Language power potential
Language power potential

Summary/Abstract: This paper looks at the power feature immanent to language. Through exploring the concept of language in the understanding of Ferdinand de Saussure, Ludwig Wittgenstein and George Orwell, it demonstrates how language can be used as a powerful tool for the control of the society. A qualitative analysis of the daily Rudé Právo, which forms a part of this paper, shows how the Czechoslovak regime in 1948-1989 changed the Czech language and adapted it to its needs, making it a totalitarian language. Through the introduction of the communication theory of K. W. Deutsch this paper shows how such an abuse of language threatens the viability of political systems. The final part of the paper identifies similar features of language abuse in liberal democracies by applying the norms of political correctness and cautions that such tendencies are equally dangerous to the viability of political systems as the creation of totalitarian languages.

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