sign in sign up
<<
Home , Newspeak, Orwellian, Slogan, Untermensch

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

Volume 19 Article 7

2018

Newspeak Warrants New Thought: Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Linguistic Determinism in Nazi Language

Barry Rogenmoser St. John Fisher College, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur

Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons How has open access to Fisher Digital Publications benefited ou?y

Recommended Citation Rogenmoser, Barry. " Warrants New Thought: Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Linguistic Determinism in Nazi Language." The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research 19 (2018): -. Web. [date of access]. .

This document is posted at https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/7 and is brought to you for free and open access by Fisher Digital Publications at St. John Fisher College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Newspeak Warrants New Thought: Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Linguistic Determinism in Nazi Language

Keywords Nineteen Eighty-Four, Newspeak, Nazi, Language, Linguistic Determinism, Orwell, 1984

This article is available in The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research: https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/ vol19/iss1/7 Rogenmoser: Newspeak Warrants New Thought

Newspeak Warrants New Thought: Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Linguistic Determinism in Nazi Language Barry Rogenmoser

Introduction native people’s ability to conceptualize thoughts of opposition and autonomously “By 2050 earlier, probably -- all real express themselves. Although Nineteen knowledge of Oldspeak will have Eighty-Four is not a colonial text, the disappeared. The whole literature of the past language imposed by the authoritarian will have been destroyed. Chaucer, government functions in the same way that Shakespeare, Milton, Byron -- they'll exist the language imposed by a colonial force only in Newspeak versions, not merely does: it limits the ability of the people to changed into something different, but express themselves. Although Nineteen actually changed into something Eighty-Four is frequently read as a warning contradictory of what they used to be. Even against a future that may one day reach the literature of the Party will change. Even fruition, Orwell’s Newspeak mirrors the the will change. How could you linguistic influence of the Nazi party that have a like "freedom is " existed during the early twentieth century. when the concept of freedom has been By analyzing Newspeak terminology and abolished? The whole climate of thought paralleling the function of language within will be different. In fact there will be no Oceania and Nazi, Germany, Nineteen thought, as we understand it now. Eighty-Four looks less dystopian and more Orthodoxy means not thinking -- not satirical. needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness” (Orwell 53). The Principles of Newspeak

Language has a tremendous influence on Nineteen Eighty-Four, ’s thought-processes and power over behavior, swan song to literature, depicts the tragedy and the linguistic limitations that control the of Winston Smith as he attempts to citizens in George Orwell’s dystopian novel undermine an oppressive regime. He lives in Nineteen Eighty-Four demonstrate this the totalitarian superstate of Oceania, which effect. Although Orwell created the fictitious is controlled by the Inner Party and their language of Newspeak exclusively as an advanced techniques, called Big authoritarian control method in the novel, Brother. In an effort to live an individualistic this is not a concept that exists exclusively and pre-Revolutionized life, Winston begins in fiction. Language curtailing to write in a diary, engages in sexual and linguistic alteration designed to restrain relations for pleasure, and joins the individuals existed in the early twentieth Brotherhood, which are all severely century, particularly in extremist and punished crimes in Oceania. He eventually totalitarian political parties during the early discovers that he was monitored by a nineteenth century. Colonial theory suggests all along, and O’Brien, a member that the presence of an outside conqueror of the Inner Party, psychologically torments leads to the imposition of a new language, Winston to the point where he no longer can which oftentimes results in limiting the will himself to defy Big Brother.

