12 APRIL 2016

Neologisms transforming the language in fictional texts Written by Chanel Boniface, Editor in Chief

Neologisms are newly coined words or phrases which are slowly introduced into everyday language. In more recent years, neologisms have begun to emerge in fictional writing as a way for authors to further expand their works. Popular examples of this include George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and Anthony Burgess’ ‘A Clockwork Orange.”

Both ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’ are dystopian novels surrounding themes of government corruption, violence, rebellion, and justice. These novels both contain neologisms in the form of fictional languages - Newspeak (Nineteen Eighty-Four) and Nadsat (A Clockwork Orange). Both of these fictional languages are used as a way of manipulating semantics. For example, Newspeak is tool used by the government of Oceania in order to control its citizens. This is done through the specific lexis which consists only of positives. An example of this is how the only way to express the idea of something being “bad” is through the word “ungood,” so if something is “extremely bad” it’s called “doubleplus ungood.” By using the word “ungood” which contains the root word “good,” anything negative subconsciously becomes associated with being a positive thing. This subtle manipulation enables the government to effectively alter the people of Oceania’s perceptions of situations, thereby allowing ‘Big Brother’ to maintain control and the severe corruption to go unnoticed.

Alternatively, Nadsat consists mostly of slang and is used by British teenagers as a way to alienate themselves from their elders. They do this through adopting a mixture of Cockney-Rhyming slang and Russian lexis creating a sociolect that is virtually unintelligible by those not conversant.

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12 APRIL 2016

The effects of neologisms in fictional language Neologisms have the ability to completely transform fictional writing through creating unrestricted linguistic possibilities. They are able to alter semantics, impose meaning and affect the views and emotions of the reader. Neologisms open portals to the world of the fictitious which would otherwise remain unreachable.

In both ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ neologisms are used to impact the levels of freedom and creativity that are available to the characters. Orwell used neologisms in the form of Newspeak as a method of limiting the freedom of protagonist Winston Smith and reducing his ability to think creatively, whereas Burgess chose to make Nadsat - a sociolect in which teenagers are able to communicate freely amongst themselves whilst simultaneously alienating those around them.

One of the main reasons neologisms are so effective is their ability to create an emotional response in the reader. By tampering with semantics, testing boundaries and manipulating the views and opinions of the reader, neologisms are able to to insight empathy with serial rapists (Alex in A Clockwork Orange), forgiveness when faced with violent youths assaulting citizens, and even sympathy for a sociopathic teen who fantasies about torture, rape and slaughter.

Neologisms have slowly integrated into the English language and are used in non-fictional texts, on the internet, and in people’s everyday vocabulary; the latter is often referred to as being part of either an idiolect - one person’s specific language use - or a sociolect which refers to the language used by a specific group of people. Sociolects are divided by a multitude of factors including age, race, social class, political alignment, and area.

More and more groups of people are slowly becoming familiarised with neologisms through the internet and specifically through social networking sites. Websites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are hives of new words which are slowly being consolidated into the English language. An example of this is the word ‘hashtag.’ Originally, the hash key was used as a shorthand for pounds (weight) in America. Now, it’s used in Tweets as a way to include a buzzword, promote something or simply to express an emotion i.e. #Excited or #FollowThePostOnline. It’s also used on Facebook for similar reasons to Twitter, and on Instagram as a way to separate different posts out and allow users to search for posts with these specific hashtags i.e searching for #Camping will only show results tagged with this particular term which may include photos of festivals or outdoor holidays.

Overall, Neologisms are becoming increasingly popular and can be used in a variety of different ways. Whether you’re writing the next bestselling novella or simply sending a Tweet, neologisms are relevant and will continue to affect the ways in which we utilise language.

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