Think of it like a hidden set of instructions that we all have in our minds, enabling us to:
* Recognize and produce correct sentences: We know instinctively that "The cat sat on the mat" is grammatically correct, while "Sat the cat on the mat" is not.
* Understand the meaning of sentences: We can interpret the intended meaning of a sentence based on the order of words and grammatical structures.
* Generate new, grammatically correct sentences: We can create new sentences based on our understanding of the rules, even if we've never heard them before.
Linguistic competence is distinct from linguistic performance, which refers to the actual use of language in real-world situations. While competence is the underlying knowledge, performance is the observable behavior. Factors like memory limitations, distractions, and social context can affect performance, even if competence is high.
Here are some key characteristics of linguistic competence:
* Implicit: It is mostly unconscious and automatic.
* Universal: All humans have the capacity for linguistic competence.
* Innate: It is believed to be a biological predisposition, not learned through explicit instruction.
* Dynamic: It develops and changes over time as we learn and grow.
Understanding linguistic competence is crucial for language acquisition, language teaching, and understanding the nature of human language. It helps us to understand how we process language, why we make certain grammatical errors, and how language can evolve and change.