The Impact And Significance Of Doublespeak in Communication

Effective communication has been hindered by the use of doublespeak. People create new meanings and ideas by being crafty and selective of their words. For an international student like me, clear and simple language that is easily understandable is indispensable to save both time and to improve efficiency. The World of DoublespeakInformation is an important tool for every human being. As such, it needs to be accurate and precise allowing for informed judgements and responses. However, more than often, there have been cases where people manipulate language with the intent of tampering with information that could warrant sound judgement.

Doublespeak enables people to justify wrong doings, while at the same time manipulating responses from the audience. Lutz in his work tackles the issue of doublespeak, which occurs in various forms.

According to him, “double speak is a blanket term for language which pretends to communicate but doesn’t, language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant attractive…” (p.

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249). Lynch echoes this by stating, “…doublespeak is a pernicious variation of dishonesty. Doublespeak perverts the basic function of language, which is to facilitate a common understanding between human beings” (p. 2). I tend to agree with Lutz point of view since it is accurate and well researched. According to him, doublespeak may occur in several forms such as euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook, and inflated language. Doublespeak tends to deviate from the reality of things.

As such, people use it to avoid words that may communicate the truthful state of things.

In face of bankruptcy, institutions have engaged in doublespeak to lower the impact of such knowledge to the public, customers, and their employees. The consequences of such actions are dire and depressing. Such institutions end up cutting their labor force and other functions that affect their service delivery to their customers. A good example of this is provided by Kehl who embarks on the double speak applied in academic institutions. The author says, “Faced with severe budget deficits, administrators rely heavily on doublespeak to make things appear better-or worse- as the occasion demands” (Kehl, p. 3). Doublespeak is therefore applied to conceal the truth or to communicate in a way that deprives the urgency of a situation. Almost everyone has been subject to doublespeak. In the news and commercials where a given commodity is misrepresented to seem good than it actually is. Regardless of the situation, people try to either magnify the benefits of something or understate the consequences of such a thing. This is especially true to salespeople who have a duty ensure that a product or service continues to sell regardless of its relevance to the customers. Information provided in such circumstances is usually quite misleading and misinforming. Such magnification or understatement of information is referred to by Lutz as inflated language.

An example is well provided by Kehl, “to UPI Faculty Action, deferred maintenance means a failure to do needed painting and cleaning, and to make minor repairs due to lack of funds…” (p. 6). Kehl shows how academic institutions tend to downplay critical process by choosing misleading words that are void of the urgency involved. Although euphemism can be applied to avoid offensive words that can make a communicator seem heartless, people have grown a culture of misusing them to deceive and mislead. According to Lutz euphemism is “an inoffensive or positive word or phrase designed to avoid a harsh, unpleasant, or distasteful reality” (p. 249). Such words and phrases have been widely witnessed even in the business world where they are applied to report a deceptive image of the reality. For example, a company that has laid off most of their people use euphemism to report such actions to the public. As Kehl reports, “94 Faculty and staff, of course, are never fired or even laid off; they are seasonally adjusted, decruited, selected out, or optioned out…” (p. 4). In such cases, for example, a person may expect that a seasonally adjusted employee will be hired in due time. Such phrases have been used not only to avoid harsh realities but also to offer misleading information. Euphemism is also expressed by Lynch where the police use the word debriefing to encourage inhumane interrogations. Lynch says, “Debriefing is the new euphemism for interrogation in the third degree” (p. 7).

The use of such a word has enabled the police to hide their wrongful and forceful ways to get information out of people. Doublespeak does prompt lack of responsibility and accountability. By depriving correct perception and judgement of people through the information one gives, an offender is easily likely to get away with a wrongdoing. According to Lynch, “By corrupting the language, the people who wield power are able to fool the others about their activities and evade responsibility and accountability” (p. 2). Lynch explores the behavior of the government to use such words and phrases to warrant their lack of adherence to the law. When a person is asked to account for their wrong behavior, they carefully select their words that can be interpreted subjectively. Most of such information is actually misjudged to mean something else. Lutz explores various cases involving doublespeak which either lack accountability or responsibility or both. A good example is that of North. Lutz explains, “…he does not accept responsibility for any specific action, only for his role, whatever that may have been” (p. 256). According to Lutz, North careful choice of words was allowing him to separate himself from his duty of admitting his wrongdoing. Kehl quotes an official from a university that has been registering decreasing admissions, “We posture ourselves aggressively and positively to enhance our position in the enrollment marketplace…” Such a lack of outright admission of facts by the official simply shows lack of accountability by the institution.