Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
A term introduced in de Saussure’s Cours de linguistique générale to distinguish between language (Fr. langue) as an abstract system of signs and rules, and the spoken word (Fr. parole) as the concrete realization of language as it is used. Langue is characterized as a static system of symbols with broad (social) value, due to the invariant and functional nature of its elements. Instances of parole are based on this system of langue and vary according to register, age, dialect, among other factors. The goal of structuralist linguistics is to research the systematic regularities of langue using data from parole (
corpus), while parole itself can be researched in various disciplines, like phonetics, psychology, and physiology. This requirement for autonomy in a purely theoretical inner-linguistic view of language, such as that proposed by Chomsky with competence vs performance, has met with much criticism and has been heavily revised. ( also communicative competence, pragmatics, sociolinguistics). The type of difference described between langue and parole has taken many forms: among them, ergon vs energeia (W.von Humboldt), Sprache vs Rede (H.Paul), Sprachsystem vs aktualisierte Rede (G.v.d. Gabelentz), Sprachgebilde vs Sprechakt (K.Bühler), register vs use, type vs token ( type-token-relationship). (M.A.K.Halliday).
References
Antal, L. 1990. Langue and parole or only parole? Historiographia Linguistica. 17. 357–267.
Bühler, K. 1934. Sprachtheorie. Jena.
Gabelentz, G. v.d.
1891. Die Sprachwissenschaft: ihre Aufgaben, Methoden und bisherigen Ergebnisse. (Rev. repr. of the 1901 2nd edn. Tübingen, 1972.)
Halliday, M.A.K. 1961. Categories of the theory of grammar. Word 17. 241–92.
Humboldt, W.von 1963. Schriften zur Sprachphilosophie. Darmstadt.
Paul, H. 1880. Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte. (9th edn Tübingen, 1975.)
Saussure, F. de. 1916. Cours de linguistique générale, ed. C.Bally and A.Sechehaye. Paris. (Course in general linguistics, trans. R.Harris. London, 1983.)
competence vs performance
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