> “The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought.” It will render dissent “literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
If this worked, we would have neither the word 'antibiotic' nor the drugs we classify under that name, because we didn't have the word until after we invented the substances.
The Sapir-Worf Hypothesis is interesting but Newspeak takes it too far and turns it into self-parody; the fact languages can develop new words, and new meanings for old words, gives the lie to the whole idea of taking it that far.
This seems to me a rather pedantic objection to a moral structure for a theoretical language... it's worth noting that both "anti" and "bio" existed as parts of language before antibiotics. The word antibiotic has a general meaning because it is made from known parts, and was used as the best fit for something which was discovered.
Also worth noting is that scientific research is heavily controlled in the world of 1984 for the reason that it brings novelty, advancement, and change of thought patterns.
It's not pedantic if it goes to the very heart of the concept.
> Also worth noting is that scientific research is heavily controlled in the world of 1984 for the reason that it brings novelty, advancement, and change of thought patterns.
It was heavily controlled in the USSR, too, but that didn't prevent the Gulag Archipelago novels from being written, for example.
If this worked, we would have neither the word 'antibiotic' nor the drugs we classify under that name, because we didn't have the word until after we invented the substances.
The Sapir-Worf Hypothesis is interesting but Newspeak takes it too far and turns it into self-parody; the fact languages can develop new words, and new meanings for old words, gives the lie to the whole idea of taking it that far.