According to the author, competence and performance and their interrelationships are the concern of linguistics. Performance models must: (1) be based on physical data of speech; (2) describe the phenomena under investigation; (3) predict events which are confirmed by experiment; (4) suggest causal relationships by identifying necessary and…

The paper discusses some important distinctions between linguistic competence and linguistic performance. It is the authors' contention that the distinction between the two must be maintained in experimental linguistics, or else inadequate models result. Three experiments are described. In the first, subjects pronounce nonsense words and the…

In this paper the author examines the "encoding-decoding" model of speaking and understanding English. He reviews in detail an objection to the model: that it was specifically designed with a view to incorporating linguistic theories, such as syntax, into it. As a result, what it more or or less accurately represents is the relation…

The author outlines the construction of a somewhat different machine than that envisioned by Turing (with which it would be possible to converse, presumably by telephone or telegraph, and which would be capable of masquerading as a human being). The machine envisaged by the author would be capable of doing comprehension exercises. Such a machine…

In response to earlier studies by Thompson and Chapman (1977) and Clark and Clark (1977), 16 middle-class and upper-class White children between 1.2 and 2.2 were tested for overextension in production and comprehension. (AM)

The concept of a speech community is investigated within the theoretical frameworks of sociology and linguistics, and it is concluded that the collective competence models of Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky are inadequate. They fail in that they are limited as linguistic models which have consistently overlooked the sociological importance…

Some of the assertions made by Chomsky in "Aspects of the Theory of Syntax" are considered. In particular, the notion of a "competence" model in linguistics is criticized. Formal postulates for a conceptually-based linguistic theory are presented. (Author/JD)

An exploration of issues in language diversity addressing the nature of dialect, features of the dialect, features of black English Vernacular (BEV), linguistic phenomena in the black urban community, theories of the origins of BEV, and its social, economic, and political ramifications suggest that BEV, like other dialects, meets the needs of its…