The Hand (Babylon 5)

This article discusses fictional civilizations on the science-fiction television show Babylon 5.

As the Babylon station was conceived as a political and cultural meeting place, one of the show's many themes is the cultural and social interaction between civilizations. There are five dominant civilizations represented on Babylon 5: humans, the Narn, the Centauri, the Minbari, and the Vorlons; and several dozen less powerful ones. A number of the less powerful races make up the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, which assembled as a result of the Dilgar War, which occurred 30 years before the start of the series.

There are three primary languages used on the Babylon 5 station: English and the fictional Centauri and Interlac. English is mentioned explicitly as the "human language of commerce," and is the baseline language of the station; written signs appear in all three languages. Other human and alien languages do exist in the Babylon 5 universe, though with the exception of Minbari, hearing them spoken is uncommon; when aliens of the same species are speaking to one another, the words heard are English, though it is presumed they are speaking their native tongue. Only in the presence of humans can the alien language be heard, to stress that the humans cannot understand what is being said.

The Gaim, pak'ma'ra, and Vorlons do not speak directly in English; in the case of the pak'ma'ra, either because they refuse to learn any language other than their own, or because they are incapable of making human sounds. Members of these races instead make use of real-time translation devices.

The principal human characters speak with an American accent, with the exception of Marcus Cole, who speaks with Jason Carter's natural English accent. Susan Ivanova, born in Russia, speaks with an American accent, as her character was raised and schooled outside Russia. Her father and brother have a distinct Russian accent. Various other minor human characters speak English with recognizable regional accents. Ambassadors Delenn and Londo Mollari, both alien characters, have distinct accents similar to Slavic. Delenn has actress Mira Furlan's normal Croatian accent; most other Minbari have native-speaker accents for English (for example, American for Lennier, British for Neroon). Londo's accent was developed independently by actor Peter Jurasik, and was imitated by William Forward, who played Lord Refa. Straczynski has described Londo's accent as being that of the "old school" of the Centauri Imperial Court.Narns tend to speak in native-speaker (generally English) accents as well.

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