North Macedonia Goes Full 1984: Appoints Language Proofreaders In Institutions

North Macedonia will appoint language proofreaders in official institutions and state bodies to check all materials coming out of them for correct use of the Macedonian language.

This is done by virtue of the Law on the Use of the Macedonian Language, adopted on Friday by the Parliament and signed by President Stevo Pendarovski on Tuesday.

The new law expands the areas where the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic script are mandatory.

The law establishes an Inspectorate for the Implementation of the Macedonian Literary Language, which will monitor the regulatory framework. And the law provides a legal basis for adopting a National Strategy for the Macedonian language, reports the Ministry of Culture in Skopje.

It is envisaged to establish scholarships for fourth-year students and post-graduate, master's and doctoral studies with the idea of thus motivating young people to learn the Macedonian language.

The presidential office states that "the law will contribute to the promotion of language culture, maintenance and preservation of the Macedonian literary language and its Cyrillic alphabet, to affirm the need for increased social and individual care for its correct use in public and official communication, as well as respect and promotion of the language standard".

The Ministry of Culture in Skopje says that the Macedonian language is recognized at the UN, and "with the signing of the agreement with (the European border agency) Frontex it became part of the languages that are used officially in the EU".

Why 1984?

In George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Newspeak serves as the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate. In order to align with the ideological principles of Ingsoc (English Socialism) within Oceania, the Party devised Newspeak. This controlled language is characterized by simplified grammar and a restricted vocabulary, strategically crafted to diminish an individual's capacity for critical thinking. The primary objective is to curtail one's ability to express abstract concepts, including personal identity, self-expression, and free will – all considered thoughtcrimes, as they signify acts of personal independence that challenge the ideological conformity of Ingsoc collectivism.

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