Oxymoron

oxymoron: (from the Greek, 'pointedly foolish") a figure of speech in which an author juxtaposes apparently contradictory terms. A rhetorical antithesis. Examples: wise fool; thundering silence

"Winston thought for a moment, then pulled the speakwrite toward him and began dictating in Big Brother's familiar style..."
                                                                                           -1984
                                                                                     by George Orwell

The oxymoron here is the noun "speakwrite," a gadget that the Party uses instead of pens. Speaking, and writing are opposites, one is verbal, the other is a concrete recording of information. Orwell includes this here to show the technical advances he envisions for the future and to show an utter lack of privacy. If the only way to record something is to say it into a machine which writes it for you, all of the information is heard by those around you and, in this case, by the telecom. Orwell is giving the reader a warning about the complete control he sees the government taking if the course of the world is not turned.