1984
Newspeak
 Newspeak
is the official language of
Oceania and was devised to meet the
ideological needs of Ingsoc, or
English Socialism.
Socialism

Socialism is a theory or system of social
organization in which the means of
producing and distributing goods is owned
collectively or by a centralized government
that often plans and controls the economy.
Purpose
 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 to make all other
modes of thought impossible.
Purpose
 Newspeak
was designed not to
extend but to diminish the range of
thought, and this purpose was
indirectly assisted by cutting the
choice of words down to a minimum.
Three Classes
A Vocabulary – for everyday life
 B Vocabulary – compound words (such
as goodthink, crimethought) used for
political purposes
 C Vocabulary – scientific and technical
terms

A Vocabulary
 A vocabulary
consists of words
needed for the business of
everyday life – for such things as
eating, drinking, working,
gardening, cooking, etc.
A Vocabulary
 A newspeak
word of this class was
simply a short sound expressing one
clearly understood concept.
 It
was intended only to express
simple, purposive thoughts, usually
involving concrete objects or physical
actions.
A Vocabulary
 It
was composed almost entirely
of words that we already possess
– words like hit, run, dog, sugar,
and house.
B Vocabulary
B
vocabulary consists of words
that had been deliberately
constructed for political purposes.
 Words, which not only had political
implications, but were intended to
impose a desirable mental attitude
upon the person using them.
B Vocabulary
 The
B words were in all cases
compound words.
 They consisted of two or more
words, or portions of words,
welded together in an easily
pronounceable form.
Noun-Verb Combination

Example: Goodthink = to think in an
orthodox manner
 Noun-verb = goodthink
 Past tense = goodthinked
 Present participle = goodthinking
 Adjective = goodthinkful
 Adverb = goodthinkwise
Other Examples
Crimethink = thought crime
 Thinkpol = thought police
 Sexcrime = sexual immorality (covered
all sexual misdeeds – punishable by
death)
 Joycamp = forced-labor camp
 Minipax = Ministry of Peace (Ministry of
War)

B Vocabulary

The name of every political organization,
body of people, or institution is included
in B words.
 Ministry of Truth = Minitrue
 Records Department = Recdep
 Fiction Department = Ficdep
 Teleprograms department – Teledep
C Vocabulary
C vocabulary consists of scientific and
technical terms.
 Any scientific worker could find all the
words he/she needed in the list devoted
to his specialty, but he seldom had
knowledge of more than a few words
included on the other lists.

Grammar of Newspeak
 There
is almost a complete
interchangeability between different
parts of speech.
 Any word in the language could be
used either as a verb, noun, adjective,
or adverb.
Grammar of Newspeak
 The
word thought does not exist
in newspeak.
 Its place was taken by think, which
did duty for both noun and verb.
Grammar of Newspeak
 There
is no such word as cut,
its meaning being covered by
the noun-verb knife.
Grammar of Newspeak
 Adjectives
are formed by adding -ful
to the noun-verb and adverbs by
adding -wise.
 Speedful = quick
 Speedwise = quickly
Grammar of Newspeak
The
word well was
replaced by goodwise.
Grammar of Newspeak
 Any
word could be made negative by
adding un, or could be strengthened
by adding plus, or, for still greater
emphasis doubleplus.
 Uncold = warm
 Pluscold = very cold
 Doublepluscold = bitter cold
Grammar of Newspeak
 There
is no need for the word
bad because good becomes
ungood.
Grammar of Newspeak
 Steal
All plurals are made
by adding –s or –es:
becomes
stealed
 Think becomes
thinked

Past Tense
Plurals
 man=mans
 Life=lifes
Grammar of Newspeak
 Comparison
of adjectives is made
by adding –er, or –est:
 good, gooder, goodest
Grammar of Newspeak
 Words
such as honor, justice,
morality, democracy, and
religion ceased to exist.
Grammar of Newspeak
 All
words grouping themselves
around the concepts of liberty and
equality were contained in the single
word crimethink,
 while words associated with the concept
of objectivity and rationalism were
contained in the single word oldthink.
Grammar of Newspeak

Newspeak differs from almost all other
languages in that its vocabulary grows
smaller instead of larger every year.

Each reduction was a gain, since the
smaller the area of choice, the smaller
the temptation to take thought.