A sudden, overpowering feeling of fear, often affecting many people at once. See Synonyms at fear. 2. A state of extreme anxiety, such as that involved in a panic attack. 3. a. A state of frantic activity, usually accompanied by extreme concern or anxiety: The office was in a panic as the deadline approached. b.
Language and Authenticity. 1  The problem of what is authentic when it comes to language, cultural productions, subcultures, etc. is a difficult one. 2  Various disciplines wrestle with trying to define, e.g. authentic jazz, or authentic culinary productions. When we do find authentic language in the media, it is either in documentaries of some sort, or perhaps in television interviews in emergency situations, where people are not monitoring, as, e.g. in the recent hurricane coverage. 2  In other kinds of interviews (talk shows etc.) people are more conscious of their speech.
Linguistic performance as the actual use of language in concrete situations is viewed as 'fairly degenerate in quality' (Chomsky 1965, 31) because performance is full of errors. Chomsky's linguistic competence corresponds to la langue, and Chomsky's linguistic performance corresponds to la parole. Chomsky's linguistic competence, however, because it is concerned primarily with the underlying competence, is viewed as superior to de Saussure's la langue.