Language, Thought and Nineteen Eighty-Four
| Thesis title in Czech: | Jazyk, myšlení a 1984 |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Language, Thought and Nineteen Eighty-Four |
| Key words: | George Orwell|1984|historie jazyka|jazyk a význam|písmo|paměť |
| English key words: | George Orwell|Nineteen Eighty-Four|language history|language and meaning|writing|memory |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2016/2017 |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's thesis |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK) |
| Supervisor: | PhDr. Zdeněk Beran, Ph.D. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 07.09.2017 |
| Date of assignment: | 07.09.2017 |
| Administrator's approval: | not processed yet |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 01.11.2017 |
| Date and time of defence: | 04.09.2018 00:00 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 17.08.2018 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 04.09.2018 |
| Submitted/finalized: | committed by student and finalized |
| Opponents: | Mgr. Pavla Veselá, Ph.D. |
| Guidelines |
| Throughout his writing, George Orwell repeatedly points out that using inaccurate language and vague expressions chosen for their effect rather than meaning can obscure the meaning (and often the ugly truth) of what is being said, even from the speaker. He further develops and illustrates this idea in the most famous of his novels, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Language is appropriated, drastically reduced and distorted by the leading political power, and various strategies to obscure meaning are applied to it; written documents are continually rewritten and falsified so they no longer fulfil their function as reliable historical records or proofs; and spoken language is gradually automatized in order to disengage speakers’ thinking and consciousness from the use of language. These principles lie at the basis of most of the ways in which the Party maintains its power.
The thesis will examine in depth the different ways and areas in which language and its use are manipulated by the Party, and consider the parallels between changes to the language and changes to (and effects on) the society in general and the main protagonists, Winston and Julia, in particular. O’Brian’s words to Winston (“You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”) can be at large applied to what the Party does to the language and it is this manipulation of language that enables them to manipulate people in the same way. They disconnect it/them from the reality, from the past, from the mind, from the individual, from any meaning. There are three main areas on which the thesis will focus: 1. Linguistic change and language history (Vachek, Millward); 2. Physical reality, language and meaning (Deleuze, Whorf); 3. Writing, written records and other material artefacts, memory (Goody, Klein). |
| References |
| Buchowski, Michał, David B. Kronenfeld, William Peterman and Lynn Thomas. ‘Language, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and 1989.’ Language in Society, 23.4 (1994): 555-578, JSTOR <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4168556> 22 Apr 2016.
Courtine, Jean-Jacques and Laura Willett. ‘A Brave New Language: Orwell’s Invention of “Newspeak” in 1984.’ SubStance, 15.2 (1986): 69-74, JSTOR <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3684756> 22 Apr 2016. Deleuze, Gilles. The Logic of Sense. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Finigan, Theo. ‘“Into the Memory Hole”: Totalitarianism and Mal d’Archive in Nineteen Eighty‑Four and The Handmaid’s Tale.’ Science Fiction Studies, 38.3 (Nov 2011): 435-459, JSTOR <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5621/sciefictstud.38.3.0435> 22 Apr 2016. Goody, Jack. The Interface between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Kennedy, Allan. ‘The Inversion of Form: Deconstructing 1984.’ New Casebooks: George Orwell. Ed. Graham Holderness, Bryan Loughrey and Nahem Yousaf. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. 76-96. Klein, Stanley B. ‘A Self to Remember.’ Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self. Eds. Constantine Sedikides and Marilynn B. Brewer. <https://books.google.cz/books/reader?id=FZVACwAAQBAJ&hl=cs&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PT43.w.1.0.0> 21 Feb. 2016 Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin Books, 2013. Orwell, George. ‘Politics and the English Language.’ The Penguin Essays of George Orwell. London: Penguin Books, 1984. 354-366. Orwell, George. ‘Looking Back at the Spanish War.’ The Penguin Essays of George Orwell. London: Penguin Books, 1984. 216-232. Phelan, James. ‘Character, Progression, and Thematism in 1984.’ New Casebooks: George Orwell. Ed. Graham Holderness, Bryan Loughrey and Nahem Yousaf. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. 97-115. Reilly, Patrick. ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Insufficient Self.’ New Casebooks: George Orwell. Ed. Graham Holderness, Bryan Loughrey and Nahem Yousaf. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. 116-138. Thompson, Caleb. ‘Philosophy and Corruption of Language.’ Philosophy, 67.259 (Jan 1992): 19-31, JSTOR <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3751506> 22 Apr 2016. Vachek, Josef. ‘On the Interplay of External and Internal Factors in the Development of Language.’ Selected Writings in English and General Linguistics. Prague: Academia, 1976. 91-103. Vachek, Josef. ‘Some Sociolinguistic Factors in the Development of English.’ Selected Writings in English and General Linguistics. Prague: Academia, 1976. 400-407. Whorf, Benjamin Lee. ‘The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behaviour to Language.’ Language, Thought and Reality. Ed. John B. Carroll. Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 1987. 134-159. Whorf, Benjamin Lee. ‘Science and Linguistics.’ Language, Thought and Reality. Ed. John B. Carroll. Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 1987. 207-219. |