Saussure proposed the division language/parole and argued that language can be studied as a formal system. Fifty years later Chomsky declared competence the core interest of linguistics. Although for years Generative second language acquisition (GenSLA) has adopted this view, a number of recent publications poke holes into the competence bubble.…

Suggests that, although pragmatic theory is like grammatical theory in that it seeks full explicitness and is pitched at the level of subpersona systems, it is unlike grammatical theory in that it is an account of performance mechanisms rather than of knowledge systems (competence). (Author/VWL)

Examines the claim that transformational rules are psychologically real, and applies this claim to all aspects of transformational grammar. (AM)

The brain, a pattern-finding organ, seeks to create meaning through establishing or refining existing neural networks; this is learning. Emotion affects what is learned and what is retained.

Discusses the implications for language teaching of Chomskyean and transformational theory. The notions of deep structure, linguistic theory building, and inutility of a corpus are far less interesting than the view of language as rule-governed behavior and language learning as hypothesis-testing. Rationalist v behaviorist theories are discussed.…

Examines the innate faculties that underlie linguistic competence, especially syntactic competence, and proposes a theory of these faculties which accounts for the complexities of language and the evolution of human language. (AM)

Argues that the nature of mental representation contributes little to the specification of synchronic syntactic competence. Psycholinguists, syntacticians, and morphologists can benefit from a collaborative approach to the construction of an integrative model of language and mind, covering competence, representation, processing, and acquisition.…