Language of the Future as an Object of Satire in D. Eggers’s Dystopic Dilogy

Personal worldview can be subjected to linguistic modeling even if the person in question is a fictional character. This research featured the vocabulary invented by the contemporary American writer Dave Eggers for his dystopic dilogy, as well as the role of this fictional language in creating satirical mode. The study involved such methods of cognitive linguistics as component, transformational, and stylistic analyses, analytical description, and semantic fields. The article opens with a review of domestic and foreign publications on the connection between language, social processes, and thinking. The Circle (2013) and The Every (2021) were analyzed for satirical and stylistic devices. The dilogy turned out to be a new type of satire, which combines the postmodern irony and deconstruction with the metamodern openness and optimism. The vocabulary of the future as seen by the author was analyzed for its functions in creating the worldview. Its key features include: neologisms and occasionalisms coined in line with actual word-formation models; contrasting high and low-style vocabulary; euphemisms and modified set phrases. D. Eggers also satirized some real linguistic trends, which, in his opinion, deform the language and affect people’s mind and behavior. 

1. Alisova E. Yu. Vladimir Voinovich’s satirical novel. RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism, 2013, (1): 12–18. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/pxdfmb

2. Bahtin M. M. Satire. Literary encyclopedia of terms and concepts, ed. and comp. Nikolyukin A. N. Moscow: Intelvak, 2001, 935–950. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/xczgxp

3. Grekova V. V. Genre specificity of anti-utopia on the example of V. Voinovich’s novel "Moscow 2042". Modern Studies of Social Issues, 2019, 11(6): 77–96. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.12731/2077-1770-2019-6-77-96

4. Konovalov S. M. About satire. Art Logos, 2020, (2): 24–35. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/zbqcce

5. Konovalov S. M. Main stages of the development of the satirical tradition in Belarusian literature. Pushkin readings. Artistic strategies of classical and new literature: genre, author, and text: Proc. Intern. Sci. Conf., St. Petersburg, 6–7 Jun 2019. St. Petersburg: Pushkin LSU, 2019, 88–94. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/kgmawn

6. Kryukova S. V., Kozhemyakin E. A. Issue of language modelling of social reality in fictional discourse (by works of G. Orwell, E. Zamyatin and V. Sorokin). Kul'tura i tekst, 2018, (1): 99–117. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/ywezyn

7. Likhodzievsky A. S. Traditions of American folk humor in the American satirical novel of the second half of the XX century. XV Vinogradov Readings: Proc. Sci.-Prac. Conf., Tashkent, 22 мая 2019. Ekaterinburg: USUE, 2019, 123–128. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/judxbr

8. Malysheva E. V. Fictional language as a text-typological feature of dystopia. Philological Studies, ed. Morozova O. N. St. Petersburg: Pushkin LSU, 2015, 83–100. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/vygpsf

9. Muzychenko A. S. British satirical tradition in P. H. Johnson’s novel "The Unspeakable Skipton": Continuity and individuality. Culture and safety, 2023, (2): 53–61. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25257/KB.2023.2.53-61

10. Nesvetailo Iu. N. Neologisms and occasionalisms as a means of replenishing the lexical macro-field of modern English. The Humanities and Social Sciences, 2010, 4: 180–186. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/rgtkrp

11. Pervushyna L. V. Satirical stance in literary work by Steve Tesich. Vestnik of Polotsk State University. Series: Humanities, 2019, (2): 62–72. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/zboavv

12. Sergeev V. M. Introduction. Language and modeling of social interaction, ed. Petrov V. V. Moscow: Progress, 1987, 3–19. (In Russ.)

13. Skvortsov V. V. Functions of an imaginary language "speedtalk" in the story by R. Heinlein "Gulf". Philology. Theory & Practice, 2014, (8-2): 149–152. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/sftynp

14. Sukhoverkhov A. V. Linguistic determinism, cumulative evolution and development of scientific knowledge. Politematicheskij setevoj jelektronnyj nauchnyj zhurnal Kubanskogo gosudarstvennogo agrarnogo universiteta, 2015, (105): 105–127. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/tikkon

15. Whorf B. L. Science and linguistics. Languages as an image of the world, comp. Korolev K. St. Petersburg: Terra Fantastica, 2003, 202–220. (In Russ.) https://www.elibrary.ru/qocbnn

16. Ushakova E. V. Satirical modus of the novel "Symposium" by M. Spark. Philology. Theory & Practice, 2017, (12-1): 41–44. (In Russ.)

17. Chesters S. "Don’t go all earnest on us": Metamodern satire in George Saunders’s "Brad Carrigan, American". Studies in American Humor, 2021, 7(1): 39–60. https://doi.org/10.5325/studamerhumor.7.1.0039

18. Fitch W. T., Huber L., Bugnyar T. Social cognition and the evolution of language: Constructing cognitive phylogenies. Neuron, 2010, 65(6): 795–814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.011

19. Griffin D. Satire: A critical reintroduction. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2021, 256.

20. Hauser M. D., Chomsky N., Fitch W. T. The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 2002, 298(5598): 1569–1579. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.298.5598.1569

21. Hume K. Maria Dahvana Headley’s The Mere Wife: Diffused satire in a troubling piece of Beowulfiana. Orbit: A Journal of American Literature, 2021, 9(1): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.16995/orbit.3445

22. Laguarta-Bueno C. Transhumanism in Dave Eggers’ The Circle: Utopia vs. dystopia, dream vs. nightmare. Revista de Estudios Norteamericanos, 2018, 22: 165–188. https://doi.org/10.12795/REN.2018.i22.08

23. Lee J. C. Contemporary US-American satire and consumerism (Crews, Coupland, Palahniuk). Comparative Literature and Culture, 2012, 14(4). https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.1839

24. López-Rúa P. VPS, Goodthink, Unwomen and Demoxie: Morphological neologisms in four dystopian novels. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 2019, 59: 117–136. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20196342

25. Millward J. "Words That Are Lost": obsolete language in dystopian fiction. Dystopia(n) Matters: On the Page, on Screen, on Stage, ed. Vieira F. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013, 96–114.