Introduction 3 chapter chapter I fictional languages in the context of modern reality 5

2.2.2. The role of "newspeak" in the composition of anti-utopia

The plot of the novel "1984" allows us to determine its belonging to the genre of dystopia. In addition, "1984" is an example of a clichéd dystopian plot, which echoes previous examples of the genre: the works of E. Zamyatin and O. Huxley. However, in previous works in the genre of dystopia, the problem of language was only touched upon in passing, their authors implying the presence in the fictional worlds of the future of a special language, different from the real ones. It is J. Orwell who owns a detailed description of a fictional language, so the language component in the novel is the achievement of the author as an innovator. "1984" is the first literary text whose fictional language left the pages of a book and became a fact of real life.
As noted above, many researchers regard the presence of a fictional language in a work as a criterion for classifying a text as fantasy , utopia, or dystopia. In the case of the novel "1984", the fictional language "Newspeak" made it possible to determine its genre belonging to dystopia. In dystopias, as is known, the authors depict a society somewhat distant from its prototype in space and time, but always connected with the prototype by real social or political problems. Newspeak bears the features of a totalitarian language, the real sources of which are easily recognizable: elements of propaganda speeches, party slogans with perverted logic, inappropriate use, hyperbolization and an abundance of military terms characteristic of the official languages of the USSR and Nazi Germany. It is the presence of such elements that allows us to define "1984" as a dystopia.
"Newspeak" is associated with the ideological plan of the work and is the semantic center of the novel. The author gives Newspeak the role of a political language and demonstrates how political tasks can be solved with the help of linguistic means. Since all the characters of the work pass the test for attitude to Newspeak, and the reader's attitude to the character is formed taking into account the results of this test, Newspeak should be considered as the central image of the work.
Moreover, "newspeak" plays a significant role in the composition and development of the plot of the novel. The author, devoting a separate appendix to the description of the principles of the organization of Newspeak, emphasizes the importance of fictional language in the poetics of the novel. However, by revealing these principles, he undermines them: totalitarian language affects consciousness only on condition that this effect remains unnoticed. In the process of revealing the principles of its work, the author changes the vector of influence: he makes an anti-totalitarian language out of a totalitarian one. If in the fictional society of Oceania the main task of the language is to prevent dissent, then at the level of relations between the author and the reader, the author uses "newspeak" to demonstrate the measures that parties have to take to maintain power. From this we can conclude that this social system is unstable, while "newspeak" acts as a "time bomb" created by the system itself.
The most important task of "newspeak" is to contribute to the solution of the ideological problems set by the author, as well as to reveal the meaning of the novel. Orwell presents language as a tool for modeling social consciousness. The main means of characterizing the characters of the novel is their attitude towards Newspeak. Newspeak vocabulary influences the genre nature, the plot and compositional organization and figurative system of the novel, and also gives an obvious originality to the style of the text.