Infinite use of finite means : competence and performance

Abstract

Using our knowledge of the grammar of our language means mainly using our linguistic intuitions. Linguistic intuitions enable a native speaker to discriminate between acceptable and unacceptable utterances, to attribute a degree of deviance to unacceptable utterances, to relate structure to meaning, and to generate all the possible utterances of a language. A child is capable of inferring the underlying patterns of the language he is exposed to, and from these regularities he is able to recognize other acceptable structures of the system. This knowledge that a human being must have in order to use language is termed 'competence', part of which consists of the grammar of the speaker.