Noam Chomsky famously distinguished between linguistic
competence and
performance in
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965). The distinction is a bit obscure. Here’s what David Hays wrote in an article we co-authored:
To describe an assembled bicycle is one thing: to describe the assembly of bicycles is another. The assembler must know what is in the blueprint (competence), but further needs the skill to take the parts in order, place them deftly, fasten them neatly (performance). In actuality, of course, the assembler may never have seen the blueprint, nor need the performance of a speaker or ...
