word order sounds odd. So in Yoda's language of his species, the word order may be normal, its just it sounds odd when spoken that way in English

2:10 It's also possible that when Yoda was young, Basic was spoken the way that Yoda speaks. If we ignore "non-canon" material.

Huh. I hadn't thought of his speech pattern being deliberate. It makes sense. btw, I was completely distracted by your shirt. I love that. Yes, I listened, but my ADHD attention kept going to the lights. BUT.... I think you did that on purpose. Yeah, my brain would static out and be like, "those are cool lights. Where's the battery pack? Where did he get that? It's pretty. I want a light up shirt," but whenever you played clips of Yoda speaking in his unusual way, my attention went straight back to him. I have bad ADHD, and I'm currently unmedicated. The fact that Yoda can recapture my attention when he speaks is huge. He could alway snare my attention when I'd watch Star Wars as a kid. This is why I'm inclined to agree with you that he purposefully adjusted his sentence structure so that people would listen. I'd say 'kids,' but to him, everyone is a kid - even Chewie.

Dope topic haha 👍

I was always fond of the theory Ben and Luke Skywalker developed in Fate of the Jedi. Yoda was so old and heard all this shit so many times, said it so many times that it became white noise, so changed up his entire speech structure to keep things interesting for him and as a result make his lessons, advice and wisdom more memorable.

I like the Christmas lights on the shirt it reminds me of the good old days

I remember reading somewhere he started or learned to talk that way to honor one of the masters who found him crashed on a planet who was a Jedi master in self exile from the order and started teaching him the ways of the force

I can totally see the irl reasons. As to the in universe, pre yaddle i did chalk it up to the species, afterward i kinda decided it had something to do with the way he thought and interpreted the universe and the force. Almost like as he became more powerful, his perception changed and he just mentally arranged it in a way that made more sense to him.

sentence structures like (O)(S)(V) might imply the subject's "balance with the force," but also seen as the "center of attention" much like having subject first. Putting the subject last (and its considerations) would make most sense for yoda. keeps you in a groove.

When ur 900 years old and understand possibly every known language in the galaxy see how good ur communication skills are.

Love your show and that you're talking about linguistics. Also, lightly isn't a verb.

I did not expect a grammar lesson today

Yoda's speech pattern reminds me of Spanish, because it's the same sort of structure. also Latin and it's neighboring languages like Italian and the languages of Europe like German are like that too.

Another example: "Concentrate all your fire on the nearest starship." He must have slipped out of character during this critical moment of the battle of Geonosis.

Super fast build mode (howling) playing in the background (: I love finding little things I first found on Hermitcraft 😂

Night classes, Yaddle took. Too busy meditating, Yoda was.

I love the way you explore something from the Star Wars world into the real world and bring logic to fantasy. At the same time use fantasy to explain complex real word ideas like differences in languages. You always remind me what I love about Star Wars, even though Disney is trying to kill that. Thank you

“Disturbing is this move by Chancellor Palpatine.” “Move” is the subject. “Is” is the verb, in this case a linking verb. “Disturbing” is a predicate adjective,, but isn’t really an object beciase a linking verb doesn’t express action. “By Chancellor Palpatine” is a prepositional phrase, which is separate from the SVO structure.

Hmm… "Allow" is the verb (combined with "does not"), while "lightly" is an adverb modifying said verb.

Cant remember where i heard this, but i heard that yodas master talked like this, and for respect for his master, he too talks like this.

Maybe, since Yoda is way older it's possible the order recruited him having already learned his own language because of his talent or some kind of crisis, but yaddle is way younger, it's likely she was raised speaking Coruscant basic by the order.

Why is Allen's shirt glowing like it has in set hot embers in the cloth lol

A lot of languages are that way, take for instance American Sign Language, it’s grammar is “Time, Topic, Comment” which would look like “Today, Store I go” a good way to pass an ASL class is to imagine Yoda.

6:10 Well, Lightly is the adverb. In Yoda's sentence I think either "allow" or "does (not)" is the verb, then appointment is the object, and council is the subject. Cause if you flip it around, "the council (subject) does not allow (verbs) this appointment (object) lightly (adverb that describes the verb)" Again with the next sentence. "Is" is the verb. It's a "being verb." Disturbing becomes like an adverb that describes what "is" is. I havent taken english class in several years so if someone could correct me or even add on/clean up what I said, I'd appreciate it.

Wait, this was about how Yoda spoke? All I got out of this is Alan had led lights in his shirt and I don’t know why????

Bro allens youtube voice would be legendary in person

I would love to see a movie about young Yoda training as a Jedi.

4:57 Do we think in subject verb object because that pattern of though is natural to us or is it natural to us because that's how our language is structured?? Nature vs. Nurture, much debated it is. I think it was in the Jedi Apprentice or Jedi Quest book series (Forgive me if I'm wrong, this was many years ago when I was a youngling) the students in the Jedi temple would sometimes copy Yoda's speech pattern as a coping mechanism or when trying to impress each other with their "wisdom". His way of speaking certainly is memorable. Yoda and his teachings left their impression on many an young mind.

Unless he was hit in the head by blunt forces in his years then no, he is okay. Yoda speaks in a way that is unique it can help the narrative for the keen reader, when he recieves replies he definitely says the feeling or the verb first then the actions or matter at hand made by those "subject" or "subjects". He makes the feeling known first before everythings else, the words he says first is the biggest priority to Yoda.

I watched a video on this morning, its from his first master (N’Kata Del Gormo). Being of a non-humanoid race and also in elongated exile like Yoda, the way he spoke galatic basic was similar to how Yoda speaks and he picked it up the method from him. Its technically not canon (cos legends). But this is supposedly why.

