Fixing Language

Locke's notion of language and its imperfections is, if I understand correctly, useless. I suppose it would not only be Locke's particular views but anyone who criticizes language. There is no way to perfect language. And if I'm wrong, then there is no way to keep language perfect.

Locke mentions an instance in which physicians are misunderstanding each other when they use the word "liquor" (822). Yes, the misunderstanding wastes time until Locke urges the physicians to clarify their vocabulary, but eventually the physicians would have come to this conclusion on their own. I have had many discussions in which my friends and I realized that we were not talking about the same thing. But eventually we realize this misunderstanding and come to agreement. Locke is not pointing out anything that is not common knowledge (though sometimes it is difficult for me to understand what exactly he is saying) when it comes to imperfections in language. He simply approaches these imperfections critically instead of with acceptance. My thinking is that acceptance would be more productive.

Though I could not identify a solution in Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding for this imperfection of language, I would have to assume that Locke thinks that there is one. I would have to challenge that without even knowing for sure, because interpretation must have happened with every language. The first language perhaps included words that included sounds that clearly mimicked the objects or ideas that they represented, but someone would have had to make up those words based on his or her own experiences and interpretation (819). Generations later the language might lose meaning as, as adults teach their children to speak, people make the mistake of thinking that language is language just because it is. A bear is called a bear simply so that people can talk about a bear. Could anything have prevented this? Could this change in the future? I don't think so, but perhaps Locke had a different vision than I.

And finally, how do we keep language perfected once we find that solution? This is the most impossible of all, especially in a country with freedom of speech. Language changes because of the population's desire for language to change. Slang emerges without consent from linguistics experts. Dictionaries add to and prune from their pages every year. New ideas emerge, and so new words emerge so that we may communicate these ideas (817). These may be imperfections or mistakes to Locke, but some people find them to be beautiful aspects of humanity.

Of course, I may be biased as one who is in love with the English language. It is raw and confusing, but has a personality of its own. The ideas that Locke has for language have baffled me more than anything, and it seems that in order to make sense of it I have had to come to the conclusion that his observations are simply that. I can find nothing in his text that hints toward a future perfect language.