Newspeak: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Fictional language in the novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"}} |
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'''Newspeak''' is a [[fictional language]] in [[George Orwell]]'s novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. In the novel, it is described as being "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year." Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an Appendix (in the past tense)<ref name="appendix">Orwell, George (1949). ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', "Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak", pp. 309–323. New York: Plume, 2003.<br>Pynchon, Thomas (2003). "Foreword to the Centennial Edition" to ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', pp. vii–xxvi . New York: Plume, 2003.<br>Fromm, Erich (1961). "Afterword" to ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', pp. 324–337. New York: Plume, 2003.<br>Orwell's text has a "Selected Bibliography", pp. 338–9; the foreword and the afterword each contain further references.<br>Copyright is '''explicitly extended''' to digital and any other means.<br>Plume edition is a reprint of a hardcover by Harcourt. Plume edition is also in a Signet edition.</ref>, in which the basic principles of the language are explained. Newspeak is closely based on [[English language|English]] but has a greatly reduced and simplified [[vocabulary]] and [[grammar]] (e.g., 'good' means 'to love Big Brother'; 'bad' is deleted from the language because 'ungood' means 'bad'; therefore there is now no literal concept to express the term, 'Big Brother is bad'). This suited the [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]] regime of the Party, whose aim was to make any alternative thinking ("[[thoughtcrime]]") or speech impossible by removing any words or possible constructs which describe the ideas of freedom, rebellion and so on. One character says admiringly of the shrinking volume of the new dictionary: "It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words." |
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{{for|the programming language|Newspeak (programming language)}} |
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{{Use British English|date=August 2012}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}} |
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In the [[dystopia]]n novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1984), by [[George Orwell]], '''Newspeak''' is the [[fictional language]] of [[Political geography of Nineteen Eighty-Four#Oceania|Oceania]], a [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]] [[superstate]]. To meet the ideological requirements of [[Political geography of Nineteen Eighty-Four#Oceania|Ingsoc]] (English Socialism) in Oceania, the Party created Newspeak, which is a [[Controlled natural language|controlled language]] of simplified grammar and limited vocabulary designed to limit a person's ability for [[critical thinking]]. The Newspeak language thus limits the person's ability to articulate and communicate abstract concepts, such as [[personal identity]], self-expression, and [[free will]],<ref name="Orwell1949">{{Cite book |last=Orwell |first=George |title=Nineteen Eighty-Four |publisher=Secker and Warburg |year=1949 |isbn=978-0-452-28423-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/nineteeneightyfo00orwe_1 }}{{rp|309}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|date=2020|title=Newspeak|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/newspeak|dictionary=Merriam Webster}}</ref> which are [[thoughtcrime]]s, acts of personal independence that contradict the [[orthodoxy|ideological orthodoxy]] of Ingsoc [[collectivism]].<ref>''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'', Tom McArthur, Ed. (1992) p. 693.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Moellerlit Newspeak dictionary |url=http://moellerlit.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/2/4/10248653/1984_--_newspeak_dictionary.pdf |access-date=2017-01-16 |archive-date=15 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215043848/http://moellerlit.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/2/4/10248653/1984_--_newspeak_dictionary.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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The Newspeak term for the [[English language]] is '''Oldspeak'''. Oldspeak was intended to have been completely eclipsed by Newspeak before [[2050]]. |
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In the appendix to the novel, "The Principles of Newspeak", Orwell explains that Newspeak follows most rules of English grammar, yet is a language characterised by a continually diminishing vocabulary; complete thoughts are reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning. The political contractions of Newspeak — ''Ingsoc'' (English Socialism), ''Minitrue'' (Ministry of Truth), ''Miniplenty'' (Ministry of Plenty) — are similar to Nazi and Soviet contractions in the 20th century, such as ''[[Gestapo]]'' (''Geheime Staatspolizei''), ''politburo'' ([[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]), ''Comintern'' ([[Communist International]]), ''[[kolkhoz]]'' (collective farm), and ''[[Komsomol]]'' (communist youth union). Newspeak contractions usually are [[syllabic abbreviation]]s meant to conceal the speaker's ideology from the speaker and the listener.<ref name="Orwell1949" />{{rp|310–8}} |
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The genesis of Newspeak can be found in the [[constructed language]] [[Basic English]], which Orwell promoted from 1942 to 1944 before emphatically rejecting it in his essay, "[[Politics and the English Language]]". <ref>{{cite book |last=Illich |first=Ivan |authorlink=Ivan Illich |coauthors=Barry Sanders |title=ABC: The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind |year=1988 |publisher=[[North Point Press]] |location=[[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] |language=[[English language]] |isbn=0-86547-291-2 |pages=109 |quote=The satirical force with which Orwell used Newspeak to serve as his portrait of one of those totalitarian ideas that he saw taking root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere can be understood only if we remember that he speaks with shame about a belief that he formerly held... From 1942 to 1944, working as a colleague of William Empson's, he produced a series of broadcasts to India written in Basic English, trying to use its programmed simplicity, as a ''Tribune'' article put it, "as a sort of corrective to the oratory of statesmen and publicists." Only during the last year of the war did he write "Politics and the English Language," insisting that the defense of English language has nothing to do with the setting up of a Standard English."}}</ref> In this paper he laments the quality of the English of his day, citing examples of dying [[metaphors]], pretentious diction or [[rhetoric]], and meaningless words — all of which contribute to fuzzy ideas and a lack of [[logic]]al thinking. Towards the end of this essay, having argued his case, Orwell muses: |
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==Development of Newspeak== |
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{{cquote|I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who deny this would argue, if they produced an argument at all, that language merely reflects existing social conditions, and that we cannot influence its development by any direct tinkering with words or constructions.}} |
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As a [[constructed language]], Newspeak is a language of planned [[phonology]], limited grammar, and finite vocabulary, much like the phonology, grammar, and vocabulary of [[Basic English]] (British American Scientific International Commercial English), which was proposed by the British linguist [[Charles Kay Ogden]] in 1930. As a [[controlled language]] without complex constructions or ambiguous usages, Basic English was designed to be easy to learn, to sound, and to speak, with a vocabulary of 850 words composed specifically to facilitate the communication of facts, not the communication of abstract thought. While employed as a propagandist by [[BBC]] during the Second World War (1939–1945), Orwell grew to believe that the constructions of Basic English, as a controlled language, imposed functional limitations upon the speech, the writing, and the thinking of the users.<ref name="Fink1971">{{cite journal |last=Fink |first=Howard |date=1971 |title=Newspeak: the Epitome of Parody Techniques in "Nineteen Eighty-Four" |journal=Critical Survey |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=155–163}}</ref> |
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In the essay "[[Politics and the English Language]]" (1946)<ref name="Orwell1946">{{cite magazine |last=Orwell |first=George |date=17 June 1946 |title=Politics and the English Language |magazine=New Republic |volume=114 |issue=24 |pages=872–874}}</ref> and in "The Principles of Newspeak" appendix to ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (1949), Orwell discusses the communication function of English and contemporary ideological changes in usage during the 1940s. In the novel, the linguistic decadence of English is the central theme about language-as-communication.<ref name="Koeberl979">{{cite journal |last=Köberl |first=Johann |date=1979 |title=Der Sprachphilosophische Hintergrund von Newspeak: Ein Beitrag zum 100.Geburtstag von Albert Einstein |journal=AAA: Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=171–183}}</ref>{{rp|171}} In the essay, [[Standard English]] was characterised by dying metaphors, pretentious diction, and high-flown rhetoric. Orwell concludes: "I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who deny this [decadence] may argue that language merely reflects existing social conditions, and that we cannot influence its development, by any direct tinkering with words or constructions."<ref name="Orwell1946"/> |
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Thus forcing the use of Newspeak, according to Orwell, describes a deliberate intent to exploit this degeneration with the aim of oppressing its speakers. |
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Orwell argued that the decline of English went hand-in-hand with the decline of [[intellectualism]] among society, and thus facilitated the manipulation of listeners and speakers and writers into consequent political chaos.<ref name="Koeberl979"/> The story of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' portrays the connection between [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] régimes and doublespeak language, earlier discussed in "Politics and the English Language": |
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== Basic principles of Newspeak == |
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=== To remove [[synonym]]s & [[antonym]]s=== |
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{{Blockquote|text=When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer. I should expect to find — this is a guess, which I have not sufficient knowledge to verify — that the German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen years, as a result of dictatorship. But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.<ref name="Orwell1946"/>}} |
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The basic idea behind Newspeak is to remove all shades of [[Meaning (linguistic)|meaning]] from language, leaving simple [[dichotomy|dichotomies]] (pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness, good thoughts and thoughtcrimes) which reinforce the total dominance of the State. Similarly, Newspeak root words served as both nouns and verbs, which allowed further reduction in the total number of words; for example, "think" served as both noun and verb, so the word "thought" was not required and could be abolished. A [[staccato]] rhythm of short syllables was also a goal, further reducing the need for deep thinking about language. (See [[List of Newspeak words#Duckspeak|duckspeak]].) Successful Newspeak meant that there would be fewer and fewer words -- dictionaries would get thinner and thinner. |
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In contemporary political usage, the term ''Newspeak'' is used to impugn an opponent who introduces new definitions of words to suit their political agenda.<ref>{{cite news|last=Foster|first=Peter|url=https://financialpost.com/opinion/peter-foster-sustainable-newspeak-by-2050|title=Peter Foster: Sustainable Newspeak by 2050|work=[[Financial Post]]|date=5 January 2021|accessdate=23 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Weintraub|first=Richard|url=https://eu.poconorecord.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/11/19/trumps-use-newspeak-explain-away-virus-puts-americans-risk-what-its-worth/3775331001/|title=Trump's use of 'Newspeak' to explain away virus puts Americans at risk {{!}} For What It's Worth|work=Pocono Record|accessdate=23 May 2021}}</ref> |
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In addition, words with opposite meanings were removed as redundant, so "bad" became "ungood." Words with comparative and superlative meanings were also simplified, so "better" became "gooder", and "best" likewise became "goodest". Intensifiers could be added, so "great" became "plusgood", and "excellent" or "splendid" likewise became "doubleplusgood." Adjectives were formed by adding the suffix "-ful" to a root word (e.g. "goodthinkful", orthodox in thought), and adverbs by adding "-wise" ("goodthinkwise", in an orthodox manner). In this manner, as many words as possible were removed from the language. The ultimate aim of Newspeak was to reduce even the dichotomies to a single word that was a [[Yes man|"yes"]] of some sort: an obedient word with which everyone answered affirmatively to what was asked of them. |
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==Principles== |
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Some of the constructions in Newspeak which Orwell derides, such as replacing "bad" with "ungood", are in fact characteristic of [[agglutinative language]]s, although foreign to [[English language|English]]. It is also possible that Orwell modeled aspects of Newspeak on [[Esperanto]]; for example "ungood" is constructed similarly to the Esperanto word "malbona". Orwell had been exposed to Esperanto in [[1927]] when living in [[Paris]] with his aunt [[Kate Limouzin]] and her husband [[Eugène Lanti]], a prominent Esperantist. Esperanto was the language of the house, and Orwell was disadvantaged by not speaking it, which may account for some antipathy towards the language<ref name="appendix"/>. It can also be observed that some strongly hierarchical groups use these kinds of constructions liberally. For example, the Swedish Military jargon substitutes "unpeace" (Swedish: ''ofred'') for "war", and "ungood" (Swedish: ''obra'') for "bad". |
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To eliminate the expression of ambiguity and nuance from Oldspeak (Standard English) in order to reduce the English language's communication functions, Newspeak uses simplistic constructions of language, such as the dichotomies of ''pleasure'' vs. ''pain'' and ''happiness'' vs. ''sadness''. Such dichotomies produced the linguistic and political concepts of ''goodthink'' and ''crimethink'' that reinforce the [[totalitarianism]] of The Party over the people of [[Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four|Oceania]]. The long-term goal of The Party is that, by 2050, Newspeak would be the universal language of every member of The Party and of Oceanian society, except for the Proles, the working class of Oceania.<ref name="Orwell1949"/>{{rp|309}} |
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In Newspeak, English root-words function both as nouns and as verbs, which reduces the vocabulary available for the speaker to communicate meaning; e.g. as a noun and as a verb, the word ''think'' eliminates the word ''thought'' to functionally communicate ''thoughts'', which are the products of [[intellectualism]]. As a form of personal communication, Newspeak is spoken in [[staccato]] rhythm, using short words that are easy to pronounce, so that speech is physically automatic and intellectually unconscious, by which mental habits the user of Newspeak avoids [[critical thinking]]. English words of [[Comparison (grammar)|comparative and superlative]] meanings and irregular spellings were simplified; thus, ''better'' becomes ''gooder'' and ''best'' becomes ''goodest''. The Newspeak prefixes ''plus–'' and ''doubleplus–'' are used for emphasis, e.g. ''pluscold'' means "very cold" and ''doublepluscold'' means "very very cold".{{OR?|Is this a reliably sourced example? Would true Newspeak not describe "cold" as "Un-hot" as the logical elimination of an unnecessary word?|date=July 2024}} Newspeak forms adjectives by appending the suffix ''–ful'' to a root-word, e.g. ''goodthinkful'' means "Orthodox in thought"; whilst adverbs are formed by adding the suffix ''–wise'', e.g. ''goodthinkwise'' means "In an orthodox manner". |
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=== To control thought === |
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{{cquote|By 2050—earlier, probably—all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. [[Chaucer]], [[Shakespeare]], [[Milton]], [[Byron]]—they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like "freedom is slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will ''be'' no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.<ref>Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four.</ref>}} |
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The underlying theory of Newspeak is that if something can't be said, then it can't be thought. One question raised in response to this is whether we are defined by our language, or whether we actively define it. For instance, how can we communicate the need for [[Freedom (political)|freedom]], or organise an [[uprising]], if we do not have the words for either? This is related to the [[Sapir-Whorf hypothesis]], and [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]'s proposition, "The limits of my language mean the limits to my world." However, this view is disputed by authors like [[Gene Wolfe]] (see the article on his [[Ascian language]]). |
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===Thought control=== |
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Examples of Newspeak, from the novel, include: "[[crimethink]]"; "doubleplusungood"; and "[[Ingsoc]]." They mean, respectively: "thought-crime"; "extremely bad"; and "English Socialism," the official political philosophy of the Party. The word "Newspeak" itself also comes from the language. Note that all of these words would be obsolete and should be removed in the "final" version of Newspeak, except for "doubleplusungood" in certain contexts. |
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The intellectual purpose of Newspeak is to make all anti-[[Political geography of Nineteen Eighty-Four#Oceania|Ingsoc]] thoughts "literally unthinkable" as speech. As constructed, Newspeak vocabulary communicates the exact expression of sense and meaning that a member of the Party could wish to express, while excluding secondary denotations and connotations, eliminating the ways of [[lateral thinking]] (indirect thinking), which allow a word to have additional meanings. The linguistic simplification of Oldspeak into Newspeak was realised with neologisms, the elimination of ideologically undesirable words, and the elimination of the politically unorthodox meanings of words.<ref name="Orwell1949" />{{rp|310}} |
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The word ''free'' still existed in Newspeak, but only to communicate the absence of something, e.g. "The dog is free from lice" or "This field is free of weeds". The word could not denote [[free will]], because intellectual freedom was no longer supposed to exist in Oceania. The limitations of Newspeak's vocabulary enabled the Party to effectively control the population's minds, by allowing the user only a very narrow range of spoken and written thought; hence, words such as: ''[[Thoughtcrime|crimethink]]'' (thought crime), ''[[doublethink]]'' (accepting contradictory beliefs), and ''Ingsoc'' communicated only their surface meanings.<ref name="Orwell1949" />{{rp|309–10}} |
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Generically, Newspeak has come to mean any attempt to restrict disapproved language by a government or other powerful entity. |
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In the story of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', the [[Lexicology|lexicologist]] character [[Syme (1984)|Syme]] discusses his editorial work on the latest edition of the ''Newspeak Dictionary'': |
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== Real-life examples of Newspeak == |
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{{Original research|section|date=September 2007}} |
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A comparison to Newspeak may arguably be seen in polarised and simplified political and journalistic rhetoric, where the arguments of either side ultimately reduce to "four legs good, two legs bad", in Orwellian terminology (see [[Animal Farm]]). A correlated phenomenon is the [[dumbing down]] of political discourse, seen in the employment of [[soundbites]] for the benefit of, or by, the media. |
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{{Blockquote|text=By 2050—earlier, probably—all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]], [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[John Milton|Milton]], [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Byron]]—they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of The Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like ''Freedom is Slavery'' when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will ''be'' no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.<ref name="Orwell1949" />}} |
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=== Historical and pre-Historical change of the meaning of words === |
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[[Friedrich Nietzsche]], speaking about the morality of winner in his work [[Genealogy of Morals]], cites some examples of words in some languages which have probably undergone a change in their meaning following a victory of a people over another. For instance, the [[Latin]] word ''malus'' which means both ''bad'' and ''dark haired'' may take its origin to a previous [[Celts|Celtic]] invasion of [[Italy]], by which the victorious Celts who had fairer hair than Italian population used to associate the losers with the idea of badness. The English word ''good'' looks like ''god'', while in [[German language|German]] Nietzsche observes that ''schlicht'' (simple) is very close to ''schlecht'' (bad). That is, the concepts of good and bad, and the words used to express it, were coined by the victorious populations by taking words having different meaning by which they used to associate to goodness or badness. |
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===Vocabulary=== |
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=== "[[Politically correct]]" euphemisms === |
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Newspeak words are classified by three distinct classes: the A, B, and C vocabularies. |
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Charges of Newspeak are sometimes advanced when a group tries to replace a word/phrase that is politically unsuitable (e.g. "civilian casualties") or offensive (e.g. "murder") with an alternative, inoffensive [[euphemism]] (e.g. "[[collateral damage]]"), or falsely innocuous (as in "liquidate the [[kulak]]s" or "resettle the Jews", as used by the [[Soviet]]s or the [[Nazi]]s, respectively, to conceal their [[democide]]s). |
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The words of the A vocabulary describe the functional concepts of daily life (e.g. eating and drinking, working and cooking). It consists mostly of English words, but they are very small in number compared to English, and each word's meanings are "far more rigidly defined" than in English. |
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Some people maintain that to make certain words or phrases "unspeakable" (thoughtcrime) through the attempt to make language politically correct restricts what ideas may be held (Newspeak) and is therefore tantamount to [[censorship]]. Others believe that expunging terms that have fallen out of favor or become insulting will make people less likely to hold "outdated" or offensive views. |
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The words of the B vocabulary are deliberately constructed for political purposes to convey complex ideas in a simple form. They are compound words and noun-verbs with political significance that are meant to impose and instill in Oceania's citizens the correct mental attitudes required by the Party. In the appendix, Orwell explains that the very structure of the B vocabulary (the fact that they are compound words) carries ideological weight.<ref name="Orwell1949" />{{rp|310}} The large number of contractions in the B vocabulary—for example, the Ministry of Truth being called Minitrue, the Records Department being called Recdep, the Fiction Department being called Ficdep, the Teleprogrammes Department being called Teledep—is not done simply to save time. As with examples of compound words in the political language of the 20th century—[[Nazi Party|Nazi]], [[Gestapo]], [[Politburo]], [[Comintern]], [[Inprecor]], [[Agitprop]], and many others—Orwell remarks that the Party believed that abbreviating a name could "narrowly and subtly" alter a word's meaning. Newspeak is supposed to make this effort a conscious purpose: |
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Either way, there is a resemblance between censureship due to moral dogmatisms and Newspeak, although some may feel that they differ in their intentions: in ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', Newspeak is instituted to enhance the power of the state over the individual; politically correct language, on the other hand, is said by supporters to free individuals from stereotypical preconceptions caused by the use of prejudicial terminology. It is this attempt to change thought through changing (or eliminating) words that earns political correctness the connection to Newspeak. |
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{{Blockquote|text=[...]''Comintern'' is a word that can be uttered almost without taking thought, whereas ''Communist International'' is a phrase over which one is obliged to linger at least momentarily. In the same way, the associations called up by a word like ''Minitrue'' are fewer and more controllable than those called up by Ministry of Truth. This accounted not only for the habit of abbreviating whenever possible, but also for the almost exaggerated care that was taken to make every word easily pronounceable. |
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<ref name="Orwell1949" />{{rp|318}} }} |
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The B words in Newspeak are supposed to sound pleasant, while also being easily pronounceable, in an attempt to make speech on anything political "staccato and monotonous" and, ultimately, mask from the speaker all ideological content. |
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The words of the C vocabulary are scientific and technical terms that supplement the linguistic functions of the A and B vocabularies. These words are the same scientific terms in English, but many of them have had their meanings rigidified to attempt, as with the A vocabulary, to prevent speakers from being able to express anti-government thoughts. Distribution of the C vocabulary is limited, because the Party does not want citizens to know more than a select few ways of life or techniques of production. Hence, the Oldspeak word ''science'' has no equivalent term in Newspeak; instead, these words are simply treated as specific technical words for speaking of technical fields.<ref name="Orwell1949"/>{{rp|309–323}} |
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For many, there exist striking instances where Orwell's speculations have matched with reality. Orwell suggested that all philosophies prior to Ingsoc (English Socialism) would be covered under the term "oldthink", bearing with it none of the nuances of these ideologies, but simply a connotation of badness. It is argued that since the end of the Second World War and the [[Cold War]], a similar effect has been wrought on the words "[[fascism]]" and "[[communism]]"; that communism no longer bears with it the doctrines of [[Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]], or [[Lenin]], but rather a general bad connotation. Likewise, they contend that few people are aware of the differences between the theories of government of [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]], [[Engelbert Dollfuss|Dollfuß]], [[Francisco Franco|Franco]], and [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]; all are placed under the blanket term "fascism" or "[[nazism]]" with only a general denotation of badness.{{Fact|date=June 2007}} An example of this is the rise term "[[islamofascism]"" to describe the ideology of [[al-Qaeda]]-type Muslim groups, despite the fact this organzation is not, in fact, fascist. |
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==Grammar== |
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In the [[Spanish Civil War]], both parties called each other by [[dysphemism|dysphemistical]] names. Perhaps the best description is ''it began as a [[conflict]] of [[Second Spanish Republic|Republicans]] and [[Nationalist]]s, and ended up as a [[war]] of [[Communist]]s and [[Fascist]]s.''{{Fact|date=June 2007}} |
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{{see also|Germanic strong verb}} |
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Newspeak's grammar is [[dumbing down|greatly simplifed]] compared to English. It also has two "outstanding" characteristics: almost completely interchangeable linguistic functions between the [[Part of speech|parts of speech]] (any word can function as a verb, noun, adjective, or adverb), and heavy [[inflection]]al regularity in the construction of usages and of words.<ref name="Orwell1949" />{{rp|311}} Inflectional regularity means that most irregular words are replaced with regular words combined with prefixes and suffixes. For example, the [[preterite]] and the [[Participle|past participle]] constructions of verbs are alike, with both ending in ''–ed.'' Hence, the Newspeak preterite of the English word ''steal'' is ''stealed,'' and that of the word ''think'' is ''thinked.'' Likewise, the past participles of ''swim, give, bring, speak,'' and ''take'' were, respectively ''swimmed, gived, bringed, speaked,'' and ''taked,'' with all irregular forms (such as ''swam, gave,'' and ''brought'') being eliminated. The [[Auxiliary verb|auxiliaries]] (including ''to be''), [[pronoun]]s, [[demonstrative]]s, and relatives still inflect irregularly. They mostly follow their use in English, but the word ''whom'' and the ''shall'' and ''should'' tenses are dropped, ''whom'' being replaced by ''who'' and ''shall'' and ''should'' by ''will'' and ''would''. |
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===Prefixes=== |
