What is Stress?

Abstract

The Principles of Newspeak:

‘The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least as far as thought is dependent on words …. Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.’

Orwell (1949)

Big Brother appreciated, and used to advantage, the intimate relationship between language and thought. In understanding the meaning of a theoretical concept it is often instructive to explore its use both over time and simultaneously in different contexts. This approach will be adopted here: four complementary perspectives will be taken. The historical development of the term ‘stress’ will first be described; it will then be defined operationally in terms of its cost to the individual concerned and to the national economy.