Newspeak

Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, a deliberately constructed linguistic system devised to meet the ideological needs of Ingsoc, or English Socialism. Its ultimate purpose is not merely to provide a medium of expression for Party orthodoxy, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. By the year 1984, only a few specialists could write the leading articles in The Times entirely in Newspeak, but it was expected that by 2050 the language would have completely superseded Oldspeak (Standard English). The version in current use was provisional, containing many superfluous words that were due to be suppressed in the final, perfected Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary.

Definition and Purpose

Newspeak was created to serve the ideological needs of Ingsoc. Its primary aim is to make thoughtcrime literally impossible by eliminating the words in which unorthodox ideas could be expressed. The Party intends that when Newspeak has been fully adopted and Oldspeak forgotten, any heretical thought will be unthinkable, at least insofar as thought depends on words. The vocabulary is constructed to give exact expression to every meaning a Party member may properly wish to convey, while excluding all other meanings and the possibility of arriving at them indirectly. This is achieved partly by inventing new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and stripping remaining words of unorthodox or secondary meanings. For example, the word 'free' still exists in Newspeak but can only be used in contexts such as 'This dog is free from lice'; it cannot be used in the sense of 'politically free' or 'intellectually free', because those concepts no longer exist.

Structure and Design

Newspeak has three vocabularies: A, B, and C. The A vocabulary consists of words for everyday life, with rigidly defined meanings and no ambiguity. The B vocabulary comprises compound words deliberately constructed for political purposes, designed to impose a desirable mental attitude on the user. Many B words are euphemisms: 'joycamp' means forced-labour camp, and 'Minipax' (Ministry of Peace) actually wages war. The C vocabulary contains scientific and technical terms, stripped of undesirable meanings. The grammar of Newspeak is highly regular, with all verbs taking the same endings, and adjectives formed by adding '-ful' to the noun-verb. Words can be negated with 'un-' and intensified with 'plus-' or 'doubleplus-'. The vocabulary grows smaller every year, as the reduction of choice is considered a gain. The ultimate goal is to make articulate speech issue from the larynx without involving the higher brain centres, a state referred to as 'duckspeak'.

Relationship with Ingsoc

Newspeak is inseparable from Ingsoc; as Syme says, 'Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak.' The language is designed to embody the principles of doublethink, making it possible to hold contradictory beliefs simultaneously. The slogans 'War is Peace', 'Freedom is Slavery', and 'Ignorance is Strength' are examples of Newspeak's built-in contradictions. The Party uses Newspeak to control the past, since who controls the present controls the past, and the language ensures that no record of alternative history can survive. The names of the four ministries illustrate this reversal: the Ministry of Truth is concerned with lies, the Ministry of Peace with war, the Ministry of Love with torture, and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation.

Effects and Implications

The effect of Newspeak is to diminish the range of thought, cutting off the possibility of rebellion by making it impossible to formulate heretical ideas. Party members are trained in crimestop, blackwhite, and doublethink to prevent dangerous thoughts from arising. The reduction of vocabulary is seen as a positive good, because a smaller area of choice means less temptation to think. By 2050, it is expected that no one will be able to understand a conversation about the old concepts of freedom or equality. The language thus serves as a tool of total control, making the Party's dominance permanent by erasing the linguistic basis for dissent. The Appendix notes that even the Declaration of Independence would be reduced to a single Newspeak word: 'crimethink'.