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Political groups often use [[neologisms]] to frame their views positively and to discredit their opponents' views.[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/gwp/www/newspeak.html] One of the most prominent and heated examples is the U.S. [[abortion]] debates: Those advocating restrictions on abortion label themselves "[[pro-life]]", seeing the term "abortion" or the idea of "aborting a [[pregnancy]]" as euphemistic for "[[murder]] of an unborn [[child]]" and leaving their opponents, who do not view the [[human]] [[organism]] as being its own [[legal person|person]] in [[fetus|pre-natal stages of development]], and who see the issue as being not about [[life]] or [[death]] but primarily about [[women's rights]], presumably "anti-life" or "pro-death". Using a similar tactic, those advocating abortions reduce this highly charged and highly complex [[morality|moral]] and [[ethics|ethical]] [[controversy|issue]] in their own way to a convenient [[sound byte]] that redirects emphasis to their own concerns by labeling themselves "[[pro-choice]]", leaving their opponents, many of whom are women themselves, and who see women's rights as completely unrelated to what is for them a life and death matter, supposedly "anti-women" and "anti-choice". Members of either side are commonly heard expressing views that the other camp's self-label is [[lie|dishonest]], or at the very least overly simplistic. |
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* "Un–" is used to indicate negation, as Newspeak has no non-political antonyms. For example, the standard English words ''warm'' and ''hot'' are replaced by ''uncold'', and the moral concept communicated with the word ''bad'' is expressed as ''ungood''. When appended to a verb, the prefix "un–" communicates a negative [[imperative mood]]; thus, the Newspeak word ''unproceed'' means "do not proceed" in Standard English. In the case of ''unperson'', the 'un' indicates that the person (officially) never existed (or, in other words, never was a person). |
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* "Plus–" is an [[intensifier]] that replaces ''very'' and ''more''; thus, ''plusgood'' replaces ''very good'' and English words such as ''great''. |
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* "Doubleplus–" is an intensifier that replaces ''extremely'' and superlatives; for example, ''doubleplusgood'' replaces words such as ''fantastic'' and ''excellent''. |
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* "Ante–" is the prefix that replaces ''before''; thus ''antefiling'' replaces the English phrase "before filing". |
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* "Post–" is the prefix that replaces ''after''. |
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* "Up–" and "Down-" are prefixes which relate to things above or below a frame of reference. This may be literal, or it could be figurative, such as in the case of ''upsub'' (submitting (a thing, usually) to a higher authority). |
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* "Good-" and "Crime-" are prefixes which relate to ideological correctness; compare ''goodthink'' (ideologically-correct thought) and ''crimethink'' (any anti-Ingsoc thoughts). |
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* "Old-" indicates a (usually derogatory) reference to the times before Ingsoc; such as ''oldspeak'' (pre-newspeak Standard English) or ''oldthink'' (ideals since abolished by the Party). |
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* "Mal-" indicates (treasonous) inaccuracy (according to the Party); for example, any old quotes or reports from Party sources which contradict the current truth expressed by the party are considered ''malquotes'' and ''malreports''. |
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===Suffixes=== |
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In modern business, it is often frowned upon to use words with a negative connotation, such as "problem" and instead problems are referred to as "challenges", "obstacles", or even "opportunities". |
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In spoken and written Newspeak, suffixes are also used in the elimination of irregular conjugations: |
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* "–ful" transforms any word into an adjective, e.g. the English words ''fast'', ''quick'', and ''rapid'' are replaced by ''speedful'' and ''slow'' is replaced by ''unspeedful''. ''Goodthink'' is transformed to ''goodthinkful''. |
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* "–d" and "–ed" form the past tense of a verb, e.g. ''ran'' becomes ''runned'', ''stole'' becomes ''stealed'', ''drove'' becomes ''drived'', ''thought'' becomes ''thinked'', ''drank'' becomes ''drinked'', and ''goodthink'' is transformed to ''goodthinked''. |
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* "–ing" forms the present participle of a verb, e.g. ''goodthinking'' (actively practicing ''goodthink''). |
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* "–er" forms the ''more'' comparison of an adjective, e.g. ''better'' becomes ''gooder''. |
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** "–er" also forms the [[verbal noun]], e.g. ''goodthinker'' (one whom practices ''goodthink'') |
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* "–est" forms the ''most'' comparison of an adjective, e.g. ''best'' becomes ''goodest''. |
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* "–s" and "–es" transform a noun into its plural form, e.g. ''men'' becomes ''mans'', ''oxen'' becomes ''oxes'', and ''lives'' becomes ''lifes''. |
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* "–wise" transforms any word into an adverb by eliminating all English adverbs not already ending in "–wise", e.g. ''quickly'' becomes ''speedwise'', ''slowly'' becomes ''unspeedwise'', ''carefully'' becomes ''carewise'', ''goodthink'' is transformed to ''goodthinkwise'', and words like ''fully'', ''completely'', and ''totally'' become ''fullwise''. |
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Therefore, the Oldspeak sentence "He ran extremely quickly" would become "He runned doubleplusspeedwise". |
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Three examples unrelated to [[political correctness]] are [[Basic English]], a language which takes pride in reducing the number of English words, [[World English]] and [[E-Prime]], another simplified version of English. |
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{{anchor|List of Newspeak words}} |
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=== Abbreviations and Acronyms === |
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Another common use of Newspeak today is the overuse of [[abbreviations]]. To quote from the ''1984'' Appendix "It was perceived that in thus abbreviating a name one narrowed and subtly altered its meaning, by cutting out most of the associations that would otherwise cling to it." Attention is also drawn to the use of such abbreviations by [[totalitarian]] regimes prior to World War II (see [[Gestapo]], [[Comintern]], [[Agitprop]], [[Minculpop]]). |
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==Newspeak vocabulary== |
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Even more powerful are [[acronyms]] like "[[USA PATRIOT|USA PATRIOT act]]", "[[Ofcom]]", "[[OPEC]]","[[NAMbLA]]", "[[PETA]]", "[[NAFTA]]", "[[National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence|NICE]]", and the "[[PROTECT Act]]" which can be pronounced as if they were proper words. This is most vividly seen in acronyms like "[[laser]]", "[[Scuba set|scuba]]", and "[[radar]]", which are in widespread use today and are nearly always written in lowercase. |
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{{Redirect2|Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Unperson|the Eurythmics song of the same name|Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four) (song)}} |
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This is a list of Newspeak words known from the novel. It does not include words carried over directly from English with no change in meaning, nor does it include regular uses of the listed affixes (e.g. ''unbellyfeel'') unless they are particularly significant. |
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On [[July 5]] [[1959]] President [[Sukarno]] of [[Indonesia]] abolished parliamentary democracy and established a system of government-by-decree called ''Manifesto Politik'' or in short ''Manipol'' - an abbreviation greatly reminiscent of those in Orwell's book, though there is no evidence that Sukarno read the book or was directly influenced by it. In a similar way, the Indonesian term "Tapol" (political prisoner) - first used as a derogatory word by the authorities, later adopted as a term of pride by the "tapols" themselves - was created from the first syllables of "prisoner" and "political".{{Fact|date=June 2007}} |
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The novel says that the Ministry of Truth uses a jargon "not actually Newspeak, but consisting largely of Newspeak words" for its internal memos. As many of the words in this list (e.g. "bb", "upsub") come from such memos, it is not certain whether those words are actually Newspeak. |
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*'''ante''' — the prefix that replaces ''before'' |
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*'''artsem''' — [[artificial insemination]] |
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*'''bb''' — [[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]]{{efn|The appendix "The Principles of Newspeak" indicates that Big Brother is another, if not the only acceptable name for the figurehead in Newspeak.<ref name="Orwell1949"/>{{rp|320}}}} |
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*'''bellyfeel''' — the blind, enthusiastic acceptance of an idea |
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*'''blackwhite''' — to accept whatever one is told, regardless of the facts. In the novel, it is described as "to say that black is white when [the Party says so]" and "to ''believe'' that black is white, and more, to ''know'' that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary". (See also [[2 + 2 = 5]]) |
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*'''[[crimestop]]''' — to rid oneself of or fail to understand unorthodox thoughts that go against Ingsoc's ideology |
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*'''[[thoughtcrime|crimethink]]''' — thoughts and concepts that go against Ingsoc such as liberty, equality, and privacy, and also the criminal act of holding such thoughts. Frequently referred to by the standard English “thoughtcrime”. |
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*'''dayorder''' — order of the day |
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*'''dep''' — department |
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*'''doubleplusgood''' — the word that replaces Oldspeak words meaning "superlatively good", such as ''excellent'', ''fabulous'', and ''fantastic'' |
