what was newspeak used for?

[Demosthenese]

was newspeak a way of controlling what the people said? why should speech matter so much to big brother?

[imprudentica]

Yes, it was. But, it was more a way for the party to control how the people thought. It goes to the theory that our speech defines us. We think in the language that we use, and our moods and feelings are described using our vocabulary, and using concepts we are familiar with. For instance, if the word Tyranny is never used or discussed and one is kept in constant fear and awe of displeasing Big Brother, its difficult for a citizen to grasp that the Party is an oppressive regime.

[HehBubawatchis]

Newspeak is a large factor in the way Big Brother keeps control. Through Newspeak he is able to control the laguage. He is able to control how people communicate. His goal like sam said is to get rid of all adjectives. If people are unable to describe things then it is impossible for them to speak out against the government. They have no way of communicating their feelings or thoughts. What happens till ultimate language cutdown is acheived? Thats what the purges were for not just to erase the memery of everything of the past but to get rid of middle-aged people that might be a threat to Big Brother the people that might be still able to communicate feelings and thoughts. The thought police take care of anyone that has grudges twards the government thats why people are allways dissapearing. Newspeak is Big Brothers grand doorway to total control over everyone. His biggest threat comes not from another country but from the people that live in his country, thats why he strives to control everyone and everything. Personaly i think his plan is brilliant and the amount of control he has over the people is unbeleivable. This is one of Orwells HUGE warnings.

[goodnite]

Who controls the language, controls the thoughts. In 80's in Hungary (where I live) there was a tendency to use newspeak-ish forms, abbrevations with obscure origin etc. It wasn't a hard dictatorship, but there weren't expressions for example oppositional politics (except reactionist, fascist, retrograde) in common use. If people don't know them, don't use them and even just don't think about them.