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Odd little question :)

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brendan:
"exercise power and authority in contemporary Australian society?"

"the ability for users to exert power over others, and hence control them."

It would be true to say that language has the ability to convince and persuade. However, to suggest that the use of language itself as having the capacity to control and coerce others is not only fundamentally wrong but absurdly dangerous.

ninwa:

--- Quote from: "brendan" ---"exercise power and authority in contemporary Australian society?"

"the ability for users to exert power over others, and hence control them."

It would be true to say that language has the ability to convince and persuade. However, to suggest that the use of language as having the capacity to control and coerce others is not only fundamentally wrong but absurdly dangerous.
--- End quote ---


*cough 1984 :P*



Mel that's a really good essay! You ALMOST made me admit english language can be interesting  :o good job  :P

cara.mel:
Thanks nina ^_^
What *is* 1984 about, anyway :P
All I know is that part of it has *something* to do with controlling others with language, and they have this newspeak which they tell us is a kind of double-speak, but I don't see how 'doubleplusungood' is double-speak. Meh oh well =P
I miss reading things from english :(

Some parts of Language are real crap though. Eg there was 2 marks last year for working out what part of speech 'water' was in sentences from the text. Like 'people cannot water their gardens between x am and y pm' and a lot of people still managed to put noun =/
Unit 3 has all the interesting junk ^_^ unit 1 and 4 are the boring 'lets learn metalanguage!' ones

choc_bananas:

--- Quote from: "ninwa" ---

*cough 1984 :P*


--- End quote ---


exactly what I was thinking..

Collin Li:
Language has no power to "control" per se, but I do agree it can persuade and sometimes be misleading. To claim language can control implies that speech should be limited, and it ultimately contends free speech should be regulated. Therefore, I think this is a dangerous conclusion to rest at.

1984 warns against the deliberate euphemisms of language, and Orwell was extremely wary of the rhetorical techniques used by the totalitarians (and was highly resentful of authority). However, he would hate to have his ideas misconstrued as a bulwark against free speech, and he would definitely disagree with the notion that language can control, because ultimately the listener still maintains his choice and individual critical thought. Instead, Orwell attempts to promote awareness and a questioning of language used (particularly from authority).

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