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*'''doubleplusungood''' — the word that replaces Oldspeak words meaning "superlatively bad", such as ''terrible'' and ''horrible'' |
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*'''[[doublethink]]''' — the act of simultaneously believing two, mutually contradictory ideas |
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*'''duckspeak''' — To quack like a duck (usually indicating one's delivery of newspeak, delivered without any active thought from the speaker, sounding very much like nothing but noise, but very clearly fully in line with Party ideology). "It is one of those interesting words that have two contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it is abuse, applied to someone you agree with, it is praise." - Syme, Newspeak [[philologist]]. |
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*'''equal''' — the same in amount or quantity. Not used in the sense of having equal rights or freedoms. |
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*'''facecrime''' — a facial expression which reveals that one has committed thoughtcrime |
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*'''Ficdep''' — the Ministry of Truth's Fiction Department |
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*'''free''' — the absence and the lack of something. "Intellectually free" and "politically free" have been replaced by ''crimethinkful''. |
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*'''fullwise''' — the word that replaces words such as ''fully'', ''completely'', and ''totally'' |
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*'''goodthink''' — a synonym for "political orthodoxy" and "a politically orthodox thought" as defined by the Party |
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*'''goodsex''' — sexual intercourse only for procreation, without any physical pleasure on the part of the woman, and strictly within marriage |
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*'''goodwise''' — the word that replaces ''well'' as an adverb |
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*'''Ingsoc''' — The political ideology of the Party, formerly known as 'English Socialism'. |
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*'''joycamp''' — [[Labor camp|labour camp]] |
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*'''malquoted''' — inaccurate representations of the words of Big Brother and of the Party, often used to justify revision of historical records |
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*'''Miniluv''' — the Ministry of Love, where the secret police interrogate and torture the enemies of Oceania (torture and brainwashing) |
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*'''Minipax''' — the Ministry of Peace, which wages war for Oceania |
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*'''Miniplenty''' — the Ministry of Plenty, which keeps the population in continual economic hardship (starvation and rationing) |
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*'''Minitrue''' — the Ministry of Truth, which manufactures consent by way of lies, [[propaganda]], and distorted historical records, while supplying the proles ([[proletariat]]) with synthetic culture and entertainment |
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*'''Oldspeak''' — Standard English |
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*'''oldthink''' — ideas from the time before the Party's revolution, such as objectivity and rationalism |
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*'''ownlife''' — a person's anti-social tendency to enjoy solitude and individualism |
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*'''plusgood''' — the word that replaces Oldspeak words meaning "very good", such as ''great'' |
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*'''plusungood''' — the word that replaces "very bad" |
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*'''Pornosec''' — the pornography production section (Porno Sector) of the Ministry of Truth's Fiction Department |
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*'''prolefeed''' — [[popular culture]] for entertaining Oceania's working class |
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*'''Recdep''' — the Ministry of Truth's Records Department, where Winston Smith rewrites historical records so they conform to the Party's agenda |
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*'''rectify''' — the Ministry of Truth's [[euphemism]] for [[Historical negationism|distorting]] a historical record |
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*'''ref''' — to refer (to someone or something) |
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*'''sec''' — sector |
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*'''sexcrime''' — a sexual immorality, such as fornication, adultery, oral sex, and homosexuality; any sex act that deviates from Party directives to use sex only for government approved procreation |
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*'''speakwrite''' — a machine that [[Speech recognition|transcribes speech into text]] |
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*'''Teledep''' — the Ministry of Truth's Telecommunications Department |
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*'''[[telescreen]]''' — a two-way television set with which the Party spies upon Oceania's population |
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*'''[[thoughtcrime]]''' — describes the personal beliefs that are contrary to the accepted norms of society |
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*'''[[Thought Police|thinkpol]]''' — the Thought Police, the secret police force of Oceania's government |
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*'''unperson''' — an executed person whose existence is [[Damnatio memoriae|erased from history and memory]] |
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*'''upsub''' — an upwards submission to higher authority |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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{{Portal|Books|United Kingdom|Constructed languages}} |
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* [[List of Newspeak words]] |
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* [[2 + 2 = 5]] |
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* [[Algospeak]] |
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* [[Authoritarian socialism]] |
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* [[Basic English]] |
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* [[Buzzword]] |
* [[Buzzword]] |
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** [[Buzzword bingo]] |
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* [[Code word (figure of speech)]] |
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* [[ |
** [[Buzzword compliant]] |
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* [[Glossary of the Greek military junta]] |
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* [[Glossary of Nazi Germany]] |
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* [[Groupthink]] |
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*[[Inclusive language]] |
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* [[Language and thought]] |
* [[Language and thought]] |
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* [[ |
* [[Linguistic determinism]] |
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* [[Linguistic imperialism]] |
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* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', further discussion and resources specific to Newspeak |
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* [[Logocracy]] |
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* [[Thought-terminating cliché]] |
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* ''[[LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii]]'' ("The Language of the Third Reich") |
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* [[Political Correctness]] |
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* [[ |
* [[Philosophy of language]] |
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* [[ |
* [[Politics and the English Language]] |
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* [[Sapir–Whorf hypothesis]] |
* [[Sapir–Whorf hypothesis]] |
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* [[ |
* [[Soviet phraseology]] |
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* [[Un-word of the year]] |
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*[[Nadsat]] |
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'''Fiction:''' |
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== References == |
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* [[Ascian language]] |
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{{reflist}} |
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* [[Nadsat]] |
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==Notes== |
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== Further reading == |
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{{notelist}} |
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: '''NB''': Cf. [[Nineteen Eighty-Four#External links|'''ELECTRONIC EDITIONS WARNING''']]. |
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*[http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/books/1984-Appendix.htm "1984-Appendix"]. Retrieved on 21 April 2006. The complete Newspeak appendix to ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (NB: Copyright). |
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==References== |
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* [http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns_frames.html "Newspeak Dictionary"]. Updated 16 April 2006. Retrieved 21 April 2006. ("The Newspeak Dictionary has moved." New URL shown.) |
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{{Reflist|30em}} |
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* Burgess, Anthony. ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Five]]''. Boston: Little Brown & Co, 1978. ISBN 0-316-11651-3. [[Anthony Burgess]] discusses the plausibility of Newspeak. |
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* Green, Jonathon. ''Newspeak: a dictionary of jargon''. London, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985, 1984. ISBN 0-7102-0673-9. |
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==Further reading== |
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* [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/eca5393bc7c6f321a19afeb4da09e526.html "Find in a library: Newspeak: A dictionary of Jargon", by Jonathon Green]. Retrieved 21 April 2006. |
