Text 11A1-I
“Newspeak,” the “official language of Oceania” in the
novel 1984, comes from “new speak” and was created to
supersede “Oldspeak,” or Standard English. Newspeak isn’t just
buzzwords, but the deliberate replacement of one set of words in
the language for another. Its transition, expected to be completed
“by about the year 2050,” appears not through history or social
change, but through the will of the Party. The purpose of
Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for
the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of
Ingsoc, but also to make all other modes of thought impossible.
Orwell discusses the “perfected” form of Newspeak, with
grammatical “peculiarities,” such as “an almost complete
interchangeability between different parts of speech.” Its
vocabulary is divided into the A, B, and C classes. The A class
contains “everyday life” words mutated with prefixes and
intensifiers like “uncold,” “pluscold,” and “doublepluscold.” The
B class contains doublethink coinages like “joycamp” and
“Minipax,” similar to “the characteristic features of political
language (…) in totalitarian countries.” The citizens of Oceania
must have “an outlook” shaped by these restricted words; even
sexual life was regulated by “sexcrime” and “goodsex.”
The C class “consisted entirely of scientific and technical
terms,” defined rigidly and stripped of meanings. There was no
vocabulary for science as a habit of mind; any meaning it could
bear was “already sufficiently covered by the word Ingsoc.” This
linguistic control made translating the past nearly impossible.
“All mans are equal” could exist only as “a palpable untruth,”
and Jefferson’s preamble could only be swallowed by the single
word “crimethink.”
The phrase “alternative facts” could fit easily into the
“Newspeak Dictionary,” showing how such language can sink
into discourse and become Newspeak itself.
Josh Jones. George Orwell Explains How “Newspeak” Works,
the Official Language of His Totalitarian Dystopia in 1984.
January 25th, 2017. Internet:https://www.openculture.com> (adapted).
Based on text 11A1-I, choose the option that most accurately
reflects a logical consequence of the linguistic policy imposed on
the citizens of Oceania.