Bakhtin and Locke: The Imperfections of Language

In book III, An Essay to Human Understanding, John Locke mentions that language is compromised of flawed and imperfect words. He believes that, ““easy to perceive what imperfection there is in language, and how the very nature of words makes it almost unavoidable for many of them to be doubtful and uncertain in their significations;” thus meaning that we must consider the nature of the word before understanding the importance (Locke 817). Similar to Locke, Bakhtin indirectly believes that, “language is thus fundamental not only to learning, but to mind; it both creates and is created by human intelligence” (Schuster 598). Both of these theorists prove that words may be interlaced with different meanings, but we are responsible for deriving our own meaning based on our experiences.

Locke discusses the imperfections of language according to how it benefits communication. He believes that recording words are “our own thoughts for the help of our own memories,” which serves as a form of communication between others and ourselves (Locke 817). This leads Locke to believe that language is derived from sound that form meaning. He believes that “sounds are involuntary and indifferent,” reinforcing the idea that language is not universal (Locke 817). He believes that the meaning of the language is subjective, because people learn language differently.

Bakhtin supports this theory by stating, “language- like the living concrete environment in which the consciousness of the verbal artist lives- is never unitary” (Bakhtin 288). He believes that “language is not a neutral medium that passes freely and easily,” further suggesting that language is constantly evolving given the speakers intention. For example, he begins to elaborate on the idea that “the unity of a literary language is not a unity of a single, closed language system,” instead it is composed of several languages (Bakhtin 295).

Locke believes that “words are only signs of internal conceptions of ideas” and “language is imperfect because there are double uses of words” (Locke 818). Throughout his text he tries to assign meaning and create a sense of unity in language, but begins to realize both are nonexistent. This idea leads him to believe that communication is more complex, because words have no signification and previously assigned concepts (Locke 817). For instance, these difference experiences with a word allow people to formulate their own signification and assign their own meaning to the word.  

Likeweise, Bakhtin believes that “meaning, experience, consciousness can only be understood in terms of the word” (Schuster 598). In other words, “without the word, there is no world,” thus we rely on words to convey meaning (Schuster 598). He further expands on this idea stating that, “no intellectual construct-no expression-no idea- can exist without language, and language is itself continuously interactive in its nature”(Schuster 598). Also, he believes that words “carry with them their own histories, their own previous, and potential signification” (Shuster 597). This coincides with this recurring them that words attach meaning through the use of language.  

Furthermore, Locke discuss these ideas in propositions 12-15, with his belief individually words carry no meaning but collectively attach a meaning by other words. Words carry a signifier that helps us to relate to the words based on what we previously from the word.  He points out how when we were younger, we had the ability to make meaning of the words. To enumerate, we were able to form our own conception of the word before we were aware of the actual word and its meaning. Although, different meanings of the same word is formed, the  “chief end of language in communication is being understood” (Locke 817).  All of which prove that language continues to be imperfect having no unity. In later proposition he uses the gold example to show how we may understand the “essence” of gold, but it may not be the same perceptions that others have of the same word.

In summation, language remains imperfect as proved by Bakhtin and Locke. Both argue that words are given meaning by signification through personal experiences and encounters. Words, individually, are assigned meaning by understanding other words that make up a language. Without words in a language, communication would prove to be difficult.

-Erin Schwartz