Journal archive

Abstract: The article touches upon the problem of generalization and systematization of data on artificial languages, the num- ber of which is increasing every year. The study poses a hypothesis that the modern linguistic concept of a typological passport of a language can be applied not only to natural, but also to fictional languages. The aim of the study is to compile a typological passport of the fictional language Newspeak. It identifies the specific and universal typological indicators relevant for the description of fic- tional languages. The specific features unique to each fictional language include the following characteristics: the name of the lan- guage, the author, the work of literature, the time of invention, the type of language depending on weather it contains borrowed elements from natural languages, the extent of the author’s description of the language and the functions of the language in the literary work. The fictional language Newspeak was created by G. Orwell for his dystopian novel “1984” in 1948. Newspeak is an a pos- teriori language based on modern English. The author partially describes the language he invented in the appendix to the novel. The main function of Newspeak is to narrow down the range of human thought. Universal features are used to describe any language. They include: the graphic and phonetic composition and the vocabulary and grammar peculiarities. Since Newspeak is a modifica- tion of the English language, it has the same graphic and phonetic inventory. Its vocabulary is significantly reduced, and there are no exceptions to grammar rules. Being the official language of a totalitarian society, Newspeak has no means to express ideas that contradict the guidelines of the ruling party. The undertaken research suggests that when compiling a typological passport of a fictional language, it is necessary to take into account that its typological characteristics are determined by the purpose of its crea- tion. That is why a fictional language, which is part of the author’s artistic intention, should be studied in the context of the entire literary work. The typological passport of Newspeak presented in the article can serve as a model for systematizing information about other fictional languages.

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 16.05.2023; date of publication: 31.03.2024

References:

Arakin, V. D. (1984). Sopostavitel'naya tipologiya skandinavskikh yazykov [Comparative Typology of the Scandinavian Languages]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola. 135 p.
Arakin, V. D. (1989). Tipologiya yazykov i problema metodicheskogo prognozirovaniya [Typology of Languages and the Problem of Methodological Forecasting]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola. 158 p.
Arakin, V. D. (2005). Sravnitel'naya tipologiya angliiskogo i russkogo yazykov [Comparative Typology of the English and Russian Languages]. Moscow, Fizmatlit. 231 p.
Bolton, W. F. (1984). The Language of “1984”. Orwell’s English and Ours. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 252 p. Claeys, G. (2010). The Origins of Dystopia: Wells, Huxley and Orwell. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 283 p.

Demerjian, L. M. (2016). The Age of Dystopia: One Genre, Our Fears and Our Future. Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 169 p.
Fitting, P. (2010). Utopia, Dystopia and Science Fiction. In Claeys, G. (Ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. New York, Cambridge University Press, pp. 135–153.
Girutsky, A. A. (2003). Vvedenie v yazykoznanie [Introduction to Linguistics]. Minsk, TetraSistems. 288 p.
Gottlieb, E. (2001). Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial. Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press. 352 p.
Ivanova, A. Yu., Mozzhegorova, E. N. (2020). Osobennosti vymyshlennogo yazyka E. Berdzhessa «nadsat» i ego perevod na russkii yazyk [Features of A. Burgess’s Fictional Language “Nadsat” and Its Translation into Russian]. In Vo- prosy perevodovedeniya, mezhkul'turnoi kommunikatsii i zarubezhnoi literatury. Cheboksary, Izdatel'stvo ChGPU, pp. 58–63.
Ivin, A. A. (Ed.). (2004). Filosofiya: entsiklopedicheskii slovar' [Philosophy: An Encyclopedic Dictionary]. Moscow, Gardariki. 1072 p.
Kalinichenko, M. O. (2016). Grammaticheskii analiz kontekstov iskusstvennogo yazyka (na materiale kon- struktsii «novoyaza» v romane Dzh. Oruella «1984») [Grammatical Analysis of Artificial Language Contexts (Based on the Material of “Newspeak” Constructions in G. Orwell’s Novel “1984”)]. In Aktual'nye voprosy filologicheskoi nauki XXI veka. Ekaterinburg, Ural'skii federal'nyi universitet, pp. 143–148.
Karpukhina, V. N., Kvitkovsky, S. V. (2021). Vymyshlennye yazyki kak lingvisticheskoe yavlenie [Fictional Lan- guages as a Linguistic Phenomenon]. In Yazyki i literatura v polikul'turnom prostranstve. No. 7, pp. 69–72.
Kartel, O. N. (2017). «Novoyaz» i neologizmy v romane «1984» Dzh. Oruella [“Newspeak” and Neologisms in G. Orwell’s Novel “1984”]. In Idei. Poiski. Resheniya. Part 5. Minsk, Izdatel'stvo BGU, pp. 49–55.
Kozlova, L. A. (2019). Sravnitel'naya tipologiya angliiskogo i russkogo yazykov [Comparative Typology of the English and Russian Languages]. Barnaul, Izdatel'stvo AltGPU. 180 p.
Kuznetsov, S. N. (1976). K voprosu o tipologicheskoi klassifikatsii mezhdunarodnykh iskusstvennykh yazykov [On the Issue of Typological Classification of International Artificial Languages]. In Problemy interlingvistiki: tipologiya i evolyutsiya mezhdunarodnykh iskusstvennykh yazykov: kollektivnaya monografiya. Moscow, Nauka, pp. 60–78.
Oks, M. V. (2006). Vymyshlennye yazyki v poetike angloyazychnogo romana XX veka: Newspeak, Nadsat, Kuranian, Zem- blan [Fictional Languages in the Poetics of the English-Language Novel of the 20th Century: Newspeak, Nadsat, Ku- ranian, Zemblan]. Rostov-on-Don, Rostizdat. 168 p.
Orwell, G. (2008). 1984. London, Penguin. 394 p.
Shirokova, A. V. (2006). Sopostavitel'naya tipologiya raznostrukturnykh yazykov [Comparative Typology of Different Structural Languages]. Moscow, Dobrosvet. 200 p.
Sidorova, M. Yu., Shuvalova, O. N. (2006). Internet-lingvistika: vymyshlennye yazyki [Internet Linguistics: Fic- tional Languages]. Moscow, 1989.ru. 184 p.
Skvortsov, V. V. (2014). Istoricheskoe razvitie vymyshlennykh yazykov v khudozhestvennoi literature [Historical Development of Fictional Languages in Fiction]. In European Social Science Journal. No. 8-1, pp. 239–243.
Traugoff, E. C. (1983). Newspeak: Could It Really Work? In On “1984”. New York, Freeman Press.
Yartseva, V. N. (Ed.). (1990). Lingvisticheskii entsiklopedicheskii slovar' [Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary]. Mos- cow, Sovetskaya entsiklopediya. 685 p.