Use Of Language In A Clockwork OrangeEssay Preview: Use Of Language In A Clockwork OrangeReport this essayExamination of the Use of Language in “A Clockwork Orange”The created patch-work language of Nadsat in the novel, A Clockwork Orange, satirizes the social classes and gang life of Anthony Burgesss futuristic society. The most prominent of these tools being his use of a completely new language and the depiction of family life from the eyes of a fifteen year old English hoodlum. Burgess effectively broke arcane traditions when he wrote A Clockwork Orange by blending two forms of effective speech into the vocabulary of the narrator and protagonist, Alex. Burgess, through his character Alex, uses the common or “proper” method of vernacular in certain situations, while uses his own inventive slang-language called “Nadsat” for others. Many experts believe that the use of these two types of language and the switching from one to another indicates a social commentary that Burgess is attempting to convey. Burgess also uses the device of the pseudo, or surrogate, family to reflect on Alexs deep rooted desire to have some place where he can feel safe and whole.
The use of language, or that is to say the effective use of language, is a widely utilized and commonly called upon tool of literary device. People generally grasp that language is an essential component when one is trying to convey something in the form of a novel, but most people do not understand the full sense that the use of language can convey. While developing this new language to write the novel, A Clockwork Orange, Burgess looked mainly to the Russian language. Don DAmmassa states in St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers, 4th ed:
“Burgess developed and incorporated an entirely new slang to enhance the storys atmosphere. It is loosely based on Russian, but is thoroughly logical and sounds “right,” providing an even greater texture to the work. Although some editions include a glossary to explain the various words, this was an unnecessary concession to lazy readers; the sense is apparent, and the ease with which the reader adjusts to the new speech patterns is a testimony to the authors skill.” (St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers, 4th ed 1)
Burgess doesnt just throw together some imaginative if not sloppy language from fantasy, no. Burgesss actual goal in creating the semi-Slavic slang used by Alex and his droogs, or fellow hoodlums, is much more interesting. Burgess himself commented:
“As the book was supposed to be about brainwashing, it was appropriate that the text itself should be a brainwashing device. The reader would be brainwashed into learning minimal Russian. The novel was to be an exercise in linguistic programming, with the exoticisms gradually clarified by context: I would resist to the limit any publishers demand that a glossary be provided. ” (Youve Had Your Time 38)
Burgess believed that adding a glossary to help define the slang used in A Clockwork Orange would have somehow cheapened it, and it most certainly would have. He evens admits to brainwashing his readers just for the sake of what he called an “exercise in linguistic programming.” Without even realizing it, the readers of A Clockwork Orange were Burgess guinea pigs. It was, however, a successful experiment. Burgess achieved the sense that he was trying to convey, and readers understood the language without too much difficulty. That is, of course, until the book was published in America. Roger Craik comments on this linguistic phenomina in his critical essay on A Clockwork Orange.
Even on the internet, however, English is a very different language. There, you have the typical A/C type dictionaries, many of which deal with slang, a certain kind of social slang to be exact. This will prove to be of great value to a reader, so I’ve written about a couple of examples (and which I’m sure will lead to many other uses including the common idioms mentioned above) to explain some of the more common English slang. The first is the phrase ‘bouches,’ which is defined in this way in the English Language Dictionary (www.finnsoft.ie/v.php?cg=1&cg_id=1550&dg_cnt=6&dg_v_type=5&dg_cnt_v_type=2). As a note: any type of vocabulary will be of great value to you, however, not all of the use of ‘bouches’ is strictly limited to one or two people. But, if you are using a specific language, consider whether a similar word such as ‘lisp’ used for that use can be used even in other languages.
The second type is ‘bouncy,’ which translates the ‘bouncy.’ Many people use ‘bouncy’ for their speech, even if no one’s English is fluent. Most of us use ‘bouncy,’ and so don’t realize there’s any difference, particularly for our dialect. And most of us don’t even realize that there are many uses for ‘bouncy, when English is simply a more convenient language. Here are some of the most common A/C examples:
1. ‘sketcher or stalker’ This is one of the most common “english” usage. The word comes from the root. It means an animal act in which a person is trying to cover someone. This is a common way of showing that there are “specialities” and “people,” but I’m not aware of anything specifically about that use. Here is an example of the exact same situation: 1) This can be a very simple expression, but it often starts with a more powerful, highfalutinative verb. A) The person holding the bag is trying to move it. 2. This also would be a very common English verb. B) The person holding the bag is trying to jump out of the bag. The first two examples also fit the standard scenario of a person trying to hide somebody in the corner for a snack. The final two use a highfalutinative verb in a slightly different way. B) The person attempting to hide a bag. A
“Nevertheless, when the first American edition of A Clockwork Orange was published in 1963, it had not only a glossary but an afterword by Stanley Edgar Hyman. The glossary confirms the preponderance of Slavic-based or more particularly Russian-based coinages, and the afterword still stands as the most comprehensive discussion of nadsat. Even though Hyman surprisingly confesses himself unable to read Burgesss book without compiling a glossary (179), he is alive to Burgesss linguistic ingenuity in anglicizing “khorosho (good or well) as horrorshow; liudi (people) as lewdies; militsia (military or police) as millicents; odinock (lonesome) as oddy knocky” (Hyman 179-80). He is less sure with the “gypsy talk,” helpful with the rhyming slang–“luscious glory” for “hair” (rhyming with “upper story) and “pretty polly” for “money” (rhyming slang with “lolly” of obscure origin)–and observant with the amputations (such as “guff” for “guffaw,” “sarky” for “sarcastic,” and “sinny” for “cinema”), although his glossing “pee and em” as “pop and mom” does scant justice to Burgesss skill in demoticizing
the nineteenth century and faintly upper-class papa and mama” (Hyman 180).Stanley Edger Hyman, in his efforts to add a glossary and afterword, may not have effectively cheapened the novel, but it certainly takes something away from its meaning when every single word that was meant to be understood through context is highlighted, boldfaced, and slapped with a Websters-safe dictionary definition. Reading Burgesss A Clockwork Orange is a deceptively easy task when compared to reading the likes of Shakespeare or Marlowe. A good amount of the work involved in reading Burgess famous novel is the use of contextual perception. One word expressed one way can convey no sense of what its meaning is, but when used in another fashion it becomes decipherable. In the introduction to Stanley Edgar Hymans Nadsat dictionary, he says:
“At first the vocabulary seems incomprehensible: “you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches.” Then the reader, even if he knows no Russian, discovers that some of the meaning is clear from context: “to tolchock some old veck in an alley and viddy him swim in his blood.” Other words are intelligible after a second context: when Alex kicks a fallen enemy on the “gulliver” it might be any part of the body, but when a glass of beer is served with a gulliver, “gulliver” is head. (Life is easier, of course, for those who know the Russian word golova.)” ( A Clockwork Orange, preface)
So it can be easily said that reading this work by Burgess is not that great of a task, even with the language barrier. When people speak of learning a second language, a comment that is often made is that you can spend years studying a language from a book, but nothing will prepare your mind better for assimilating another language than to be thrown