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Wednesday 25 September 2013

1984- George Orwell

Why is the ruthless totalitarian regime, described in Orwell’s novel purging Oldspeak and imposing Newspeak? What assumptions are being made about the relationship between language and thought?

The extract from the novel depicts two men, one of whom is a "philologist, a specialist in Newspeak." The entire concept of Newspeak is to simplify and "destroy" words, that is, discard the diction which are thought to be unnecessary. It's aim is to ultimately narrow down the range of vocabulary as well as the depth of knowledge, because according to their beliefs, as long as there are no words to describe one's state or mind, situation etc, the inexplicable situation would be nonexistent and surreal. 

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