competence vs performance.pdf

Ling 201 SectionC

1 February 2008

Moreongrammaticalityandintuitions

1 Competencevs.performance

Inordertodotheoreticallinguistics,wedistinguishlinguisticcompetencefromlinguisticperformance.

Competence :Aspeaker’smentalfacilityforproducingandunderstandingnovelutterancesofhisor

herlanguage.Youcanthinkofthisasthespeaker’smental‘linguisticprogram’,orsimplyasthe

speaker’s(unconscious)knowledgeofthegrammarofhisorhernativelanguage.

Performance :Aspeaker’suseoflanguage,i.e.theiractualactsofproducingandunderstanding

utterances.

Whichisthefocusoftheoreticallinguistics?

2 Kindsoflinguisticcompetence

Thefollowingformthecorecomponentsofthegrammar,allofwhichareincludedinaspeaker’s

linguisticcompetence.Thesecomponentsofthegrammarcorrespondinturntofourofthemajor

subﬁeldsoflinguistics:

Phonetics :Thephysicalproductionandperceptionoftheinventoryof sounds usedinproducing

language.

Phonology :Thementalorganizationofphysicalsounds;thepatternsformedbythewaysoundsare

combinedinaalanguage,andtherestrictionsonpermissiblesoundcombinations.

Morphology :Thestructureandformationofwords.

Syntax :Thestructureandformationofsentences;possibleandimpossibleconﬁgurationsofwords.

Semantics :Themeaningofsentences.

3 Intuitionsatalllevels

Wehaveintuitionsaboutalloftheaboveareasofourlinguisticcompetence.

Intuitionsaboutpossiblesoundpatterns(phonology)

( 1 )a.woozlevs.?ngul(comparethecommonVietnamesenameNguyen)

b.adortvs.?zdort(compareRussianzdes’(‘here’))

Intuitionsaboutpossiblewordformation(morphology)

( 2 )a.un-Skype-ablenessvs.?un-Skype-nessable

b.quickandquicker

c.intelligentbutnotintelligenter(compareGermanintelligenter(‘moreintelligent’))

Intuitionsaboutwell-formedcombinationsofwords(syntax)

( 3 )a.ontheteamvs.?theteamon

b.theteamnotwithstandingvs.notwithstandingtheteam

c.?thebabyseemssleepingvs.thebabyseemstobesleepingvs.thebabyseemssleepy

Intuitionsaboutmeaning(semantics)

( 4 )a.IfIclaimthateverystudentatUMassdidtheirhomework,thenIcommitmyselftotheclaimthat

everystudentinmyLing 201 sectiondidthehomework.

b.IfIclaimthateverystudentinmyLing 201 classdidthehomework,thenIdonotcommitmyselfto

theclaimthateverystudentatUMassdidthehomework.

Thisgivesusawayofunderstandingtheproblemweranintolasttimewithrespecttosentenceslike

( ?? ).

( 5 )Colorlessgreenideassleepfuriously.

Wecansaythatthissentenceissyntacticallygrammatical,butsemanticallyungrammatical.

Now,recalltheconventionsforindicatinggrammaticalitywesawlasttime( Important:Refertothis

handout,andnotthehandoutfromlasttime(Wednesday,January 30 ),whenstudyingthese

marks.Therewasatypographicalerrorinthatversion,whichiscorrectedhere! )

Markingintuitions

Thesesymbolsappearatthefrontofexamples,markingintuitionsaboutthem:

1 . *Marksanexampleasungrammatical

2 . ?Indicatesthatthereissomedoubtabouttheexample’sstatus

3 .%Indicatesthattheexamplesstatusdependsonone’sdialect

4 .#Indicatesthattheexampleisgrammaticalbutlikelytosoundstrangeduetosemantic

oddityorincoherence

5 . X (ornothingatall)indicatesgrammaticality

Whichofthesemarkswouldyouplaceinfrontof( ?? )?

4 Spelling

We’veseenthattherulesofprescriptivegrammararedistinctfromourintuitivelinguisticknowledge

(ourcompetence).Spelling,andallotherorthographicconventions,arealsonotpartofourlinguistic

competence.

Thesubjectofformallinguisticanalysisisspoken—NOTwritten—language.

Writing(andreading)arelearned,notacquired.

Illustrationsofthedistinctionbetweenorthographyandgrammar:

( 6 )a.Itsvs.It’s

b.theirvs.there

Considerthefollowingwords.Pronouncethemtoyourselves.

( 7 )a.cats

b.dogs

c.linguists

d.tests

e.quizzes

f.ﬁshes

Doesthesoundwrittenwithanscorrespondtothesamesoundinallofthewordsabove?Whatabout

thesoundwrittenwithanfineachofthewordsbelow?

( 8 )a.roofs

b.hoofs

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