ABSTRACT
Coined by D.Hymes in his ethnography of communication ( ethnography of speaking), this term is a critical expansion of N. Chomsky’s concept of competence ( competence vs performance) (which concerns only the linguistic capabilities of the ideal speaker-hearer, so that the social function of language remains unaddressed). Communicative competence is the fundamental concept of a pragmalinguistic model of linguistic communication: it refers to the repertoire of know-how that individuals must develop if they are to be able to communicate with one another appropriately in the changing situations and conditions. In this model, speaking is understood as the action of transmitting symbols (i.e. interaction). Communicative competence is the descriptive goal of various social-psychological disciplines.
