Steps toward a model of linguistic performance: a preliminary sketch

This paper discusses the task of formulating a model of linguistic performance and proposes an approach toward this goal that is oriented toward an embodiment of the model as a digital-computer program. The methodology of current linguistic theory is criticized for several of its features that render it inapplicable to a realistic model of performance, and remedies for these deficiencies are proposed. The syntacticand conceptual-data structures, inference rules, generation and understanding mechanisms, and learning mechanisms proposed for the model are all described. The learning process is formulated as a series of five stages, and the roles of non-linguistic feedback and inductive generalization relative to these stages are described. Finally, the implications of a successful performance model for linguistic theory, linguistic applications of computers, and psychological theory are discussed.