Competence and Performance

The competence–performance distinction is an important concept in linguistic theory. Whereas competence refers to speakers’ tacit knowledge of their language, performance reflects language understood as a set of actual utterances produced by native speakers. A distinct but intimately related dichotomy, especially within the framework of generative grammar, is that of “I-language” versus “E-language”; the earlier Saussurean distinction between langue and parole is also similar. In linguistic theory, the competence–performance [Page 444]distinction further gives rise to the identification of “grammaticality” or, more precisely, “acceptability” of natural language data. This entry discusses the difference between competence and performance in speaking, I-language versus E-language, and grammatical acceptability or “well-formedness.”