I love the idea that Yoda speeks the way he does to make younglings to pay attention to what he is saying. And I think the idea of "paying respect to his own old master" can be valid too. He could have met this trick when he himself was young and impatient (which probably means he was elder then rest of his classmates combined 😀) and later he found that the way of speech itself was a lesson of its own and so applied what he had learned.

I love geeking out over languages 🎉

I love your T shirt.

As usual you bring real world touchstones to this wonderful mythology- I wonder if the reason for his unusual syntax is because of his home language - so speaking common galactic is a second language. Pronouns and syntax are difficult issues to overcome if you cannot think in the second language - some translate from the home language to the second language a common explanation for the unusual syntax.

Yeah, when I first heard Yaddle talk I thought "Oh god is Yoda the Forrest Gump of his species?".

Hi Allen

Day 132 PLEASE DO MORE TACTICS AND STRUCTURES LIKE THE CIS NAVY STRUCTURE AND RANKS

A+ You did you linguistics homework. Well done.

Years ago my high school Latin teacher saying Yoda's sentence structure is based off of one of the patterns that existed in Classical Latin. In Latin what word goes with what is based of endings and the form of the word itself, word order as we understand it didn't really matter. People kind of had their own preference on how things were arranged and eventually patterns started to happen.

I just assumed Yoda went on a vision quest and came back changed. I like the idea that’s it’s to honor his master better though.

Honestly, now that you've put the theory forward, it makes so much sense that his speech pattern was changed to hold the attention of young, impatient Jedi. Throughout everything we see of Yoda, you get this sense that he's this calm and wise elder of the Jedi Order. And given the fact that he's also responsible for training the Younglings within the Order, he'd definitely pick up some tricks that can even work on older people. Plus, compared to Yoda, pretty much everyone else in the Jedi temple are still young and inexperienced, so he probably decided to use those speech patterns more generally for the sake of holding their attention as well.

I remember as a kid watching the early Star wars movies, and I was always fascinated by Yoda's speech. It definitely grabs the listeners attention, it's so unusual. But one thing about yoda, when you hear him speak, it comes across as very wise. I think it's no accident that George Lucas had him speak with a SOV grammatical pattern, sometimes OSV.... It's the same grammatical pattern of Hindi and Sanskrit i believe, very old and Indian languages, considered the 'language of wisdom.' I take it this comes from early encounters of Western people with those of india, especially those known to the masters of their craft or whatever they are into. When they first learn english vocabulary, and they haven't yet mastered the grammar, they end up sounding like Yoda. But still, what they might have said would have been very profound and wise. I worked with a few indian immigrants who didn't speak very good english at a past job, and honestly, how they talked reminded me of Yoda. But it definitely caught one's attention, and they came across as wise and learned to me.

I consider this cannon now

Lucas might have been using the word boring to describe the action of boring, such as boring through wood with a bit, or figuratively boring into the depths of exciting philosophy?

Yoda speaks that way either to honor his Master N'kata Del Gormo or just adapted to N'kata Del Gormo's speech and never changed

0:34 after watching the stuff that came after the ot, looking at this scene is weird, because yoda and r2 already know each other, so is r2 playing along?

Oh wow, I wasn't aware that Allen was developing ARC Reactor technology! Is that a prototype or a final version??

I laughed out loud reading the title 😂 ❤

Perhaps yoda is in constant connection with the force, so when he speaks with his voice, the words, sentence structure and tone reflect this ever flowing engagement. Basically he is speaking in tongue or prayer

I can't watch the Luke and Yoda scenes without hearing the Bad Lip Reading Seagulls song now...

Maybe Yoda was raised on their species home world before joining the order. Maybe Yaddle was raised within the order, like Grogu would have been, so she learned to speak on Jedi temples, but Yoda learned to speak on the home world.

Is this truly the video of all time

I like the idea of yoda speak that way to honor his master

English can be surprisingly flexible: SVO: He grows wheat. OSV: Now this, I’d buy! OVS: The dragon slew she, and returned triumphant. SOV: We our friends did greet, after lifetimes far apart. VSO: Then spake they a mystery unto us, our wits to prove. VOS: Ignore him, my friend. Had to add a little to the other sentences cause they sounded really awkward on their own.

Hey Alan why do you have Christmas lights inside your shirt man???

I think one of two things is likely Either he consciously speaks that way Or his native language from before talked like that and he just finds it easier to do the same in basic

Little green brother is like some tech-bro, gliding around on some stupid gizmo and a real pain when he orders coffee.

Cool shirt lol

I remember Alan talking about this in a previous video, how some monks in asia speak like Yoda to really convey their words in a more conveying way that really grasps folks attention. And to think heavily on what they have spoken of. Sure we all have zoned out when being taught before, but hearing your sentencing being flipped n versed in ways different, makes us more interested in listening.

Grogu GoGurt? Really? Baby Yoda Yogurt. I mean... It had to happen, right? It's too perfect.

I think Grogu is the one with brain damage, Yoda was already a Jedi Master training padawans/ younglings by the time he was 100. Grogu must be in his mid fifties by the end of the Mandalorian series and he still won't talk . It will be jarring to see him age up almost as fast as a human does once he turns 60. The new Rey movie being set right around the time Grogu would turn 100 years old could be even more jarring if he shows up.

The old man is 1000 years old . Galactic common likely change its form of speech over time like old English mid English etc changed over time

The way he speaks makes his wisdom more meaningful.

As long as yoda knows which hole the food goes in....hes ok.😂 hes just so damn old man.

Is no-one else gonna mention Alan's glowing shirt??

I think by talking weird it causes the people Yoda is talking to/training to think hard on what he says by confusing them a bit

A couple of mistakes with the sentence analysis. "Lightly" is an adverb, and "disturbing" was used as an adjective in that sentence, not a verb.