Language, Power, and Ideology: A Critical Discourse Analysis of George Orwell's 1984

Abstract

This paper addresses the construction of ideology, power, and identity through language in the novel “1984” by George Orwell. Using Fairclough’s three-dimensional system of CDA, the study explores how linguistic choices at the level of discourse and sociocultural practice construct and enact power. Relevant textual excerpts were gathered from the novel and analysed using “Emotion Trajectory Tool” software to provide a visual representation of the percentages of these linguistic devices present in the text. Power is linguistically portrayed through fragmented structures, negations, paradoxical political slogans, ritualized propaganda, and discursive formulations of resistance. The results obtained through the Emotion Trajectory Tool help to identify the distribution of the main discursive strategies in the text: Newspeak occupies about 30 percent, doublethink occupies 25 percent, propaganda and ritual practices occupy 20 percent, historical revisionism occupies 15 percent, and control based on surveillance occupies 10 percent. The findings indicate how Orwell constructs language as a means of ideological coercion rather than communication. The study contributes to scholarship on language and social life by demonstrating how power and ideology in narrative are constructed, negotiated, and challenged through ordinary linguistic action. The paper demonstrates how the characters employ coercive and manipulative discourse that relies heavily on emotional expression to exert authority and render others powerless. Finally, the conclusions strengthen the argument of Orwell on the issue of linguistic oppression and its applicability to the authoritarian discourse of the present day.