These selections come from book 3 of Locke's Essay (1690). I
include selections from chapters 1, 2, 10, and 11; omissions
within chapters are noted by ellipses. The paragraph numbers are
Locke's. The text hasn't yet been checked against original
editions. 1. Man fitted to form articulate sounds. God, having
designed man for a sociable creature, made him not only with an
inclination, and under a necessity to have fellowship with those
of his own kind, but furnished him also with language, which was
to be the great instrument and common tie of society. Man,
therefore, had by nature his organs so fashioned, as to be fit
to frame articulate sounds, which we call words. But this was
not enough to produce language; for parrots, and several other
birds, will be taught to make articulate sounds distinct enough,
which yet by no means are capable of language. 2. To use these
sounds as signs of ideas. Besides articulate sounds, therefore,
it was further necessary that he should be able to use these
sounds as signs of in