Quote Originally Posted by Megatran View Post
London (UK). As in the planet Earth? That's a galaxy not far away.

I was wondering how she came to have that British accent, then ended up at Jakku.
I've read somewhere -- and I don't know if this was ever official canon or just a fan theory (I'm assuming the latter) -- that in Star Wars, British accents represents how Galactic Basic is spoken in the Core worlds (e.g. English accent = Coruscanti accent), and that American accents are more akin to how Basic is spoken in the Outer Rim planets like Tattooine. The problem with this theory is that there seems to be insufficient evidence to really back it up.

Because there are several characters from Core worlds who speak with non-English accents, such as:
* Han Solo (Corellian; American accent)
* Bail Organa (Alderaanian; American accent)
* Leia Organa (Alderaanian; although she was born Polis Massa, she was raised on Alderaan since she was a baby; American accent)
* Qui-Gon Jinn (Coruscanti; Irish accent)

And then you have several people from Outer Rim worlds who speak with non-American accents, such as:
* Cliegg Lars, young Owen Lars & young Beru Whitesun (Tatooinian; Australian accents)
* Jango Fett (Mandalore Sector (Concord Dawnian); New Zealand accent)
* Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru (American & English accents respectively)
* Grand Moff Tarkin (Eriaduin; English accent)
* Rey (Jakku; English accent - even though she may have originally come from a Core world and was abandoned on Jakku as a young girl, it's unlikely that she'd be able to maintain her Core accent after spending most of her life growing up on an Outer Rim planet. She would most likely have an accent shift, same as what happens to people who live in another country for a really long time, especially from a young age)

And then, just to get more confusing, we have a variety of accents from people who are from Mid-Rim planets (e.g. Naboo).
* Padmé Amidala (American accent)
* Queen Jabilla (Indian accent)
* Sio Bibble & Palpatine (English accents)
* Captain Panaka (American accent)
* Captain Typho (Australian accent)

Then you have characters who shift accents! e.g. Leia originally speaks with a Cultivated American accent, but then later shifts to a more General American accent. Padmé uses an English accent when she assumes the role of Queen, but reverts to her native American accent when she's either being the servant girl or just her regular self (e.g. Episodes 2 & 3). I think that her accent shift was deliberate to help maintain the illusion that Padmé Naberrie and Queen Amidala were separate people. Her decoy (Kiera Knightley) spoke with an English accent. Anakin Skywalker speaks with a General Canadian accent (which is phonologically very similar to a General American accent; the Canadian accent that stands oot more from American English is, I think, a broader Canadian accent), but then shifts to a Cultivated American accent when he becomes James Earl Jones^Darth Vader.

There doesn't seem to be any consistency between a character's accent and where in the galaxy that that character comes from. Hence I personally don't subscribe the theory that there's any correlation. Simply put, the English language in Star Wars represents Galactic Basic. I don't think that the accent really bears any canonical significance. See this post regarding the correlation of real-world languages and the languages of Star Wars.