1984 Vocabulary Chapter 2

[James Talbot]

Youmight be wondering if all the background information is important for an explanation on 1984's Newspeak; well, we think so. From a linguistic perspective, language has the power to normalize and cement the dystopian realities you've just read about.

For example, throughout the novel, the protagonist and the reader are invited to question whether or not the whole world is genuinely at war or whether this is propaganda used to keep workers afraid and, therefore, obedient. In essence, 1984 is a novel about a man struggling to maintain a sense of truth and reality under the control of power and propaganda.

Throughout his career, Orwell spoke a lot about language and released several essays about the decline of the English language, most notably Politics and the English Language (1946). In the essay, Orwell suggested that as free thought suffered, language must also suffer under oppressive regimes, such as the Communist Party. From this line of thought, he concluded in the essay that "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."

Orwell created Newspeak to show the role language can play when it comes to societies being taken over by authoritarian and totalitarian dictatorships and to reflect the language used by politicians across the world.

Newspeak: The fictional official language of Oceania, Orwell's dystopian superstate. The language was created to replace Oldspeak (that's Standard English to you and me) and shares mostly the same vocabulary and grammar as English. However, Newspeak is marked by linguistic techniques, such as circumlocution, euphemisms, and contradictions. Morphologically, Newspeak contains a lot of affixes, contractions, blended and compounded words, and has standardized spelling. Newspeak has a very restricted vocabulary.

One way Newspeak reduces the role of language in thinking is by restricting vocabulary. Any words that could be used to question or criticize the party are removed, and the semantic meaning behind certain words has slowly been removed.

A final priority of Newspeak was euphony, i.e., being pleasant sounding on the ear. The pleasant-sounding nature of words like Mintrue (The contracted version of Ministry of Truth) helps to mask the ideology they carry. Orwell took the inspiration to contract words in this way from the Nazis and the Communist Party and their words, such as comintern (Communist International).

Although Newspeak was designed to replace Oldspeak (Standard English), in the novel, the transition was not yet complete, and the party hoped to see a complete removal of Oldspeak by the year 2050 (a very quick turnaround considering linguistic shifts usually happen gradually over thousands of years!)

Now we have a good idea behind the reasoning and purpose of 1984's Newspeak, let's look at some examples. We'll start with grammar, as this largely dictates and explains how new words are created, and we'll finish with some vocabulary and quotes.

Although the grammar of Newspeak is much the same as Standard English, there are a few differences that set it apart. The key differences revolve around standardization, contractions, and the use of affixes.

We will now look at the vocabulary according to Orwell's own classifications. In the appendix for 1984, Orwell included a document entitled "The Principles of Newspeak," in it, he outlines the "perfected" form of Newspeak, i.e., the completed language. He states that all vocabulary will be classified into three categories: Class A, B, and C.

The class A words were used to describe everyday life. These are English words that have been widely restricted, and additional meaning is often expressed with affixes. The root words typically describe concrete objects and physical actions, and anything negative or theoretical has been removed.

The class B words are politically charged words that serve the primary function of indoctrinating the general public into following the party's ideology. They have been constructed in such a way that they present complex ideas in a short, pleasant-sounding, and easy-to-pronounce way. Techniques used include doublethink, doublespeak, euphemisms, and the use of contractions and compound words.

These are words to do with the sciences and are only readily available to those who need them, i.e., those working within a scientific field. Much like class A words, they have been heavily restricted.

All beliefs, habits, tastes, emotions, and mental attitudes that characterize our time are really designed to sustain the mystique of the Party and prevent the true nature of present-day society from being perceived. - Goldstein in chapter 9, 1984.

One of the main aims of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought of the general public. By restricting the vocabulary and reducing complex thoughts to short terms, Newspeak encourages its users not to think too much, making them vulnerable to oppressors.

3a8082e126