1. Newspeak and linguistic relativism
Analysing Orwell’s approach to language in 1984

2. Discuss these two statements:
The way we communicate influences the way we think.
The way we think influences the way we communicate.

3. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis & linguistic relativism
One linguistic theory which was being discussed during Orwell’s lifetime was the Sapir- Whorf hypothesis. It has two forms: Linguistic determinism (strong) The language that you speak determines the way that you will interpret the world around you. Linguistic relativism (weak) The language you speak influences the way that you will interpret the world around you.

4. Politics and the English Language (1946)
“The word FASCISM has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The words DEMOCRACY, SOCIALISM, FREEDOM, PATRIOTIC, REALISTIC, JUSTICE, have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like DEMOCRACY, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of régime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.” Politics and the English Language (1946)

5. Language without thought
“A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology [set phrases] has gone some distance towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate favourable to political conformity.” Politics and the English Language (1946)

6. Think about the connotations of the words:
Goodthink Crimethink

7. Euphemisms as a way of avoiding unpleasant images
Defenceless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called PACIFICATION. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called TRANSFER OF POPULATION or RECTIFICATION OF FRONTIERS. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called ELIMINATION OF UNRELIABLE ELEMENTS. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. Politics and the English Language (1946)

8. What is actually being said here?
While freely conceding that the Soviet régime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigors which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement.

9. Joycamp
Does this word link to the following images?

10. Joycamp

11. Totalitarianism and the origins of Newspeak
Orwell had an expectation that language would decline under dictatorship but had no evidence to prove this theory. In his time he was specifically thinking of German (Hitler), Russian (Stalin) and Italian (Mussolini). Examples from some of these languages influence the way that Newspeak is constructed. For example, the words ‘minitrue’, ‘miniluv’, ‘minipax’ and ‘miniplenty’ are based on examples from Russia and Germany.

12. The rules according to George Orwell
(i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.
(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.
(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.

13. How much can these rules be applied to Newspeak?
(i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
In Newspeak:
Figures of speech and figurative language no longer exist

14. How much can these rules be applied to Newspeak?
(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.
In Newspeak:
Words are frequently contracted in both the A and B vocabularies and longer words are removed from the dictionary as part of removing redundancy

15. How much can these rules be applied to Newspeak?
(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
In Newspeak:
Prepositions and determiners are often removed, partly because of the flexibility of word class. Word class is indicated by the ending and so some grammatical elements are no longer necessary.

16. How much can these rules be applied to Newspeak?
(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.
In Newspeak:
There is no need for this to exist in new speak.

17. How much can these rules be applied to Newspeak?
(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
In Newspeak:
The C vocabulary has no word for science. Scientific and technical ideas are limited to those who need them and not known to general society. These concepts are heavily restricted and so this is less of an issue.

18. How much can these rules be applied to Newspeak?
(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.
In Newspeak:
Newspeak relies heavily on euphemism so no barbarous concepts are ever explicitly stated however the barbarous ideas still exist (such as the torture of Winston and Julia by miniluv).

19. What is the purpose of the appendix?
Orwell was adamant that the appendix be included in every edition of 1984, even it would cause him to lose publishers. But why did he feel so strongly about it?
The appendix reads as a scholarly explanation on Newspeak, however, it is written as if Newspeak no longer exists. It always refers to Newspeak in the past tense and uses ‘Oldspeak’ to explain Newspeak as if people no longer have a working knowledge of the language. Why is that important given the ending of the actual novel?

20. The guiding principles of Newspeak
The two main principles behind Newspeak are:
1) Precision of meaning
2) Euphony – ease of speaking and understanding

21. “In Newspeak, euphony outweighed every consideration other than exactitude of meaning. Regularity of grammar was always sacrificed to it when it seemed necessary. And rightly so, since what was required, above all for political purposes, were short, clipped words of unmistakable meaning which could be uttered rapidly and which roused the minimum of echoes in the speaker’s mind… The intention was to make speech, and especially speech on any subject not ideologically neutral, as nearly as possible independent of consciousness.” Page 351

22. A Vocabulary
“The A vocabulary consisted of the words needed for everyday life… but in comparison with the present-day English vocabulary their number was extremely small, while their meanings were more rigidly defined. All ambiguities and shades of meaning had been purged from them.” Page 345

23. B Vocabulary
“The B vocabulary consisted of words which had been deliberately constructed for political purposes: words, that is to say, which not had in every case a political implication, but were intended to impose a desirable mental attitude upon the person using them… The B words were a sort of verbal shorthand, often packing whole ranges of ideas into a few syllables, and at the same time more accurate and forcible than ordinary language.” Page 347 This makes the B vocabulary the most interesting to discuss as it provides the clearest evidence of the ideology behind newspeak.

