Newspeak
Overview
In the setting of Nineteeen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Newspeak is a language designed for use by the Party and it plays an important role in the story. The book even contains an Appendix that provides more detailed and organised information about Newspeak (pp. 312-326). Some useful information can also be found in Winston’s conversation with his colleague Syme (a Newspeak expert) in an early section of the book (pp. 53-56).
Newspeak is a modified version of British English (called ‘Oldspeak’ in the book), designed to make the language much simpler and much more closely matched to the Party’s ideals. The development of the language is therefore focused on removing words rather ...