In his 1984 novel, The principles of newspeak, George Orwell introduces newspeak, a language based on modern-day English but altered to have simplified grammar and vocabulary with the intention of completely shadowing the English language (oldspeak in newspeak) by 2050. Newspeak proponents are members of the Party who are determined to remove all words and phrases that have anything to do with freedom, rebellion and oppression among other afflictions of the regime. The party monitors everything in Oceania; it has telescreens everywhere and political rebellion is unheard of. Even thinking rebelliousness is deemed a horrible crime.
Recapping the novel we find Winston, the protagonist, being angered and depressed by the line of thought and life where there is absence of respect for individual expression of interests. He hates the party and decides to share his illegal thoughts with a diary he has illegally purchased. Due to his illegal line of thought and cohabitation with his female workmate Julia, Winston is taken to custody under the Party’s power. He is tortured and brainwashed despite his ardent resistance and eventually gives in to the Party’s demands, key among them being giving up Julia. On his release, he does not feel anything for her because he has accepted the Party, the language and even loves Big Brother, its invisible leader.
Analyzing newspeak itself, George seeks to make Oldspeak grammar simpler so that all words can serve as any part of speech. He provides three groups of vocabulary. First, the A vocabulary encompasses words and phrases that are used daily. These words are usually not many though they have specific or rigid meanings; this explains that newspeak is not interested in meanings rather passing the necessary information. The writer puts such words as walking, eating, drinking, and working. The second category, vocabulary B words, encompasses phrases more in favor of the Party; they are related to politics and the ideals of those in power. For conceptual clarity, conjugated words and phrases are reduced to smaller ones in vocabulary B. For instance, Winston was taken to the ministry of love- ministry of love becomes miniluv. Police in charge of thought, the Thought Police becomes thinkpol. Third, vocabulary C stands for all words defining technical and scientific fields. This has ensured that information regarding these disciplines is available to all and no one accesses too much knowledge.
Newspeak emphasized the magnitude of state dominance by removing meaning from Oldspeak so as to leave simple rooted words. It reduced the total number of words by using its root words to stand for both nouns and verbs. Similarly, those words with opposite meanings were considered obsolete so that words like bad became ungood. Superlatives were simplified such that better became gooder, intensifiers were added by the use of plus and double to have words like plusgood, all with the intention of putting the root words of oldspeak into a single word. The single word being positive portrayed affirmation to all asked of the citizens of Oceania by the Party.
Newspeak relied on the knowledge that people think after carrying out a dialogue in their minds. By suppressing the vocabulary, newspeak proponents reduced the tools needed in the thinking/vocalizing process. In modern-day times, newspeak has been used to mean any prohibition of a language by a government or someone/institution in power.