Newspeak Doublespeak Newspeak The official language of Oceania

Newspeak & Doublespeak

Newspeak • The official language of Oceania • Was designed “not to extend but to diminish the range of thought” (p. 300) • Expected to supersede Oldspeak (standard English) by 2050 • Intended that when Newspeak was completely adopted, any thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc “should be utterly unthinkable” (p. 300)

The Grammar of Newspeak • An almost complete interchangeability between parts of speech • i. e. – “think” stands for the noun and the verb, “thought” doesn’t exist • Add –ful to get an adjective and –wise to get an adverb • “speedful” and “speedwise” • Negate a word by adding un • “ungood” • Strengthen a word by adding plus- or doubleplus • “doublepluscold” • All past tenses of verbs end in –ed • “stealed”, “thinked” • All plurals end in –s • “mans”, “oxes”, “lifes”

A Vocabulary • Words needed for the business of everyday life • “All ambiguities and shades of meaning had been purged out of [the vocabulary]” (p. 301) • i. e. – no connotations, only denotations • Expresses one clearly understood concept

B Vocabulary • Consists of words deliberately constructed for political purposes • Designed to impose a desirable mental attitude upon the person using them • All are compound words, welded together in easily pronounceable forms • Not so much a way to express meaning as it is a way to destroy them • “crimethink” = honor, justice, democracy, morality, science, religion, etc. • None are ideologically neutral • “joycamp” = forced labor camp

C Vocabulary • Supplementary to the A & B Vocabularies • Consists entirely of scientific and technical terms

It’s a real thing…seriously: • Doublespeak is a language which pretends to communicate but really doesn’t. It is a language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant appear attractive, or at least tolerable. It is language which avoids or shifts responsibility, language which is at variance with its real or purported meaning. It is language which conceals or prevents thought. Doublespeak is language which does not extend thought but limits it. • William Lutz, professor at Rutgers University

More by Professor William Lutz… • Doublespeak is not the product of careless language or sloppy thinking. • “It is the product of clear thinking and is language carefully designed … to mislead … to distort reality … to corrupt the mind. ”

Some actual Doublespeak language uncovered by the National Council of Teachers of English Front-leaning rest exercise Push-up Preemptive counterattack Invasion Downsizing Laying off workers Portable, hand-held communications inscriber • pencil • • Wood interdental stimulators toothpicks Collateral damage Civilian casualties Tactical redeployment Retreat Large potentially disruptive reentry system • Nuclear bomb • •

Your turn: • Please write a 10 -word sentence about something that happened in a class you had either yesterday or today. • Use Oldspeak • Pass your sentence one person to the back. • Now, re-write that sentence using the principles of Newspeak.

Your assignment: • Find a real news article (or part of a longer one) that is between 100 and 150 words. • Rewrite it using the principles of Newspeak found in the Appendix (pages 299 -312 in the Signet Classics edition) • Due Wednesday, 5/04