Competence is a network of abilities that enable the performance of a task; performance is realization itself.
The distinction was made by linguist Noam Chomsky and is widely accepted by both semioticians and linguists.
The difference between competence and performance corresponds, at least roughly, to language and speech, while language is the system that communicates, speech is the very use of the system.
Possession of competence does not include its implementation. A person can be a competent, native English speaker without using it at this time. The difference between competence and performance creates two different and (for some) separate fields of study.
On the one hand, we can use conditions that emphasize competence (for example, the ability to speak and understand English), on the other hand, we could explore specific performances (such as verbal and nonverbal communication between lovers), paying little or no attention to the general conditions emphasizing these performances.
Like Ferdinand de Saussure‘s attempt to separate the study of language and speech, efforts have been made to separate the study of competence from that of performance, also doomed to failure, although there is a difference between competence and performance.
