【正确答案】正确答案：According to F. de Saussure, langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all members of a speech community; while parole refers to the realization of langue in actual use. For Chomsky, a fundamental distinction between linguistic competence and performance should be made. A language user's underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called linguistic competence. And performance refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations. In light with this, competence enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker's competence is stable but his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors, and thus would involve imperfections such as slips of tongue, false starts, unnecessary pauses, and so on. Thus, the point is that a speaker's performance does not always match his competence. Saussure's distinction is somewhat similar with Chomsky's in the sense that they both refer to the constant factor which underlies the utterances that constitute parole/ performance. However, their difference is quite obvious. Saussue's language is a social product, a set of conventions for a speech community. Chomsky regards competence as a property of the mind of each individual. Saussrue looks at language more from a sociological point of view while Chomsky looks at it more from a psychological point of view.