Published by Fisher Digital Publications, 2018 1 The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research, Vol. 19 [2018], Art. 7

Newspeak is the fictional language in the be needed will be expressed by exactly novel, and although it has not yet been fully one word, with its meaning rigidly adopted by the characters in the novel, it is defined and all its subsidiary meanings designated as the official language of rubbed out and forgotten. (53) Oceania. The eventual antagonist, O’Brien, asserts that Newspeak will completely Not only are the words with multiple replace Oldspeak, or traditional English, by definitions going to lose their secondary the year 2050. Not much is revealed about meanings that are deemed frivolous and Newspeak within the narrative of the novel; oppositional to the party, but every idea will however, Orwell includes an appendix be boiled down to only one word. Synonyms chapter titled, “The Principles of and colorful expression will be eradicated in Newspeak,” which outlines the grammar, order to eliminate the ability to think about semantics, and pragmatics of the language. antagonism or revolution. Newspeak advocates intend to remove undesirable words, eliminate unnecessary After Newspeak is accepted, there will only secondary definitions, include blanket terms be three types of vocabularies: the A words, that shroud specificity, and shorten words in which are needed for everyday business; the order to reduce inherent biases and diminish B Words, which were invented for political the range of thought. purposes; and the C Words, which are specific to science and technology. Within “The Principles of Newspeak” supplements the B Words are terms that have “highly the primary text by revealing exactly how subtilized meaning, barely intelligible to Newspeak is designed to limit thought and anyone who had not mastered the language suppress individualism. The first objective as a whole” (Orwell 307). These words have of Newspeak is to eliminate secondary political intentions, so they are never definitions of words that allow for ideologically neutral. Each term or phrase is intellectual independence. The example that reduced to the smallest number of syllables Orwell gives of this definition reduction is that can keep the derivative words. An the word “free.” The word “free” has two example of this is “sexcrime,” which is any definitions in the traditional English sexual act that is prohibited by the language: to not be under the control of government in Nineteen Eighty-Four. This another power and to rid of something. In includes all sex that is not exclusively Newspeak, the first definition is abolished; intended to be for procreation, including therefore, political participation and intercourse for pleasure, homosexuality, and intellectual freedom no longer exist as adultery. The appendix is concluded by the concepts, and the range of thought is unknown narrator revealing that important shortened (305). Within the narrative of the literature is in the process of being translated novel, this is expressed by Syme, who is into Newspeak, which would render the Winston’s coworker. He says to Winston: original texts unreadable. Orwell writes, “Each reduction was a gain, since the Don't you see that the whole aim of smaller the area of choice, the smaller the Newspeak is to narrow the range of temptation to take thought” (311). If crimes thought? In the end we shall make against the Inner Party become unspeakable, thought crime literally impossible, they become unimaginable, and would no because there will be no words in which longer be committed. to express it. Every concept that can ever

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/7 2 Rogenmoser: Newspeak Warrants New Thought

Self-perception and the understanding of an that it critiques the society that Orwell individual word stem from the vocabulary writes within. tools that are accessible. The construct of equality vis-à-vis egalitarianism is not Jean-Jacques Courtine and Laura Willett perceivable if this particular definition of argue that the Revolution that occurred equality is eradicated. The Declaration of before the events depicted in the novel is Independence, which states, “All men are actually starting to happen as a real-world created equal” would then be understood to conversion from Oldspeak to Newspeak say that all men are exactly the same, which takes place. Language has the power to would be perceived as an impossibility and control thought and provide a space for would be rendered illogical. Just by emotions and inner resistance to propagate; eliminating one definition of a word, Orwell therefore, totalitarian powers have a stake in theorizes that it would invalidate a document controlling language. The process of as important as the Declaration of language truncation has already begun in Independence, and the cultural values of the contemporary society with the translations society would shift resultantly. of Shakespeare and Milton, and this is demarking the commencement of a real-life Nineteen Eighty-Four as a Satirical Text Orwellian insurgency. In Nineteen Eighty- Four, O’Brien says, “Has it ever occurred to The existing scholarship tends to view you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the Nineteen Eighty-Four as a text that is very latest, not a single human being will be predictive of a future that contemporary alive who could understand such a society is getting dangerously close to. Jean- conversation as we are having now?” (53). Jacques Courtine and Laura Willett in their O’Brien is illustrating that in the fictitious article, “A Brave New Language: Orwell's Oceania, language will be completely Invention of ‘Newspeak’ in 1984,” address unrecognizable in less than seventy years. the existence of languages that function Although, it has not been occurring this similarly to that of Newspeak and exploits quickly or this pointedly, the English the dangers of this type of linguistic language has transformed over time and manipulation. In Mireia Aragay i Sastre’s many dated texts cannot be understood “Satire Betrayed: A Look at Orwell’s without footnotes or translations. Even Nineteen Eighty-Four”, Sastre argues that though the misunderstanding of dated texts Nineteen Eighty-Four is not a satire because is because of shifts in meaning rather than it lacks the components necessary, the truncation of words, modern English specifically humor and one-dimensional already has begun to resemble a distant characterization, to be considered as such. relative of Newspeak. She argues that the text is Orwell’s way of warning against brute-force regimes before Courtine and Willett also identify that the he died. However, if Nineteen Eighty-Four language of Newspeak stems from two continues to be read as a text that is solely languages that actually exist: Cablese and futuristic, an entire component of Orwell’s . Cablese, or telegram style, is work is ignored. Although the novel is used in the journalism field to quickly relay dystopian and it portrays elements that are messages by condensing words and using slowly become true in the modern world, abbreviations. This style is outlined in Nineteen Eighty-Four is satirical in the sense Nelson E. Ross’s booklet, written in 1928, titled “How to Write Telegrams Properly.”

