What does it mean to know a language?

What is it about?

This paper is meant to be a philosophical contribution to linguistic theorizing. It addresses the ontological question of the notion of linguistic competence. Linguistic competence is evaluated in the light of the possibility of setting up an absolute and indisputable boundary between linguistic and nonlinguistic (encyclopaedic) knowledge. It is argued that the question of the relevance of linguistic competence is a non-question in the Cognitive Linguistic framework. The notion of linguistic competence is a theoretical construct that presupposes a modular model of language. In Cognitive Linguistics various facets of meaning are more or less central to our understanding of expressions. Linguistic and nonlinguistic knowledge form a continuum. It is not possible to sharply distinguish them on linguistic grounds.

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Why is it important?

It is important for the modelling of lexical knowledge and for aspects of languages vocabularies.