The Sapir-Whorf Approach to Language Manipulation in Dystopia Through Analysis of Orwell’s 1984

							THE SAPIR-WHORF APPROACH TO
 LANGUAGE MANIPULATION IN
DYSTOPIA THROUGH ANALYSIS OF
        ORWELL’S 1984
  Julia Ziyue Peng, Shara Khan, & Alicia Mah


                         IB Theory of Knowledge 30
                                  Oral Presentation
                                       Mr. O’Hagan
                          Wednesday, April 25, 2012
                                Campbell Collegiate
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.
 1984 Summarized: A dystopic, totalitarian society
  where thoughts are suppressed and emotions
                   regulated.
                   NSPK [NEWSPEAK]
The annihilation of thoughtcrime, or alternative thinking
  through oversimplification in order to control the
                        masses.

                              “Doubleplusungood”

                               “Doubleplusgood”

                                    “Recdep”

                                “rewrite fullwise
                                upsub antefiling”




          “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
       KNOWLEDGE ISSUE



To what extent is our conscience defined by the
               language we use?
  MARXIST APPROACH AND THE SAPIR-
  WHORF HYPOTHESIS IN LINGUISTIC
            DETERMINISM

  “Thoughts and behaviour are determined
     by language, or are at least partially
              influenced by it.”
                         - Edward Sapir & Benjamin Lee Whorf




“Language is practical consciousness, the
   immediate actuality of thought in a
  world with material consequence.”
                                       - Karl Marx
LIMITATIONS TO LANGUAGE’S
 CAPACITY FOR EXPANSION
         “Rice Paddies and Math Tests” - Outliers, Ch. 8

          “Russian blues reveal effects of language on
                    colour discrimination”

                   Why Latin? Why Chinese?




         The capacity for expansion within a
        language determines the capacity for
               expansion in thought.
  HEGEL’S THREE-FOLD DIALECT
How is perception manipulated when fundamental definitions change?

                                                Peace




                                               Defense




                                                 War


                                 Defining = Knowing = Conscience
        SECONDARY PERSPECTIVE
“Utopias allow language to develop at will, while dystopias impose authoritarian
   control over it in order to prevent the formulation of heterodox thought.”

 Minimal Extent                                          Maximal Extent

      "It was intended that when Newspeak had
     been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak
       forgotten, a heretical thought -- that is, a
       thought diverging from the principles of
     Ingsoc -- should be literally unthinkable, at
        least so far as thought is dependent on
                         words."
                                     - George Orwell



Language will inevitably break down the moment it tries to
     assert itself as providing the sole access to truth.
   AOK’S, WOK’S, & RELATED AREAS
To what extent are other areas of knowledge and ways of
                    knowing limited?

         REASON

        EMOTION

     PERCEPTION


“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall
   make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.”
THANK YOU!
- Julia, Alicia, & Shara
                           BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Abiteboul, Serge, Beeri, Catriel. “On the Power of Language for the Manipulation of Complex

Objects”

- Beaudine, Robert F. “Cultural Marxism: The Doom of Language”

- Busch, Birgitta. “Language, Discourse, and Borders in the Yugoslav Successor States”

- Encyclopedia of Marxism. “Glossary of Terms”

- Humanities and Social Sciences Online. “The Specter of Militarism: Nuclear Weapons and

American Identity” Marcus, Eddie. “Speaking the Ineffable: Language and Dystopia”

- Winawer, Jonathan, Nathan,Witthoft, Frank, Michael C., Wu, Lisa, Wade, Alex R., & Boroditsky,

Lera. “Russian Blues Reveal Effects of Language on Colour Discrimination”