Published by Fisher Digital Publications, 2018 3 The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research, Vol. 19 [2018], Art. 7

Ross explains that articles and short words never know when they are being watched. such as “we,” “I,” and “that” are all This elicits both a perpetual state of paranoia unnecessary and should be omitted in and a constant need to act innocuously. The Cablese, and phrases that require telescreen functions in the same way. It abbreviations include writing “get answer” requires those being observed to act when a reply is required or “report delivery” accordingly all the time because the slightest when the time of delivery needs to be known trigger can result in the harshest of by the sender (Ross). Basic English, which punishments. This type of surveillance is is an experiment imagined by C. K. Ogden, intended to completely deter crime, and the reduces lexical stock and omits certain language of Newspeak functions similarly; components of syntax and morphology. It is however, it completely takes away the tools. limited to only eight-hundred and fifty Language is the tool for which resistant words that are at the linguistic level of a six- thought is built. If the tools are taken away, year-old. As both a linguist and a the resistance follows suit. philosopher, Ogden found great intrigue in developing a perfectly truncated English Although it is impossible to ignore the language, and he eventually designed one parallels between modern day and the that could fit on one side of a piece of paper dystopian future in Nineteen Eighty-Four, with only five-hundred vocabulary words. Orwell’s intentions were to see the parallels This kind of curtailing allows for between the text and the society that he transparency within language, and Courtine wrote it within. Unfortunately, and Willett compare this conspicuousness to contemporary scholarship such as the Panopticon. The Panopticon is Jeremy aforementioned Courtine and Willet ignore Bentham’s vision of a ward where the this interpretation of the novel. Mireia guards are in a tall watchtower and the Aragay i Sastre’s article does this as well. prisoners are in jail cells that surround the Sastre argues that Nineteen Eighty-Four is tower, to allow for unwitting and continuous more of a warning against future surveillance. Panopticism acts as both an than a satire, even though analogy for how a shortened language limits Orwell himself considered the novel to be communication and how thought can be satirical. Sastre argues that a satire must used to oppose a totalitarian enterprise. A have a lack of reader-character language panopticism monitors action by identification, an inversion of the real world, eliminating unmonitored thoughts and an extreme simplification of characters and thereby completely disallowing resistant the world around them, and a sense of action. indirectness toward the problem that are actually being addressed. Sastre contends Although panopticism is representative of that Orwell fails in all of these categories how language truncation acts as a constant that are archetypally satirical, and creates a internal monitoring technique, it is eerily novel that is ultimately too tragic, reminiscent of the literal function of Big apprehensive, and humorless to fit the mold Brother and in Nineteen Eighty- of a satire. Furthermore, the inclusion of Four. In Oceania, telescreens are monitoring literary techniques that are foreign to a systems inside every home, office, and street satire, such as cosmic and dramatic irony, corner, and they are the mode through which distance the text from the author’s Big Brother operates. The Panopticon intentions. Instead, according to Sastre, disallows reciprocal observation; its subjects Nineteen Eighty-Four acts as a warning

