Studying Communicative Competence
ISSN: 0214-9141
Year of publication: 1989
Volume: 1
Pages: 59-68
Type: Article
More publications in: Sintagma: Revista de lingüística
Abstract
This paper attempts to show the possibility of explaining one aspect of communicative competence, conversational competence. The study is based on the assumption that the task of describing and explaining how a language is actually used is essential for a complete acquisition of the system. The first part of the study includes a contrastive analysis of some of the main features of the interactional speech of native speakers and non-native speakers. In the second part the author proposes an approach to the study of communicative competence based on a series of maxims or variables which the speaker has in mind when producing language.