Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered
The domain of reference of political discourse is not autonomous from language; this domain is a construct generated by the discourse itself. Such an approach to the relation between language and political reality was expressed in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Concepts of modern semant...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Tartu Press
2015-06-01
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| Series: | Sign Systems Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/15878 |
| _version_ | 1818740625057513472 |
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| author | Suren Zolyan |
| author_facet | Suren Zolyan |
| author_sort | Suren Zolyan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The domain of reference of political discourse is not autonomous from language; this domain is a construct generated by the discourse itself. Such an approach to the relation between language and political reality was expressed in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Concepts of modern semantics and pragmatics allow to explicate how language acts as both a form of constructing reality and a special type of social verbal behaviour. Language has become exclusively modal and intentional; any utterance expresses the relations of obligation, possibility, etc. and may be interpreted in intensional and, hence, in referentially non-opaque contexts. However, the semantics does not lose its referential force. In contrast, this force is multiplied, becoming a transworld relation. In this respect, the semantics of political discourse is akin to poetic semantics; however, the multidimensionality of the signified referents is hidden because referential discourse is a precondition for effectiveness. Political discourse, as a description of “world as it is”, presupposes a hidden reference to other modal contexts “world in the future” (or “in the past”); “how the world should be” (or “should not be”), etc. The domain of the interpretation of political discourse is a set of possible worlds. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T01:43:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-00d8f1e8db9748e98920286433f71654 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1406-4243 1736-7409 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T01:43:42Z |
| publishDate | 2015-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Tartu Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sign Systems Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-00d8f1e8db9748e98920286433f716542022-12-21T21:25:13ZengUniversity of Tartu PressSign Systems Studies1406-42431736-74092015-06-0143110.12697/SSS.2015.43.1.06Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsideredSuren Zolyan0Sholokhov Moscow State University for the Humanities / Russian Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Technology (RIAS) Moscow, Russia; Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Science, Yerevan, ArmeniaThe domain of reference of political discourse is not autonomous from language; this domain is a construct generated by the discourse itself. Such an approach to the relation between language and political reality was expressed in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Concepts of modern semantics and pragmatics allow to explicate how language acts as both a form of constructing reality and a special type of social verbal behaviour. Language has become exclusively modal and intentional; any utterance expresses the relations of obligation, possibility, etc. and may be interpreted in intensional and, hence, in referentially non-opaque contexts. However, the semantics does not lose its referential force. In contrast, this force is multiplied, becoming a transworld relation. In this respect, the semantics of political discourse is akin to poetic semantics; however, the multidimensionality of the signified referents is hidden because referential discourse is a precondition for effectiveness. Political discourse, as a description of “world as it is”, presupposes a hidden reference to other modal contexts “world in the future” (or “in the past”); “how the world should be” (or “should not be”), etc. The domain of the interpretation of political discourse is a set of possible worlds.https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/15878political realitylanguage in political functionpolitical discourseOrwell's linguistic theoryNewspeakdoublethink |
| spellingShingle | Suren Zolyan Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered Sign Systems Studies political reality language in political function political discourse Orwell's linguistic theory Newspeak doublethink |
| title | Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered |
| title_full | Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered |
| title_fullStr | Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered |
| title_full_unstemmed | Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered |
| title_short | Language and political reality: George Orwell reconsidered |
| title_sort | language and political reality george orwell reconsidered |
| topic | political reality language in political function political discourse Orwell's linguistic theory Newspeak doublethink |
| url | https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/15878 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT surenzolyan languageandpoliticalrealitygeorgeorwellreconsidered |