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/7 4 Rogenmoser: Newspeak Warrants New Thought

against the “physical and psychological enterprise, he is, more importantly, satirizing horror of totalitarianism,” rather than an a world that he already lives in. illumination of how it already exists (76). Orwell thinks of his novel as a satire, or as a Orwell’s text can be viewed as being a future that could arrive if the wrong moves mirror image of a society that he already are made. However, he considers it to be a saw existing around him. Although Orwell distortion of the present and not a warning was extremely politically minded and most against totalitarian regimes. likely had many inspirations for writing Nineteen Eighty-Four the parallels between In a letter written by George Orwell to Noel the world portrayed in the novel and the Willmett in 1944, Orwell details the society that he lived in are vibrant, developmental thesis of Nineteen Eighty- specifically, with his creation of Newspeak Four and his inspiration for writing the and its similar function to the language of piece. Although exploring authorial the Third Reich. intentions is slippery and oftentimes unfruitful, Orwell’s letter blatantly expresses Linguistic Determinism what he is seeing in the world around him and how this sparked the need to explore In Gavin Evans’ The Story of Colour: An these regimes through his most comfortable Exploration of the Hidden Messages of the medium: writing. He writes: Spectrum, he notes that the Himba tribe in Africa do not have a word in their native Already history has in a sense ceased to language for the color blue. Instead, the tribe exist, i.e. there is no such thing as a considers blue to be nothing more than a history of our own times which could be variant of the color green. When a member universally accepted, and the exact of the tribe was shown multiple green color sciences are endangered as soon as swatches and one blue color swatch, he was military necessity ceases to keep people unable to differentiate which swatch up to the mark. Hitler can say that the contrasted with the others. However, when started the war, and if he survives shown multiple green color splotches and that will become official history. one slightly-lighter green color splotch, the (“George Orwell's Letter on Why He Himba member was able to easily Wrote '1984'”) distinguish which splotch varied--but the Englishman was not (Evans). Orwell takes on profound topics such as how subjective truth and true history are From this experiment, researchers concluded often controlled by the oppressive force, that the language spoken can affect the way which is represented in the novel by color is seen, and scientists Sapir and Whorf Winston’s department of work, the Ministry determined that this must mean language has of Truth. Orwell realizes that when a complete control over how our mind semantic and vocabularic shift occurs at the perceives the world and even how it thinks. hands of an organization with an agenda, its However, this caused controversy in the results can be catastrophic. His primary scientific community. Although this does example is language and its usages within not necessarily mean that language controls Nazi, Germany, and this reveals that thought, it shows that language has some although he is critiquing the totalitarian correlation with an impact on perception. If language and perception are this deeply

Published by Fisher Digital Publications, 2018 5 The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research, Vol. 19 [2018], Art. 7

