Language Affects People: How Language Influence Dystopia

Language is an essential part of forming and conveying social memory. As Mayr (17) notes, “language is used to organize, understand and express our perceptions of the world”. Mayr (17) continues also to say that language is “used to enable us to communicate with other people . . . and to express and understand feelings, attitudes and judgments”. As a result of these two functions, language is one of the main themes in dystopian fiction. Sisk (2) comments

The power of words is immeasurable. Words help people to voice their opinions and express their thoughts and feelings. Our everyday lives are shaped by communication and in general language. A persons language can often influence success and happiness. America is viewed as a melting pot for numerous different people and their respective languages. Language is so vital in our society that a person of diverse ethnic background can face many tribulations throughout their everyday life.

Dystopian societies are in the real world today and have been before. Many of them can vary in severity but all of them are terrible. A dystopian society is an imbalance between the government and the people and how their choices affect the society in a bad way; Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany is a very good example of a dystopian society. By analyzing Nazi Germany and Hitler’s tyranny, one can notice Adolf’s changes in Germany, his impacts on people, and how the genres of literature can be taught through dystopia.

Language unites people and makes them feel as if they belong together. It gives you a sense of what a community is and show how people interact with one another through something they share. James Baldwin’s, “If Black English isn’t a Language then tell me what is,” Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and John McWhorter, “Why Save a Language?” all correspond to one another by making similar points throughout their articles but also adding their own experiences. James Baldwin focuses on explaining the origin of Black English while Amy Tan discusses the unequal treatments she had to see her mother face while growing up. Mcwhorter talks about the fascinating thing of language and how it is interesting in itself. Language is considered the most powerful

Most dystopian novels contain themes of corruption and oppression, therefore in both ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ language is obviously used as a form of the states control, enabling dystopian leaders to remain in power by manipulating language to restrict free thought. Orwell and Atwood have utilized language as a key tool of oppression throughout their novels. The use of language is mostly repressive, language can also be seen as liberating, and used as an act of rebellion, which the state wishes to eliminate.

”Dystopian elements are conveyed in a variety of texts. Examine how the reader is challenged or confronted by dystopia in at least two texts you have studied in class.”

Language does perpetuate stereotypes and inequality. Ethnic classifications created by superior dominate groups indicate inequalities between the races. For example black is usually associated with negatives such as death, pollution, ‘black magic,’ and immorality in contrast white indicative of a more positive meanings such as purity, cleanliness and morality.

From Nazi Germany during the World War II era to the modern day communist country of North Korea, each of these dystopias possesses a distinct set of characteristics that make it a dystopian society. A dystopia can be broadly defined as an illusory perfect society that is created by the government for those who live in that community; that is, the government devises its programs to give the impression that it is taking good care of its citizens, even though its surreptitious goal is to control them. In particular, citizens in a dystopia lead a dehumanized life and are subjected to a totalitarian governance through omnipresent propaganda. As such, there is not an all-inclusive list of traits that every dystopian community shares; three characteristics that are pertinent to most dystopias are oppression, limited education, and isolation from the outside world.

Language is an important aspect of culture; it ties people to their nation and heritage and has been proven to have an effect over one’s thoughts and opinions. Our reality and Orwell’s dystopia each contain budding languages that have some similarities. In the novel the Party has created a new dialect called Newspeak. This dialect is continuously getting smaller each year and consists mostly of abbreviations. The main purpose for the creation of Newspeak is to gradually reduce the range of thought over the entire population. When one has no words to express one’s self, thought is impossible since there is no way to express it. Today a new language is developing as well: textspeak. It is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as a, “language regarded as characteristic of text messages, consisting of abbreviations, acronyms, initials, emoticons, etc” (Oxford Dictionary). The similarities of these two languages are that they focus on abbreviations and efficiency; however the dialects have an opposite effect on their population’s intelligence. While Newspeak decreases thought, textspeak has been proven to actually increase literacy among teenagers, the generation who texts the most. According to Eric Paulson,

Dystopia is a genre of literature that has been extremely popular over the years. What is it about this genre that has captured readers’ attention so thoroughly without fail? Countless books, short stories, and movies have been released containing these dystopian themes. They are set in future world plagued with oppression, secrecy, squalor, and a corrupt government. What can readers take from this growing collection of dystopian stories? Dystopian works of literature use the audience’s imagination, allusion, and the aspect of fear in order to mirror American society today.

George Orwell 's 1984 is an exemplary work of dystopia. Although written in 1940s, 1984 is a vivid depiction of China during the Cultural Revolution and Soviet Union during the Elimination of Counterrevolutionaries. Dystopia came into being after the World War Ⅱ, when the world was at a loss about its future. Although the world was purged of fascism, personality cult and communist dictatorship arose to take its place.Dystopia is characterized by an authoritarian and totalitarian regime that oppresses individual freedom and development; scientific development and general education is cast aside; the whole society is embedded in constant warfare and violence, and scientific research is done only for military use and for controlling the

For example this article shows the frustration within families and the effects it has in the future. This problem may change the decision of someone wanting to move to a certain location due to the language barrier. This change may take a long time, but through acceptance and instruction, it may be done. The problem with attempting monolingualism is that few people would agree to give up their language and learn another. By limiting the number of dialects, and possibly removing certain languages all together, we can improve social interaction. This in turn would remove what the families see as frustration, confusion, and isolation. Parents are becoming isolated from their children due to their negligence to keep up with the language taught in schools. The misunderstanding may result in unintentional lack of respect between family members and separation of relatives. There may be an argument between families of the proper way to state something but both can be right. Neither person is willing to accept the others’ ways. It is very difficult to change a language spoken a lifetime, especially for families who don’t often interact with society.

Language impacts the daily lives of members of any race, creed, and region of the world. Language helps express our feelings, desires, and queries to the world around us. Words, gestures and tone are utilized in union to portray a broad spectrum of emotion. The unique and diverse methods human beings can use to communicate through written and spoken language is a large part of what allows to harness our innate ability to form lasting bonds with one another.

Different societies and cultures are strictly shaped and expressed by their own multiple languages. What’s more, many languages were born from the same linguistic branches, but “no two languages are actually similar to be considered as representing the same social reality” (Kramsch, 2014, p. 32). Applied linguistic research has concluded three categories to explicitly expose the relations between languages and realities: “semiotic relativity, linguistic relativity and discursive relativity” (Kramsch, 2014, p. 32).

First and foremost language gives people a view and better understanding of what you are saying. Allowing them to take in what you said and analyze. Analyze how you are feeling about something through words. With that being said, today in this society we should care about language. It is important and plays a big role in society whether you know it or not. Language can be more than just a way to communicate. It also transfers images and ideologies that helps us to understand each other. Giving each other different ideas and images, providing a way for them to see or view something the way that you do. As stated in the article Invisible Technologies By Neil Postman “Language is pure ideology,” providing us with different ideas with every sentence. Or at least giving them something new to think about when we communicate using language. Also mentioned in Invisible Technologies was how “Language appears to be not an extension of our powers but simply a natural expression of who and what we are,” which to me says that language also helps a person to understand us. Giving images and different ideas of who we are and what we are through the natural expression of words.