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a medium of expression that makes all other modes of thought impossible
Isn't the concept of this very similar to the idea behind newspeak in 1984? I would add a nod to that or an "in popular culture" section but it is over 12 years since I read the book. Could an editor more familiar with the books possibly assist with this? --[[User:CJones|CJones]] 08:09, 27 February 2009 (EST)
:Indeed! and already noted: "An example of Sapir's beliefs can be found in George Orwell's book "1984". Here, "Newspeak" was created to alter the way people thought about the government. The new vocabulary was a method of mind control, since the population could not think of things that were not included in the vocabulary. In essence, they were prisoners of their own language." --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]]<sup>[[User talk:JessicaT|''nandeyanen?'']]</sup> 08:16, 27 February 2009 (EST)
::Here's a nice quote from [[George Orwell]], author of ''1984'':
::*"The purpose of [[Newspeak]] was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc [English Socialism], but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought--that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc--should be literally unthinkable, at least as far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect method. This was done partly by the invention of new words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever...A person growing up with Newspeak as his sole language would no more know that ‘equal' had once had the secondary meaning of "politically equal," or that ‘free' had once meant "intellectually free," than, for instance, a person who had never heard of chess would be aware of the secondary meanings attaching to ‘queen' or ‘rook.' [http://www.angelfire.com/journal/worldtour99/sapirwhorf.html] --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] <sup>[[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]]</sup> 09:55, 27 February 2009 (EST)