intertwined, then the language we speak disenfranchise Jews. They burned books, may have a larger stake in our thought than spread posters, and rewrote we even realize. This is the concept behind textbooks that were taught in German linguistic determinism. Linguistic schools. Richard J. Evans, author of The determinism is the idea that language and its Third Reich in Power, asserts that the Nazi structures have a stake in human thought, as Propaganda Ministry believed that the well as thought processes such as unbiased teaching of history is a categorization, memory, and perception. The misconception of liberalists. He writes, "The term implies that people who speak different purpose of history was to teach people that languages as their mother tongues have life was always dominated by struggle, that different thought processes. race and blood were central to everything that happened in the past, present and future, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, a postcolonial scholar, and that leadership determined the fate of wrote “The Language of African Literature” peoples. Central themes in the new teaching to present the importance of language and its including courage in battle, sacrifice for a ability to perpetuate culture and preserve greater cause, boundless admiration for the ideologies. He argues that his native African Leader and hatred of Germany's enemies, language “had a suggestive power well the Jews" (263). Language is powerful beyond the immediate and lexical meaning” because it holds the ability to manipulate the and upon the colonization by British minds of those who have no reason to imperialism, these nuances and connotations disbelieve it. Language’s ability to were abolished by the aggressively forced manipulate is part of the reason free speech imposition of English (287). In order to laws in Germany and other European express the communicative and suggestive countries hold the stipulation that hate weight that language carries, he writes, speech and malicious group targeting is not “Language carries culture, and culture tolerable (Tsesis 1064). The mind is so carries, particularly through orature and malleable and impressionable that exposure literature, the entire body of value by which alone can incite an overwhelming response. we come to perceive ourselves and our places in the world” (290). Although Ngugi Orwell mentions that the name of the Nazi is presenting this information with the party functions in the same way that the conclusion that African literature should aforementioned “sexcrime” does as a remain in its native tongue to liberate native conglomerate of politically charged and beings from foreign forces, the underlying subjectively perceived components. He principle is an important foundation for how writes, “Telescoped words and phrases had Newspeak function in Nineteen Eighty-Four been one of the characteristic features of and how totalitarian regimes used language political language; and it had been noticed to manipulate their subordinates in the early that the tendency to use abbreviations of this twentieth century. kind was most marked in totalitarian countries and totalitarian organizations” Nazi Propaganda Ministry (310). The truncation was used as a method of controlling subordinates within Nazi Germany had a division of government totalitarian regimes, and this is a parallel called the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, which between the world in Nineteen Eighty-Four orchestrated the massive campaign to and the world that George Orwell lived in promote the Nazi ideologies and while writing the novel. Although it is

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/7 6 Rogenmoser: Newspeak Warrants New Thought

apparent that Newspeak uses this technique The Language of the Third Reich intentionally for manipulative purposes, he describes this process as mostly instinctual In the early 1940s, a few years before when it comes to the aforementioned Orwell began to write Nineteen Eighty-Four, totalitarian organizations. An example that Victor Klemperer, a romance language he gives is the word “Nazi,” which is the scholar and professor, wrote a diary about colloquial truncation of his experiences as a Jewish man living in “nationalsozialismus” in German or Nazi, Germany. In his diary, titled I Will “national socialism” in English. From 1936 Bear Witness, he argues that in order to to 1946, the term “Nazi” was used eight eradicate the Nazi power, “It isn't only Nazi times more often than “national socialist” in actions that [have] to vanish, but also the English literature, and in German literature, Nazi cast of mind, the typical Nazi way of the word “Nazi” was used almost fifteen thinking, and its breeding ground: the times more in 1946 than it was ten years language of .” According to prior (“Google Ngram Viewer”). Orwell Klemperer, language was the foundation for continues to say, “in thus abbreviating a implementing large-scale Nazi conditioning name one narrowed and subtly altered its techniques, and it was the hatchery for the meaning, by cutting out most of the Nazi ideologies that initiated . associations that would otherwise cling to it” After years of seeing how the Nazis utilized (310). This rhetorical shift resultantly propaganda and language, Klemperer began eliminated connotations attached to the to see the types of used to maintain original definition and seemed to allow for power: “The basic principle of the whole its presentation as something new; however, language of the Third Reich became in reality, the convoluted moniker illustrates apparent to me: a bad conscience; its triad: a completely original image that the Nazis defending oneself, praising oneself, accusing wanted to project, which masked their true – never a moment of calm testimony” (“I political intentions. The foundational goal of Will Bear Witness”). The language of the the party was to develop an unblemished Third Reich is accusatory, condescending, society by identifying and eliminating Jews, and above all else, self-promoting. non-whites, the intellectually disabled, homosexuals, and other non-Germans The language of the Third Reich mirrors through brute-force governance and media how Newspeak functions in Nineteen control. The abbreviation allowed them to Eighty-Four and furthers the parallels maintain the image that the full name between Oceania and Nazi Germany. One suggests, but still stray away from the party example is of a semantic shift in the word to a point of unrecognizability. By having “organisieren,” which was originally the true intentions of the party hide behind translated to mean organizing an event or to the portmanteau, which possesses no arrange something in a particular order. In A prejudicial connotations, the truncation New German-English dictionary for General could have played a role in the widespread Use Containing an Exhaustive Vocabulary following of Nazism and the aggressively of the Colloquial and Literary English and successful political . It is German Languages, as Well as a Great easier for an individual to support a group Many Scientific, Technical and Commercial without attached biases even if it has similar Terms and Phrases and Preceded by a Study or more egregious intentions. of the German Pronunciation by F.C. Hebert and L. Hirsch, which was published in 1926,

