I think it's clear that performance verifiably exists; we perform
language all the time, including when we judge a sentence out of context.
What is the proof that competence exists _apart from_ performance? Sure,
our ability to use language does not vanish in between performance
events; some kind of knowledge endures. But how can we get at what this
knowledge is like without eliciting performance? That we can examine and
judge sentences out of context does not prove that there is a robust
competence/performance _distinction_, since the judging activity itself
is peformance. We're performing when we are unconsciously constructing a
sentence by following familiar patterns, and we are performing when are
consciously comparing a given sentence to familiar patterns.
Performance also happens in real time, in online language processing.
Procedural knowledge has to be involved.
There is an analog to the competence/performance distinction in
Cognitive Grammar, but it is not as important or quite as discretely
dichotomized as this distinction is in some generative theories (I don't
like using the word 'formal', since a cognitive theory can also be
formalized). The CG view of knowledge of language is a huge network of
linguistic units of various sizes and types, connected to each other in
various ways, with various levels of generalization (patterns) perhaps
extracted from these connectivity patterns and perhaps stored. This
network resides in the mind/brain, and, when language is not in use,
resides in whatever state the mind/brain is in when a particular region
is not in use. This is the analog of competence. When language use
occurs, portions of the network are activated--electro-neuro-chemical
impulses zip around the network. Things happen, like sounds being
uttered, or incoming input being comprehended. This activation of the
network would be performance. It would be impossible to judge the
grammaticality of a sentence without performance in this sense.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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