Language as a Mental Phenomenon
Language is instantiated in the minds and therefore the brains of language users, so that linguistics can be regarded as a branch of psychology. This chapter asks what it means to say that linguists are modeling the mind, and reinterprets in a more tractable light the important distinction between competence and performance, i.e., between speakers' knowledge of a language and their ability to put that knowledge to use. Topics discussed include the meaning of ‘mental’, how to interpret linguistic notation mentally, knowledge of language, competence versus performance, and language in a social context.
Keywords: linguistic notation, knowledge, competence, performance
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .