What Is Language Change In 1984

Although many don’t like to admit it, language is constantly changing in our modern day society. However, the change in George Orwell’s 1984 is entirely different than the change we are seeing today; ours is thriving and expanding whereas in 1984, the language is diminishing and devolving. In the novel, the Party—primarily Big Brother—controls the refinement of language, and it is done to “narrow the range of thought [and] make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there [would] be no words which to express it” (Orwell 46). The ultimate goal of eradicating language is to curb the freedom of thought and destroy the public’s imaginative will, which in turn would lead to the perfectly obedient country Big Brother wishes for. The society is brought under totalitarian rule with no

In Anne Curzan’s TED Talk, she mentions that “[dictionary editors are just trying to keep up with us as we change the language. They’re watching what we say and what we write to figure out what’s going to stick and what’s not.” (“What makes a word ‘real’”) It goes to show that there is not just single person who is in charge of language, but rather billions of people all over the globe. Society is constantly creating new terms that ease our communication and although we edit and shorten existing words, we rarely remove them from our language. Our lexicon consists of multiple synonymous words, each with varying degrees of extremity for what it is trying to convey. There is no limitation to how many words we can create; in fact, we are encouraged to expand our vocabulary. The expansion of words has a positive impact on our communication, as “every word is a chance to express your idea and get your meaning across. New words grab people’s attention. They get people to focus on what you’re saying and that gives you a better chance to get your meaning across.” (Erin