The Linguistic Engineering of Thought: Newspeak’s Role in Cognitive Restriction in Orwell’s 1984

Author(s)	Ms. Sunita Arora, Dr. Prachi Atreya
Country	India
Abstract	George Orwell’s 1984 presents a fictional world of a totalitarian state where every aspect of life of the people is controlled through different mechanism like surveillance, limiting life sources, restricting social connectivity and supressing freedom etc. In this state a big role is played by Newspeak, a language designed to limit thought and suppress dissent in a totalitarian regime. The state use this as a tool to manipulate their ideas and glorify their dystopian environment. This paper explores how Newspeak functions as a tool for cognitive restriction, analysing its mechanisms through linguistic theories like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and comparing it to the real-world and contemporary examples of language manipulation. By examining Newspeak’s reductionist structure, its psychological impact, and parallels in modern digital communication, this study argues that Orwell’s fictional language offers insights into the interplay between language, thought, and control.
Keywords	language, thought, Orwell, Newspeak, linguistic determinism, linguistic relativism
Field	Arts
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 1, January-February 2026
Published On	2026-02-24
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i01.69624

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