Name: ______________________

!984: The Importance of Language Assignment

Newspeak is the language used by the people and enforced by the government in George Orwell’s
1984. In this assignment we will take a look at different words used in Newspeak, their English
counterparts and why language is so important to how a society operates.

Creating Newspeak Words Using Prefixes

Prefix: word parts that are added to the beginning of base words and change the meaning of the
words.

Many words in the Newspeak vocabulary have Prefixes added to them in order to represent meaning
and annex certain words that mean the same thing. For instance…

 Really Good would be turned into Plusgood by adding the prefix plus to the base word good.

 Incredibly Good could be turned into doubleplusgood by adding the prefix double to plusgood.

 Boring or Not Fun could be turned into unfun by adding the prefix un to the base word fun.

Using the method above, create Newspeak words out of the words listed below:

Scared = _________________________

Incredibly hilarious = _________________________

Very sad = _________________________

Mean = _________________________

Very nice = _________________________

Very stupid = _________________________

Newspeak Vocabulary

Joycamp: forced labour camp

Oldspeak: English; perhaps any language that is not Newspeak.

Prolefeed: the steady stream of mindless entertainment.

Crimethink: to even consider any thought not in line with the principles of the government (Big Brother)

Ownlife: Individualism and eccentricity. A desire to do something for your own benefit and is frowned
upon by the government.

Goodsex: Intercourse for the purpose of creating children for the party.
Create Newspeak Definitions for the following words:

Oldthink =

Unperson =

Facecrime =

Big Brother =

Sexcrime =

Newspeak Today

Identify FIVE examples of Newspeak used today (you are welcome to use the Internet as a guide for this task):

1. _________________________ 2. _________________________ 3. _________________________

4. _________________________ 5. _________________________

Newspeak Article Assignment

“You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re destroying
words – scores of them, hundred of them, every day” (Orwell, 50-51)

Find a short news article online or, select one paragraph from a longer article, pertaining to the
Government. Articles that clearly state the 5Ws (who, what, when, where, why) work best. Think about
how the article might be altered or censored in the world of 1984. Using what you know about
Newspeak make changes to the article and show how it would be presented in the world of 1984. Be
sure to include a copy of the original article with your submission. Please see the attached rubric.

Sample (Please note this is just a sample of what you are being asked to do, your assignments should be longer than 1
sentence!):

Times 3.12.83 reporting bb dayorder doubleplusungod refs unpersons rewrite fullwise

upsub antefiling

In Oldspeak (or Standard English) this might be rendered:

The reporting of Big Brother’s Order for the Day in the Times of December 3rd 1983
Is extremely unsatisfactory and makes references to non-existent persons. Re-write
It in full and submit your draft to higher authority before filing (51).