linguistic competence

Linguistic competence refers to the innate, subconscious knowledge that speakers of a language possess, allowing them to understand and produce correctly structured sentences. It’s the mental ability to recognize grammatical rules and patterns, enabling fluent communication without needing to consciously analyze each word. This competence forms the foundation for language use, guiding how individuals form sentences, choose words, and understand meaning. It exists beneath our everyday language habits and helps explain why people can often understand sentences they've never heard before, demonstrating an internal mastery of their language’s structure.