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{{Wiktionary|Newspeak|newspeak}} |
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*Burgess, Anthony. ''[[1985 (Anthony Burgess novel)|Nineteen Eighty-Five]]''. Boston: Little Brown & Co, 1978. {{ISBN|0-316-11651-3}}. [[Anthony Burgess]] discusses the plausibility of Newspeak. |
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*[[Jonathon Green|Green, Jonathon]]. ''Newspeak: a dictionary of jargon''. London, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985, 1984. {{ISBN|0-7102-0673-9}}. |
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*[[Victor Klemperer|Klemperer, Victor]]. ''[[LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii]]: Notizbuch eines Philologen.''. Original German language editions. |
*[[Victor Klemperer|Klemperer, Victor]]. ''[[LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii]]: Notizbuch eines Philologen.''. Original German language editions. |
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*[[Victor Klemperer|Klemperer, Victor]] & Watt, Roderick H. ''[[LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii]]: A Philologist's Notebook''. Lewiston: |
*[[Victor Klemperer|Klemperer, Victor]] & Watt, Roderick H. ''[[LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii]]: A Philologist's Notebook''. [[Lewiston, New York]]: [[Edwin Mellen Press]], 1997. {{ISBN|0-7734-8681-X}}. An annotated edition of Victor Klemperer's ''LTI, Notizbuch eines Philologen'' with English notes and commentary by Roderick H. Watt. |
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*[[Victor Klemperer|Klemperer, Victor]] & Brady, Martin (tr.). ''The language of the Third Reich: [[LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii]]: A Philologist's Notebook''. London, UK; New Brunswick, NJ: Athlone Press, 2000. ISBN |
*[[Victor Klemperer|Klemperer, Victor]] & Brady, Martin (tr.). ''The language of the Third Reich: [[LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii]]: A Philologist's Notebook''. London, UK; New Brunswick, NJ: Athlone Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-485-11526-3}} (alk. paper). Translated by Martin Brady. |
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* |
*Young, John Wesley . ''Totalitarian Language: Orwell's Newspeak and Its Nazi and Communist Antecedents''. Charlottesville: [[University Press of Virginia]], 1991. {{ISBN|0-8139-1324-1}}. John Wesley Young wrote this scholarly work about Newspeak and historical examples of language control. |
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* |
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130217000821/http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-prin.html The Principles of Newspeak] |
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* |
*[http://www.ecoglobe.org/nz/ecostory/newspeak.htm George Orwell's 1984] |
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* [http://forums.newspeakdictionary.com/viewtopic.php?t=2238&start=0 An independent completion of the Newspeak language] |
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{{Nineteen Eighty-Four}} |
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{{1984}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Censorship]] |
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[[Category:Constructed languages introduced in the 1940s]] |
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[[Category:Controlled English]] |
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[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1949]] |
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[[Category:Fictional languages]] |
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[[Category:Historical negationism]] |
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[[Category:Nineteen Eighty-Four]] |
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[[Category:Propaganda techniques using words]] |
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[[Category:Satire]] |
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[[Category:Words originating in fiction]] |
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[[Category:George Orwell]] |
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[[eo:Novparolo]] |
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[[ko:신어]] |
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[[io:Novlinguo]] |
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[[id:Newspeak]] |
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[[it:Neolingua]] |
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[[he:שיחדש]] |
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[[ja:ニュースピーク]] |
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[[pt:Novilíngua]] |
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[[ru:Новояз]] |
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[[zh:新語 (一九八四)]] |
Latest revision as of 07:48, 18 December 2024
In the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), by George Orwell, Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate. To meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc (English Socialism) in Oceania, the Party created Newspeak, which is a controlled language of simplified grammar and limited vocabulary designed to limit a person's ability for critical thinking. The Newspeak language thus limits the person's ability to articulate and communicate abstract concepts, such as personal identity, self-expression, and free will,[1][2] which are thoughtcrimes, acts of personal independence that contradict the ideological orthodoxy of Ingsoc collectivism.[3][4]
In the appendix to the novel, "The Principles of Newspeak", Orwell explains that Newspeak follows most rules of English grammar, yet is a language characterised by a continually diminishing vocabulary; complete thoughts are reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning. The political contractions of Newspeak — Ingsoc (English Socialism), Minitrue (Ministry of Truth), Miniplenty (Ministry of Plenty) — are similar to Nazi and Soviet contractions in the 20th century, such as Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), politburo (Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), Comintern (Communist International), kolkhoz (collective farm), and Komsomol (communist youth union). Newspeak contractions usually are syllabic abbreviations meant to conceal the speaker's ideology from the speaker and the listener.[1]: 310–8
Development of Newspeak
[edit]As a constructed language, Newspeak is a language of planned phonology, limited grammar, and finite vocabulary, much like the phonology, grammar, and vocabulary of Basic English (British American Scientific International Commercial English), which was proposed by the British linguist Charles Kay Ogden in 1930. As a controlled language without complex constructions or ambiguous usages, Basic English was designed to be easy to learn, to sound, and to speak, with a vocabulary of 850 words composed specifically to facilitate the communication of facts, not the communication of abstract thought. While employed as a propagandist by BBC during the Second World War (1939–1945), Orwell grew to believe that the constructions of Basic English, as a controlled language, imposed functional limitations upon the speech, the writing, and the thinking of the users.[5]
In the essay "Politics and the English Language" (1946)[6] and in "The Principles of Newspeak" appendix to Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Orwell discusses the communication function of English and contemporary ideological changes in usage during the 1940s. In the novel, the linguistic decadence of English is the central theme about language-as-communication.[7]: 171 In the essay, Standard English was characterised by dying metaphors, pretentious diction, and high-flown rhetoric. Orwell concludes: "I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who deny this [decadence] may argue that language merely reflects existing social conditions, and that we cannot influence its development, by any direct tinkering with words or constructions."[6]
Orwell argued that the decline of English went hand-in-hand with the decline of intellectualism among society, and thus facilitated the manipulation of listeners and speakers and writers into consequent political chaos.[7] The story of Nineteen Eighty-Four portrays the connection between authoritarian régimes and doublespeak language, earlier discussed in "Politics and the English Language":
When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer. I should expect to find — this is a guess, which I have not sufficient knowledge to verify — that the German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen years, as a result of dictatorship. But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.[6]
In contemporary political usage, the term Newspeak is used to impugn an opponent who introduces new definitions of words to suit their political agenda.[8][9]
Principles
[edit]To eliminate the expression of ambiguity and nuance from Oldspeak (Standard English) in order to reduce the English language's communication functions, Newspeak uses simplistic constructions of language, such as the dichotomies of pleasure vs. pain and happiness vs. sadness. Such dichotomies produced the linguistic and political concepts of goodthink and crimethink that reinforce the totalitarianism of The Party over the people of Oceania. The long-term goal of The Party is that, by 2050, Newspeak would be the universal language of every member of The Party and of Oceanian society, except for the Proles, the working class of Oceania.[1]: 309
In Newspeak, English root-words function both as nouns and as verbs, which reduces the vocabulary available for the speaker to communicate meaning; e.g. as a noun and as a verb, the word think eliminates the word thought to functionally communicate thoughts, which are the products of intellectualism. As a form of personal communication, Newspeak is spoken in staccato rhythm, using short words that are easy to pronounce, so that speech is physically automatic and intellectually unconscious, by which mental habits the user of Newspeak avoids critical thinking. English words of comparative and superlative meanings and irregular spellings were simplified; thus, better becomes gooder and best becomes goodest. The Newspeak prefixes plus– and doubleplus– are used for emphasis, e.g. pluscold means "very cold" and doublepluscold means "very very cold".[original research?] Newspeak forms adjectives by appending the suffix –ful to a root-word, e.g. goodthinkful means "Orthodox in thought"; whilst adverbs are formed by adding the suffix –wise, e.g. goodthinkwise means "In an orthodox manner".
