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Nadsat

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Nadsat is a constructed slang dialect of English with many Russian influences invented by the linguist, novelist, and composer Anthony Burgess. It is a transliteration of the Russian suffix for 'teen'.

Description

Nadsat is a mode of speech used by various teen subcultures in the novel A Clockwork Orange. The anti-hero and narrator of the book, Alex, uses it, in first-person style, to relate the story to the reader. He also uses it to communicate with other characters in the novel, such as his droogs, parents, victims, and any authority-figures he comes into contact with.

It is not a written language: the sense that we have of the novel is of a transcription of vernacular speech, rather than an implementation of a published, bona-fide dialect.

Nadsat is basically English, with some transliterated words from Russian. It also contains influences from Cockney rhyming slang and the King James Bible, some words of unclear origin, and some that Burgess invented. The word 'nadsat' itself is the suffix of Russian numerals from 11 to 19 (-надцать). The suffix slurs the Russian words for 'on ten' — i.e., 'one-on-ten,' 'two-on-ten,' (одиннадцать, двенадцать) and so on — and thus forms an almost exact linguistic parallel to the English '-teen.' Some of the words are also almost childish English such as "eggyweg" (egg) and "appy polly loggy" (apology), as well as regular English slang "sod" and "snuff it". The word "like" is often inserted arbitrarily into phrases.

Nadsat is in fact not so much a language as a register or argot. The words are inflected after English patterns regardless of from what language they may have originated. Alex is capable of speaking standard English when he wants to; Nadsat is really a lexicon of 'extra' words which Alex uses to describe the world as he sees and experiences it.

Nadsat words are all concrete or semi-abstract: to discuss philosophy Alex would probably have to shift into a more standardised form of English. The fact that a teen language has no abstract words is perhaps Burgess' reflection on the shallowness of the juvenile delinquent's thought processes.

At least one translation of Burgess' book into Russian solved the problem of how to illustrate the Nadsat words - by using transliterated, slang English words in places where Burgess used Russian ones. This solution was however imperfect, as it lacked the original abstractness. Borrowed English words with Russian inflection were widely used in Russian slang, especially among Russian hippies. Another translation used original English spelling of Nadsat.

A comprehensive lexicon lists the terms used in the book with their origins.

Function of Nadsat

Burgess, a polyglot who loved language in all its forms, was aware that linguistic slang was of a constantly changing nature, and knew that if he used modes of speech that were contemporarily in use the novel would very quickly become "dated". His implementation of Nadsat was essentially pragmatic; he needed his narrator to have a unique voice that would remain ageless while reinforcing Alex's indifference to his society's norms and to suggest that youth subculture existed independently of the rest of society.

Burgess was aware of British youth culture in this era - the teddy boys, Mods, and Rockers. In the near-future world of "A Clockwork Orange" these influences are absent; instead, he seems to be suggesting that it is Russian culture that British youth is looking to for inspiration. Burgess may be remarking on the "vapidity" of youth culture, with Nadsat illustrating the lengths to which the people who use it are willing to go in identifying with whatever is "in" at any particular moment.

See also

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