Published by Fisher Digital Publications, 2018 7 The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research, Vol. 19 [2018], Art. 7

the word “organisieren” directly translates to difficult within the confines of the English word “organize” (517). concentrations camps. Klemperer continues However, roughly ten years later, Nazism on to say that this semantic modification, really began to take form under the replaced the phrase “buying tobacco” with dictatorial power of , and the “organizing tobacco,” which adds a level of language of the Third Reich really began to criminal suspicion to a previously innocent materialize, and the word began to be used word (“Language Does Not Lie”). If a differently. According to Klemperer, the harmless act is framed as illicit to both those Nazi party altered the meaning of the word who are doing the action and those who and spun it in a way that attached a bias to it. enforce the law, the action ideally will be This is the opposite of what the Inner Party punished frequently and committed less does with the B words, but it is just as often. effective as a rhetorical modification. However, it slowly discredited other In German, the word for winding a watch or synonyms which mirrors the abolishment of winding up a mechanical toy was vocabulary words that occurred during the “aufziehen”. However, during the 1930s and transition into Newspeak. “Organisieren” 1940s, the word became a way to describe came to replace words meaning “to work”, the organization of large political “to carry out”, “to do”, or “to make”. In demonstrations for the Nazi party Robert Michael and Karin Doerr’s Nazi- (“Language Does Not Lie”). These Deutsch/Nazi-German: An English Lexicon demonstrations attracted massive crowds of the Language of the Third Reich the and they were intended to show the definition of the word “organisieren” is connection between the people of Germany “meaning to procure items that were only and the growing Nazi party (Michael and available through connections. In soldiers’ Doerr 79). In Heinrich Hoffman’s picture slang, to steal; in concentration camps, to titled “Hitler at a Nazi Party Rally,” find or trade for material to survive” (305). Hoffman was able to capture the kind of For the Nazi soldiers who were attempting synchronized spectacle that these political to control and exterminate Jewish people, demonstrations were (see Figure 1). The they used the word to mean larceny or theft; picture depicts a crowd of people so large however, the Jews used it to mean the that they do not fit within the frame of the acquiring of a material in order for survival. picture, and a perfectly aligned parting of This definition sets up a contrast between the crowd so Adolf Hitler could march not only how the word was used by the through. Hitler is leading the march and the aggressor and the oppressed, but it also path is guided by a chain of flowers, which shows how language connotation was used shows the devout respect that the party had to twist the truth. for their Fuhrer. The organization and solemnity is apparent by the neat rows, the Language is slippery because connotations matching uniforms, the coordinated swastika attach to them and give words more than one flags, and the general lack of disorder. The definition. The Nazi language is no picture is able to highlight the exception. In this particular instance, the demonstration’s parallelization to clockwork soldier definition frames the actions of those and the movements of a wind-up toy. The in concentration camps as criminal, when in Nazis and the German people were reality the soldiers themselves are pawns to organized in a manner that presented both a brute-force regime who rendered survival assertive unison and ventriloquist-like

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/7 8 Rogenmoser: Newspeak Warrants New Thought

control. The change in the word eliminated This is an ideology that a totalitarian group, its original definition and replaced it with a who is thirsty for manipulation and meaning that had immediate ties to the participation, would want to instill in power and togetherness of the Nazi party. possible supporters.