Thought control
[edit]The intellectual purpose of Newspeak is to make all anti-Ingsoc thoughts "literally unthinkable" as speech. As constructed, Newspeak vocabulary communicates the exact expression of sense and meaning that a member of the Party could wish to express, while excluding secondary denotations and connotations, eliminating the ways of lateral thinking (indirect thinking), which allow a word to have additional meanings. The linguistic simplification of Oldspeak into Newspeak was realised with neologisms, the elimination of ideologically undesirable words, and the elimination of the politically unorthodox meanings of words.[1]: 310
The word free still existed in Newspeak, but only to communicate the absence of something, e.g. "The dog is free from lice" or "This field is free of weeds". The word could not denote free will, because intellectual freedom was no longer supposed to exist in Oceania. The limitations of Newspeak's vocabulary enabled the Party to effectively control the population's minds, by allowing the user only a very narrow range of spoken and written thought; hence, words such as: crimethink (thought crime), doublethink (accepting contradictory beliefs), and Ingsoc communicated only their surface meanings.[1]: 309–10
In the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the lexicologist character Syme discusses his editorial work on the latest edition of the Newspeak Dictionary:
By 2050—earlier, probably—all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron—they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of The Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like Freedom is Slavery when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.[1]
Vocabulary
[edit]Newspeak words are classified by three distinct classes: the A, B, and C vocabularies.
The words of the A vocabulary describe the functional concepts of daily life (e.g. eating and drinking, working and cooking). It consists mostly of English words, but they are very small in number compared to English, and each word's meanings are "far more rigidly defined" than in English.
The words of the B vocabulary are deliberately constructed for political purposes to convey complex ideas in a simple form. They are compound words and noun-verbs with political significance that are meant to impose and instill in Oceania's citizens the correct mental attitudes required by the Party. In the appendix, Orwell explains that the very structure of the B vocabulary (the fact that they are compound words) carries ideological weight.[1]: 310 The large number of contractions in the B vocabulary—for example, the Ministry of Truth being called Minitrue, the Records Department being called Recdep, the Fiction Department being called Ficdep, the Teleprogrammes Department being called Teledep—is not done simply to save time. As with examples of compound words in the political language of the 20th century—Nazi, Gestapo, Politburo, Comintern, Inprecor, Agitprop, and many others—Orwell remarks that the Party believed that abbreviating a name could "narrowly and subtly" alter a word's meaning. Newspeak is supposed to make this effort a conscious purpose:
[...]Comintern is a word that can be uttered almost without taking thought, whereas Communist International is a phrase over which one is obliged to linger at least momentarily. In the same way, the associations called up by a word like Minitrue are fewer and more controllable than those called up by Ministry of Truth. This accounted not only for the habit of abbreviating whenever possible, but also for the almost exaggerated care that was taken to make every word easily pronounceable. [1]: 318
The B words in Newspeak are supposed to sound pleasant, while also being easily pronounceable, in an attempt to make speech on anything political "staccato and monotonous" and, ultimately, mask from the speaker all ideological content.
The words of the C vocabulary are scientific and technical terms that supplement the linguistic functions of the A and B vocabularies. These words are the same scientific terms in English, but many of them have had their meanings rigidified to attempt, as with the A vocabulary, to prevent speakers from being able to express anti-government thoughts. Distribution of the C vocabulary is limited, because the Party does not want citizens to know more than a select few ways of life or techniques of production. Hence, the Oldspeak word science has no equivalent term in Newspeak; instead, these words are simply treated as specific technical words for speaking of technical fields.[1]: 309–323
Grammar
[edit]Newspeak's grammar is greatly simplifed compared to English. It also has two "outstanding" characteristics: almost completely interchangeable linguistic functions between the parts of speech (any word can function as a verb, noun, adjective, or adverb), and heavy inflectional regularity in the construction of usages and of words.[1]: 311 Inflectional regularity means that most irregular words are replaced with regular words combined with prefixes and suffixes. For example, the preterite and the past participle constructions of verbs are alike, with both ending in –ed. Hence, the Newspeak preterite of the English word steal is stealed, and that of the word think is thinked. Likewise, the past participles of swim, give, bring, speak, and take were, respectively swimmed, gived, bringed, speaked, and taked, with all irregular forms (such as swam, gave, and brought) being eliminated. The auxiliaries (including to be), pronouns, demonstratives, and relatives still inflect irregularly. They mostly follow their use in English, but the word whom and the shall and should tenses are dropped, whom being replaced by who and shall and should by will and would.
Prefixes
[edit]- "Un–" is used to indicate negation, as Newspeak has no non-political antonyms. For example, the standard English words warm and hot are replaced by uncold, and the moral concept communicated with the word bad is expressed as ungood. When appended to a verb, the prefix "un–" communicates a negative imperative mood; thus, the Newspeak word unproceed means "do not proceed" in Standard English. In the case of unperson, the 'un' indicates that the person (officially) never existed (or, in other words, never was a person).
- "Plus–" is an intensifier that replaces very and more; thus, plusgood replaces very good and English words such as great.
- "Doubleplus–" is an intensifier that replaces extremely and superlatives; for example, doubleplusgood replaces words such as fantastic and excellent.
- "Ante–" is the prefix that replaces before; thus antefiling replaces the English phrase "before filing".
- "Post–" is the prefix that replaces after.
- "Up–" and "Down-" are prefixes which relate to things above or below a frame of reference. This may be literal, or it could be figurative, such as in the case of upsub (submitting (a thing, usually) to a higher authority).
- "Good-" and "Crime-" are prefixes which relate to ideological correctness; compare goodthink (ideologically-correct thought) and crimethink (any anti-Ingsoc thoughts).
- "Old-" indicates a (usually derogatory) reference to the times before Ingsoc; such as oldspeak (pre-newspeak Standard English) or oldthink (ideals since abolished by the Party).
- "Mal-" indicates (treasonous) inaccuracy (according to the Party); for example, any old quotes or reports from Party sources which contradict the current truth expressed by the party are considered malquotes and malreports.
Suffixes
[edit]In spoken and written Newspeak, suffixes are also used in the elimination of irregular conjugations:
- "–ful" transforms any word into an adjective, e.g. the English words fast, quick, and rapid are replaced by speedful and slow is replaced by unspeedful. Goodthink is transformed to goodthinkful.
- "–d" and "–ed" form the past tense of a verb, e.g. ran becomes runned, stole becomes stealed, drove becomes drived, thought becomes thinked, drank becomes drinked, and goodthink is transformed to goodthinked.
- "–ing" forms the present participle of a verb, e.g. goodthinking (actively practicing goodthink).
- "–er" forms the more comparison of an adjective, e.g. better becomes gooder.
- "–er" also forms the verbal noun, e.g. goodthinker (one whom practices goodthink)
- "–est" forms the most comparison of an adjective, e.g. best becomes goodest.
