Orwell's Problem

97
The Reading Matrix
Vol. 6, No. 1, April 2006

TURNING TO ORWELL TO UNDERSTAND ORWELL’S PROBLEM: A
SOCIOLINGUISTIC VIEW
Pedro Luis Luchini [e-mail] Adolfo Martín García [e-mail] Abstract
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Drawing on the works of groundbreaking linguists and sociolinguists of the likes of Noam
Chomsky, Ferdinand de Saussure and Benjamin Lee Whorf, this paper traces the origins of Orwell’s
Problem by depicting the fictional sociolinguistic scenario presented in the classic Nineteen Eightyfour. A syntactic, morphological and semantic description of Orwell’s fictitious language,
‘Newspeak’ (which is here addressed from a deterministic perspective), is followed by an analysis of the main social institutions found in the novel. Thereupon, Orwell’s novel is depicted as a symbolic model for understanding how Orwell’s Problem functions in real life.
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Introduction
The idea of ‘manufacturing consent’ had been looming over popular intuition since long before
Walter Lippman coined such term in 1921. Nonetheless, it was not until Chomsky formally reintroduced Orwell’s Problem that the issue of sociolinguistic oppression began to receive serious, mainstream attention. Put succinctly, Orwell’s Problem poses the question of how it is that individuals have such a limited knowledge of the immediate world in the face of unlimited evidence. When attempting to answer that question, most scholars and specialists look into reality in order to analyze and reflect on instances of Orwell’s Problem in particular societies.
Unfortunately, despite the valuable contributions that such procedures have resulted in, no study has as of yet been able to address the matter in its full dimension.
Although trying to find a comprehensive, progressive explanation of Orwell’s Problem in the very novel which presented it to popular opinion may be deemed an oversimplistic or clumsily paradoxical task, the systematic

References: Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Chomsky, N. (1985). El conocimiento del lenguaje. Su naturaleza, origen y uso. Translation by Eduardo Bustos Guadaño from “Knowledge of Language: its Nature, Origins and Use” Freud, S. (1939). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Gil, J.M. (1999). Introducción a las teorías lingüísticas del siglo XX. Melusina editoral. Goodenough, W.H. (1957). Cultural anthropology and linguistics. In P.L. Garvin, ed. Report of the 7th Annual Round Table Meeting on Linguistics and Language Study Hudson, R.A. (1980). Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press. Lavandera, B.R. (1985). Curso de lingüística para el análisis del discurso. Centro Editor de América Latina. Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen Eighty-four. Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd. Saussure, F. de (1916/1959). Course in General Linguistics. New York: McGraw-Hill. Whorf, B.L. (1940). Science and Linguistics. Technological Review 42: 229-31, 47-8. Mar del Plata, Argentina. 1997: Ex- Fulbright Scholar, Spanish instructor at College of DuPage, Illinois, USA Postal Address: , Alice 6455, Mar del Plata (7600), Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina Adolfo Garcia is a Technical-Scientific Translator graduated from the Mar del Plata Community College (MDPCC), Universidad CAECE, Argentina. He is author of the fictional literary book ‘Nueve Creaciones’ (2004), published in Argentina Intersemiotic Translation (Arrizabalaga, 2005). Head of Department of Academic Writing in English at ELTeam Consultancy, Argentina Postal Address: Falucho 1830 – Dpto. 4A – 2º Cpo., Mar del Plata (7600), Provincia de Buenos Aires