Language As The Primary Source Of Political Discourse And Hegemony

In 1984, Orwell talks about how language can be misused to deceive the people. Today, political precision and euphemism are equally inescapable and ridiculed. The novel also discussed the corruption of verbal progression under the direction of Big Brother. The formation of the Newspeak dictionary is mentioned very often in the book. The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a moderate form of expression for Oceania but to make sure that all additional methods of thought impossible. This is shown today by many public figures who speak on behave of the United States. For example, “Politically correct” language is a form of speech that stumps thought. Autocorrect and autocomplete functions frequently command our phrasing and the language of texting is a skill that has become increasingly more

Orwell designed Newspeak to demonstrate the importance of language to ideas. Orwell thought literature was dying out, which he connected with dying language (Kazin 235). Language is not only the means by which an idea is expressed, but also the means by which an idea is thought. The purposes of Newspeak are to allow for the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed proper and make impossible the expression of thoughts Ingsoc deemed heretical (Kendrick 344). According to Orwell, control of thought follows control of language. The government in 1984 means to control the language, and

George Orwell, in an essay from Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays titled “Politics and the English Language” (1950), argues that the English language, through a cyclical process of sloven language and foolish thought, has become “ugly and inaccurate.” He supports his argument by using expert opinion, metaphors, and historical context. Orwell’s purpose is to demonstrate the debasement of the English language in order to prompt writers to make a conscious change in their writing . He adopts an informal tone (“Look back throughout this essay, and for certain you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against”) for writers in a time of political turnover and rising superpowers.

George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, talks about some “bad habits”, which have driven the English language in the wrong direction, that is, away from communicating ideas. In his essay he quotes five passages, each from a different author, which embody the faults he is talking about. He lists dying metaphors, operators, pretentious diction, and meaningless words as things to look out for in your own writing and the writing of others (593-595). He talks about political uses of the English language. Our language has become ugly and the ugliness impedes upon communication. Ugly uses of language have been reinforced and passed down in the population “even among people who should and do know

Newspeak demolishes thought. Throughout the book, George Orwell tackles controversial ideas. He uses topics that create distraught in the readers to show how the future could exist. People kill for excitement and uses special forces to attack people. This happens because “Big Brother” wants it to. Big Brother runs the society and he uses his influence to control his subservients. He does this with the help of his new language “Newspeak,” which inhibits peoples thoughts and minds. The society in George Orwell’s 1984 does not have the capability to form personal opinions because of Newspeak.

The world that Orwell presents in Nineteen Eighty-four has often been called a nightmare vision of the future. Writing sixteen years into that future, we can see that not all of Orwell’s predictions have been fulfilled in their entirety! Yet,

In James Baldwin's “If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” and George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” it is evident that both of these authors have their own interpretations, and understanding of language as a political instrument. In spite of their differences they also have a few similarities. For Baldwin language was a powerful tool giving blacks a voice, allowing them to express their uniqueness and empowering them, whereas for Orwell believed that language controlled thinking and writing. Both of these authors had different perspectives towards the topic of language but the same desires when it came to expressing their perspectives. They both believed that the powerful could use language, to control the powerlessness.

1984 is a constant argument in today's society. There is a constant debate whether or not 1984 is similar in the 21st century, there are many reasons this topic is debated today. Although many people believe the book 1984 is not similar to the 21st century, a reading of Orwell’s novel demonstrates that in America today, the United States government is just as intrusive, the upper class citizens have more benefits, and newspeak is hastening the degradation of the English language just as the author foresaw.

Language is the inevitable medium which people use as a means of communication. However, how that person uses the language that they have varies. Some view language as a persuasive political instrument and others view it as a means of expression and empowerment. In the essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by James Baldwin, he was able to illustrate the history of the discrimination of language and how Black English is not accepted as its own language. Baldwin also shows that due to the lack of acknowledgement of Black English, it lacks the power it needs to empower the people who speak it. In the essay “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, he was able to break down language and explain how language shapes reality. Orwell states that the he is not considering the literary use of language, but language is an instrument of expression and the promotion of cognitive deliberation and persuasion. Furthermore, both these authors agree that language is a political instrument, however, Baldwin uses this instrument to unite people and Orwell uses the instrument to persuade people.