24. “The name of every organisation, or body of people, or doctrine, or country, or institution, or public building, was invariably cut down into the familiar shape; that is, a single easily pronounced word with the smallest number of syllables that would preserve the original derivation.” Page 350

25. C Vocabulary
“The C Vocabulary was supplementary to the others and consisted entirely of scientific and technical terms… Any scientific worker or technician all the words he needed in the list devoted to his own speciality, but he seldom had more than a smattering of words occurring in the other lists. Only a very few words were common to all lists, and there was no vocabulary expressing the function of Science as a habit of mind, or a method of thought, irrespective of its particular branches.” Page 352-3

26. “The greatest difficulty facing the compilers of the Newspeak Dictionary was not to invent new words, but, having invented them, to make sure what they meant: to make sure, that is to say, what ranges of words they cancelled by their existence” Page 348 “In Newspeak it was seldom possible to follow a heretical thought further than the perception that it was heretical: beyond that point the necessary words were non- existent.” Page 350

27. The guiding principles of Newspeak
By removing the vocabulary available to discuss something you limit an individual’s ability to express rebellious thoughts. The worst way to describe something is as doubleplus ungood. Nothing further is possible as Newspeak removes the words which allow for clarification.
The removal of multiple meanings to words makes language very precise but also removes nuance. There are no possible plays on words.
Removing redundant vocabulary means that there are no longer positive and negative. For e.g. ‘cold’ and ‘uncold’, replace warm and cold. There are no longer any antonyms.

28. The guiding principles of Newspeak
With euphony as a guiding principle, words are formed in the way that makes them easiest to say (crimethink/ sexcrime – thy these the other way round). They are also meant to encourage a staccato method of delivery.
Words are also abbreviated e.g. Ministry of Truth - minitrue

29. “Considerations of prestige made it desirable to preserve the memory of certain historical figures, while at the same time bringing their achievements into line with philosophy of Ingsoc. Various writers, such as Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Byron, Dickens and some others were therefore in the process of translation: when the task had been completed, their original writings, with all else that survived of the literature of the past, would be destroyed.” Page 355 The re-writing of the English literature canon into Newspeak involves a complete change in meaning from the original text. The names of the authors (Shakespeare, Milton, Byron) remain but their message is completely different.

30. Some rules All words form plurals by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’
All past tense forms are indicated by ‘ed’ (e.g. run/ ran becomes run/ runned)
No separate terms for opposites exist
The prefix ‘un’ acts to negate the meaning of a word. This means there are no antonyms.
Levels of meaning are removed (fight/ brawl/ fracas – only fight would remain)
‘Plus’ and ‘double plus’ act as intensifiers

31. Some rules
Verbs and nouns are interchangeable. ‘Think’ now covers both the verb ‘think’ and the noun ‘thought’.
Adjectives are created by adding ‘ful’ to the noun-verb. Adverbs are created by adding ‘wise’.
Goodthink
Goodthinked
Goodthinking
Goodthinkful
Goodthinkwise
Goodthinker

32. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 The Appendix Language in 1984
Pages Newspeak dictionary is discussed by O’Brien.
Page 195 – O’Brien issues orders in Newspeak.
Pages – Newspeak discussed in the book.
Pages 6-7 – the description of the ministries
Page 9 – 11 – the Party is making it easy to become illiterate
Page 15 – Goldstein broadcasts ridicule non- orthodox ideas and language simultaneously. Even Goldstein uses Newspeak.
Page 51 – Winston’s orders in Newspeak
Page – Symes talking about Newspeak and Duckspeak.
Page 94 – ‘Ownlife’
Part 3
Page 291 –2 ‘Thou art’
Page 303 – O’Brien discusses ‘Freedom is slavery’
The Appendix
Pages Appendix on the principles on Newspeak
Language in 1984

33. Part 1, chapter V - Symes
“The revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak.”