- "–s" and "–es" transform a noun into its plural form, e.g. men becomes mans, oxen becomes oxes, and lives becomes lifes.
- "–wise" transforms any word into an adverb by eliminating all English adverbs not already ending in "–wise", e.g. quickly becomes speedwise, slowly becomes unspeedwise, carefully becomes carewise, goodthink is transformed to goodthinkwise, and words like fully, completely, and totally become fullwise.
Therefore, the Oldspeak sentence "He ran extremely quickly" would become "He runned doubleplusspeedwise".
Newspeak vocabulary
[edit]This is a list of Newspeak words known from the novel. It does not include words carried over directly from English with no change in meaning, nor does it include regular uses of the listed affixes (e.g. unbellyfeel) unless they are particularly significant.
The novel says that the Ministry of Truth uses a jargon "not actually Newspeak, but consisting largely of Newspeak words" for its internal memos. As many of the words in this list (e.g. "bb", "upsub") come from such memos, it is not certain whether those words are actually Newspeak.
- ante — the prefix that replaces before
- artsem — artificial insemination
- bb — Big Brother[a]
- bellyfeel — the blind, enthusiastic acceptance of an idea
- blackwhite — to accept whatever one is told, regardless of the facts. In the novel, it is described as "to say that black is white when [the Party says so]" and "to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary". (See also 2 + 2 = 5)
- crimestop — to rid oneself of or fail to understand unorthodox thoughts that go against Ingsoc's ideology
- crimethink — thoughts and concepts that go against Ingsoc such as liberty, equality, and privacy, and also the criminal act of holding such thoughts. Frequently referred to by the standard English “thoughtcrime”.
- dayorder — order of the day
- dep — department
- doubleplusgood — the word that replaces Oldspeak words meaning "superlatively good", such as excellent, fabulous, and fantastic
- doubleplusungood — the word that replaces Oldspeak words meaning "superlatively bad", such as terrible and horrible
- doublethink — the act of simultaneously believing two, mutually contradictory ideas
- duckspeak — To quack like a duck (usually indicating one's delivery of newspeak, delivered without any active thought from the speaker, sounding very much like nothing but noise, but very clearly fully in line with Party ideology). "It is one of those interesting words that have two contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it is abuse, applied to someone you agree with, it is praise." - Syme, Newspeak philologist.
- equal — the same in amount or quantity. Not used in the sense of having equal rights or freedoms.
- facecrime — a facial expression which reveals that one has committed thoughtcrime
- Ficdep — the Ministry of Truth's Fiction Department
- free — the absence and the lack of something. "Intellectually free" and "politically free" have been replaced by crimethinkful.
- fullwise — the word that replaces words such as fully, completely, and totally
- goodthink — a synonym for "political orthodoxy" and "a politically orthodox thought" as defined by the Party
- goodsex — sexual intercourse only for procreation, without any physical pleasure on the part of the woman, and strictly within marriage
- goodwise — the word that replaces well as an adverb
- Ingsoc — The political ideology of the Party, formerly known as 'English Socialism'.
- joycamp — labour camp
- malquoted — inaccurate representations of the words of Big Brother and of the Party, often used to justify revision of historical records
- Miniluv — the Ministry of Love, where the secret police interrogate and torture the enemies of Oceania (torture and brainwashing)
- Minipax — the Ministry of Peace, which wages war for Oceania
- Miniplenty — the Ministry of Plenty, which keeps the population in continual economic hardship (starvation and rationing)
- Minitrue — the Ministry of Truth, which manufactures consent by way of lies, propaganda, and distorted historical records, while supplying the proles (proletariat) with synthetic culture and entertainment
- Oldspeak — Standard English
- oldthink — ideas from the time before the Party's revolution, such as objectivity and rationalism
- ownlife — a person's anti-social tendency to enjoy solitude and individualism
- plusgood — the word that replaces Oldspeak words meaning "very good", such as great
- plusungood — the word that replaces "very bad"
- Pornosec — the pornography production section (Porno Sector) of the Ministry of Truth's Fiction Department
- prolefeed — popular culture for entertaining Oceania's working class
- Recdep — the Ministry of Truth's Records Department, where Winston Smith rewrites historical records so they conform to the Party's agenda
- rectify — the Ministry of Truth's euphemism for distorting a historical record
- ref — to refer (to someone or something)
- sec — sector
- sexcrime — a sexual immorality, such as fornication, adultery, oral sex, and homosexuality; any sex act that deviates from Party directives to use sex only for government approved procreation
- speakwrite — a machine that transcribes speech into text
- Teledep — the Ministry of Truth's Telecommunications Department
- telescreen — a two-way television set with which the Party spies upon Oceania's population
- thoughtcrime — describes the personal beliefs that are contrary to the accepted norms of society
- thinkpol — the Thought Police, the secret police force of Oceania's government
- unperson — an executed person whose existence is erased from history and memory
- upsub — an upwards submission to higher authority
See also
[edit]- 2 + 2 = 5
- Algospeak
- Authoritarian socialism
- Basic English
- Buzzword
- Glossary of the Greek military junta
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- Groupthink
- Inclusive language
- Language and thought
- Linguistic determinism
- Linguistic imperialism
- Logocracy
- LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii ("The Language of the Third Reich")
- Philosophy of language
- Politics and the English Language
- Sapir–Whorf hypothesis
- Soviet phraseology
- Un-word of the year
Fiction:
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker and Warburg. ISBN 978-0-452-28423-4.: 309
- ^ "Newspeak". Merriam Webster. 2020.
- ^ The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Tom McArthur, Ed. (1992) p. 693.
- ^ "Moellerlit Newspeak dictionary" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ Fink, Howard (1971). "Newspeak: the Epitome of Parody Techniques in "Nineteen Eighty-Four"". Critical Survey. 5 (2): 155–163.
- ^ a b c Orwell, George (17 June 1946). "Politics and the English Language". New Republic. Vol. 114, no. 24. pp. 872–874.
- ^ a b Köberl, Johann (1979). "Der Sprachphilosophische Hintergrund von Newspeak: Ein Beitrag zum 100.Geburtstag von Albert Einstein". AAA: Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik. 4 (2): 171–183.
- ^ Foster, Peter (5 January 2021). "Peter Foster: Sustainable Newspeak by 2050". Financial Post. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ Weintraub, Richard. "Trump's use of 'Newspeak' to explain away virus puts Americans at risk | For What It's Worth". Pocono Record. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
Further reading
[edit]- Burgess, Anthony. Nineteen Eighty-Five. Boston: Little Brown & Co, 1978. ISBN 0-316-11651-3. Anthony Burgess discusses the plausibility of Newspeak.
- Green, Jonathon. Newspeak: a dictionary of jargon. London, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985, 1984. ISBN 0-7102-0673-9.
- Klemperer, Victor. LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii: Notizbuch eines Philologen.. Original German language editions.
- Klemperer, Victor & Watt, Roderick H. LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii: A Philologist's Notebook. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1997. ISBN 0-7734-8681-X. An annotated edition of Victor Klemperer's LTI, Notizbuch eines Philologen with English notes and commentary by Roderick H. Watt.
- Klemperer, Victor & Brady, Martin (tr.). The language of the Third Reich: LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii: A Philologist's Notebook. London, UK; New Brunswick, NJ: Athlone Press, 2000. ISBN 0-485-11526-3 (alk. paper). Translated by Martin Brady.
- Young, John Wesley . Totalitarian Language: Orwell's Newspeak and Its Nazi and Communist Antecedents. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991. ISBN 0-8139-1324-1. John Wesley Young wrote this scholarly work about Newspeak and historical examples of language control.
- The Principles of Newspeak
- George Orwell's 1984