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Firefly
Firefly is a sci-fi space western. Written and directed by Joss Whedon; Whedon and Tim Minear were both executive producers. Whedon described his show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things". It premiered in 2002 and was cancelled by Fox Broadcasting Company after only 11 of the 14 episodes were aired. Firefly won an Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series in 2003. In 2005, due to increased interest and dvd success, Whedon and Universal Pictures made the movie Serenity to tie up loose ends and conclude the storyline.

Backstory
Firefly is set in 2517 in a solar system apart from ours. Our Earth, referred to as the "Earth-That-Was," became uninhabitable sometime in the 22nd century. Mankind was forced to leave earth and used a process called terraforming to make planets habitable. The Central Planets formed the Anglo-Sino Alliance, called simply the Alliance, a combination of the two greatest political powers China and the United States.

History
As the population of Earth-That-Was moved out to their new homes everyone took at least a portion of their culture with them. Whether emigrants maintained their religion, dialect, traditions, clothing, or art everybody kept at least a small portion of their old culture. When the Alliance was formed they were essentially all powerful, at least in the Central Planets, and had a great influence on the culture of not only those under it's control but also on all the surrounding planets not directly controlled by the Alliance. As Alliance patrols, goods, or even just regular citizens traveled to Border Planets their cultures were altered to correlate with the society found within the Alliance.

Language
The main languages spoken in the Firefly universe are English and Mandarin Chinese. It is unknown if any other languages are still spoken. Most of the time people speak in English but it is not uncommon to hear Chinese in daily conversation. Advertisements and prerecorded warnings of the ship's status can be heard or read in either Chinese or English, and commonly both. An interesting aspect of Firefly is how the Chinese-English language is universal. It seems to transcend borders, social classes, and even political differences. Everyone knows and speaks in both: whether they are Alliance or an Independent, a wealthy doctor or a poor criminal.

How social class affects language is not ignored in Firefly. Though everyone seems to know both English and Chinese most of the poorer people (Independents) seem to use Chinese for cursing more than anything else. This could either be a result of people in the lower class cursing more often or maybe it is a product of lesser understanding of Chinese than that of the upper class. Both explanations have the same outcome and both could be supported with evidence found in the show. Whatever explanation is correct the idea that one's economic and social situation may alter their use of language is displayed. It is interesting that both ideas are supported by the show and movie. It is shown that Alliance children receive a more complete schooling than those on the Outer Planets and would therefore have a better understanding of Chinese. At the same time the Alliance raised Simon Tam displays a stricter moral code than the rest of the mostly Independent crew, and rarely curses as he feels it wouldn't be appropriate. The use of Mandarin phrases by the better off and curses by the poor may have intended to show that both education and situation have different but related affects on language.

The higher level of education achieved by people raised on a Core Planet extends past their understanding of Chinese. People from the Core Planets have a much better understanding of the English language, and are more grammatically correct in their speech. On the Outer Planets slang and grammatical errors abound.

Core VS Outer Planets
The Outer Planets (planets out on the edge of colonized space) have some significant differences from the Core Planets (planets that were terraformed first and have a strong Alliance presence). The Core Planets are lush with new technologies and have a higher standard of living than planets on the Rim (edge of explored space). Outer Planets have less government, and technology but more criminals and poverty. Life on an Outer Planet is reminiscent of how pioneers lived during the westward expansion of the United States. Farmers, horses, covered wagons and guns are all common sights on Outer Planets. Not only is the lifestyle on Outer Planets relatable to the American Frontier but also the dialect. Outside of the core planets people talk differently than common here or on the core planets. Dropping the g from -ing, double negatives, "ain't," and a noticeable lack of the suffix -ly are all part of the "western" atmosphere. While it is not necessarily explained why the people on the frontier talk this way it does contrast with the more grammatically correct speech found on Core Planets.