“Newspeak was designed to. . .diminish the range of thought. . .by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum” explains George Orwell, the author of a dystopian fiction novel, 1984 (Orwell 300). Orwell designs a society in which a totalitarian government rules, depriving people of their thoughts. The story gives us a look into the life of the main character, Winston, who seems to face issues with reality control. Today, we will delve into the depths of this novel and explore Orwell’s views on the nature of language. In simple terms, Orwell suggests that language, if used in a certain way, has the ability to influence people and compel them to alter their thoughts. With this statement and supporting evidence, it can be concluded that the effective use of language can give individuals power to modify or reshape opinions that will allow for change in society.

1.Throughout the essay, Orwell talks about many of the problems in English language and how they all contribute to its downfall. One reason for its decline is the use of dying metaphors. A dying metaphor is one that has no impact on the reader, it has no meaning, and doesn’t enhance the readers experience. Another reason is the use of verbal false limbs and pretentious diction, which are used to make single words or short phrases into unnecessarily long and complex phrases in an attempt to sound smarter or more sophisticated. They also use words that are from Greek and Latin language. By bringing in another language into our own, we begin to break away from our origin of the English language. Next, meaningless words are also a problem

1984 is a book written by george orwell depicts a totalitarian society of a new word order in which three superstate are at constant perpetual wars. Here, the totalitarian government or also known as “the party” control every aspect of the people's lives, lead by an ominous being who goes by the name ‘Big Brother”. Here, “big brother’ monitors the people's every move with objects call teli-screens that monitor the people's every move. The party has created a new language called “newspeak” to replace the inferior language called “old speak”. “Newspeak” was created in order to simplify the the language making it more straightforward, thus getting rid of double meaning in order to control the thoughts of the people. To the party, thoughs are considered

Since without language thought is nearly impossible the party believes that by altering the language they can impose their untrue reality. They will be able to restrict it to the point that even a person’s thoughts are manipulated; things such as individualism and imagination will cease to exist. Which ultimately will give the Party total control over society. The newspeak engineer also goes on to state “ In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.” (55) This quote proves how vital control of language is to the party, it is the key to becoming a controlled state. By creating the element of Newspeak in 1984 Orwell is warning against the potential consequences of manipulating language to benefit people in power and how this can eventually lead to a totalitarian state.

Language is the inevitable medium that people use as a means of communication. However, how that person uses the language that they have varies from person to person. Some view language as a persuasive political instrument and others view it as a means of expression and empowerment. In the essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by James Baldwin, he was able to illustrate the history of the discrimination of language and how black English is not accepted as its own language. Baldwin also shows that due to the lack of acknowledgement of black English, it lacks the power it needs to empower the people who speak it. In the essay “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, he was able to break down language and explain how language shapes reality. Orwell expresses that he is not considering the literary use of language, but language is an instrument of expression and the promotion of cognitive deliberation and persuasion. Furthermore, both these authors agree that language is a political instrument, however, Baldwin uses this instrument to unite people and Orwell uses the instrument to persuade people.

In the totalitarian world, which Orwell describes, language is the most significant and effective approach to maintain the rule. From Orwell’s perspective, everything including language, which is particularly powerful, belongs to political measure. In fact, language is the fundamental motivation of creating a nation or a tribe. It is also the foundation of thought because Human’s thought must rely on the language expressing. Then it could be deduced by analogy that controlling human’s language equal controlling human’s thought. Except expressing, it has the ability to build facts. The Party controls citizens’ thinking through controlling the language so that the Party applies euphemistic words to mislead public and prettify its policy. It is unimaginable that language contributes to the rule. The totalitarian utilize every language method to hold the dominant position.