-SPEAK

-SPEAK, SPEAK [From Newspeak, as coined by George Orwell]. Both a combining form and a word used informally (and often pejoratively or facetiously) for the style of a group or occupation, often regardless of whether it is spoken or written. In a compound that contains -speak, the first element indicates either the situation in which the style occurs (adspeak; advertising) or what the user thinks of it (DOUBLESPEAK: a jargon intended to mislead). There are three orthographic forms: (1) Solid: Aussiespeak, computerspeak, Femspeak, healthspeak, lewdspeak, modernspeak, moneyspeak, nukespeak, pensionspeak, technospeak, tycoonspeak, unionspeak. (2) Hyphenated: gay-speak, golf-speak, management-speak, oblique-speak, Pentagon-speak. (3) Open: art speak, estate-agent speak, mandarin speak, political speak. In terms of structure, there are two extremes: (1) The first element is monosyllabic like new, often a clipping of a longer word: bizspeak, Russpeak. (2) The first element is phrasal: Hitch-Hiker's-Guide-to-the-Galaxy-speak, medical and social work ‘speak’; Twentieth century era speak; Womenslibspeak. Occasionally, blending occurs, as in bureaucraspeak, litcritspeak, politspeak, Shakespeak. Compare -ESE, -ISM, LINGO, TALK.