(Figure 1: “Hitler at a Nazi Party Rally” by Heinrich Hoffman)

Language, in its most basic form, is nothing auspiciousness and prosperity. During the more than a structured series of symbols that late 1800s, German archaeologist Heinrich are used for communication and changing Schliemann believed the symbol to be an the meaning of a word is the same as emblem from distant German ancestors, and transforming the symbolization of a logo. the connection between the German people When a symbol is used, what the symbol and their genial connection to the represents outweighs exactly what the race led to the adoption of the swastika symbol is because it elicits a response from during the early twentieth century as the the receiver. An example of the head character of far-right nationalist representation shift of a logo is how Hitler parties. The United States Holocaust used the swastika during the early 1940s, Memorial Museum website states, “By the compared to how it was used five millennia time the Nazis gained control of Germany, before Hitler’s reign. The word stems from the connotations of the swastika had forever the Sanskrit word “svastika,” which was changed,” and the symbol eventually used in Neolithic Eurasia and by Hindus, became a representative of extreme Buddhists, and Jains to symbolize nationalism and aggressive anti-Semitism

Published by Fisher Digital Publications, 2018 9 The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research, Vol. 19 [2018], Art. 7

(“History of the Swastika”). The Inner Party encompassed and contaminated the whole of alters the meaning of words and phrases Greater Germany in its absolute intentionally to either limit thought or conformity.” This conformity led to a lack unavoidably incept the party’s ideologies. of individualism, which led to the control of Similarly, the Nazi party took a symbol that the people’s actions and perceptions, just is recognizable as a religious and civil like they do in Nineteen Eighty-Four. It led representation of well-being and smothered to a blind following where morals were set it with their extremist intentions. aside, and values were contaminated. He continued, “A word is new at the moment “Gleischaltung” initially meant to where it emerges as an expression of a new synchronize or bring into line; however, way of thinking or a new idea. ‘Sippe’ and after the appointment of Hitler as the ‘Untermensch’ are indeed original creations Chancellor of Germany, the definition was of the language of the Third Reich” altered to pertain strictly to Nazi party (“Language Does Not Lie”). Similar to the ideologies. The definition reads, “All of the construed language of Newspeak, the German…social, political, and cultural language of the Third Reich did not exactly organization are run according to Nazi invent new words. Instead, the Nazis ideology and policy. All opposition to be transformed the words into something new eliminated” (Michael and Doerr 192). by altering their definition or narrowing the Klemperer noted that the word became the number of definitions in a way that suits the legal measure from which the German Nazis’ cause. “Sippe” and “Untermensch” government allowed Hitler and his Nazi are prime examples of how language is used party to take control of all aspects of to indoctrinate thought. German life. The mission was to eliminate individualism by promoting Nazism to the “Sippe,” an old word from the middle ages entire population through education and had the original meaning of kinship and propaganda. It simultaneously scouted family. It basically meant the togetherness prospective Nazis and eliminated party or intimate relationship of those connected threats, which led to the creation of a regime by a bloodline. However, the word comprised of mindless automatons. The eventually belonged exclusively to those of word shifted from meaning synchronization the “German-Aryan-” (Michael to forceful Nazi coordination. and Doerr 374). Family and bloodline no longer referred to a clanship unit; instead, it Just like the word “free” in Newspeak, the only pertained to those who the Nazis definitions for these words were truncated. viewed as superior. “Untermensch” is Except, instead of doing this to eliminate similar in the sense that it represented ideas, they were used to narrow the focus of anyone who was not Aryan to be inferior. ideas. All of these common words lost their The word literally translates to “subhuman,” original meanings and took on forms that and the dictionary states that it referred to limited them to the growing Nazi enterprise. “non- such as Jews, , , The way these words could be used were , Sinti-Romani, and Bolsheviks. limited just to keep the taste of Nazism in Among the non-Aryans, the Jews were held the speaker’s mouth and attempt to diminish to be the most dangerous group, the children remaining traces of intellectual freedom and of darkness, and the only true rivals of the individuality. Klemperer wrote, “[The Aryans, the children of light. The other non- langauge of the Third Reich] truly Aryans were to serve as slaves to the Reich”

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/7 10 Rogenmoser: Newspeak Warrants New Thought

(Michael and Doerr 408). While “Sippe” however, this is not at all the extent of excluded non-Aryans from being a part of language’s power. the German nationalist bloodline, “Untermensch” classified them as unworthy Language has the power to influence people of being considered human. beyond extrinsic motivation and the immediate connotation of communication. The words were used by the Reich to Culture, belief, perception, and even thought develop a clear binary between Aryans and is affected by the language that one is non-Aryans. A 1942 Race and Settlement exposed to. Language curtailing in the early head office pamphlet stated that the “hands, twentieth century utilized linguistic feet and a kind of brain, with eyes and determinism in an attempt to maintain mouth” are the only way that non-Aryans control over the thought of its people. were biologically related to the , However, contemporary societies are seeing and that the Jews are nothing more than a the rise of panoptic and limited languages, creature that shares a similar face to the and the translating of classic literature. With Aryans. The pamphlet continued to say, all of this occurring now, who is to say that “For all that bear a human face are not we are not experiencing the formation of equal,” which projects the subhuman another manipulative, controlling machine? treatment of Non-Aryans as justifiable on a Perhaps one that is not totalitarian but still completely biological level (Michael and degrades history and ignores fact. In a Doerr 408). The language used in this society where “”, “alternative pamphlet demonstrates how language is facts”, and “No Fear Shakespeare” have a used in Nazi Germany to portray and growingly dominant presence, there is no promote a particular ideology: an ideology saying where it all stops. It is important to that feeds off of fear and instills hate within pay attention to the historical factors that its constituents. inspired Orwell to write, instead of simply reading it as a predictive text. Conclusion When it comes to how people perceive and Although Orwell placed the novel in the interact with their world, language is a future, he was satirizing what is going on in primary stakeholder. It can alter the way his world. Although authorial intent may not individuals see color, and it can even aid in seem immediately important, it actually the rationalization of a genocide. If language provides a portal for readers to divulge into has the ability to limit thought and alter a past culture. Fiction is sometimes more perception, then there is no doubting that the telling than nonfiction and can act as the pen is mightier than the sword. Furthermore, best source for exploring not just the events if language has the capability of of history, but the mindsets and ideologies brainwashing hundreds of thousands of that existed. This is part of the persuasive people and enacting a holocaust that nearly and informative power of language; wipes out an entire population, then there is no telling just how powerful the pen can be.

References Courtine, Jean-Jacques, and Laura Willett. “A Brave New Language: Orwell's Invention of ‘Newspeak’ in 1984.” SubStance, vol. 15, no. 2, 1986, pp. 69–74. JSTOR. Evans, Gavin. The Story of Colour: An Exploration of the Hidden Messages of the Spectrum. Michael OMara Books, 2017.

Published by Fisher Digital Publications, 2018 11 The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research, Vol. 19 [2018], Art. 7

“Google Ngram Viewer.” Google Books, books.google.com/ngrams. Herbert, F. C., and Leon Hirsch. A New German-English Dictionary for General use Containing an Exhaustive Vocabulary of the Colloquial and Literary English and German Languages, as well as a Great Many Scientific, Technical and Commercial Terms and Phrases and Preceded by a Study of the German Pronunciation. Philadelphia: D. McKay, 1926. “History of the Swastika.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Hoffman, Heinrich. “Hitler at a Nazi Party Rally.” Time,1934. Klemperer, Victor, and Martin Chalmers. I Will Bear Witness. Modern Library, 1999. Klemperer, Victor. Language Does Not Lie. 2004. Michael, Robert, and Karin Doerr. Nazi-Deutsch/Nazi-German an English Lexicon of the Language of the Third Reich. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 2002. Orwell, George. “George Orwell's Letter on Why He Wrote '1984'.” The Daily Beast, 12 Aug. 2013. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Harcourt Brace and Company, Inc., 1949. Ross, Nelson E. “How to Write Telegrams Properly.” The Telegraph Office. 1928. Tsesis, Alexander. "Free Speech Constitutionalism," University of Illinois Law Review vol. 2015, no. 3 (2015): 1015-1068.

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol19/iss1/7 12