Speech Codes Theory and Its Purposes | Lecture notes Communication

LECTURE 3. SPEECH CODE 
Speech codes theory refers to  a framework  for communication  in  a  given  speech 
community.  As  an  academic  discipline,  it  explores  the  manner  in  which  groups 
communicate based on societal, cultural, gender, occupational or other factors. 
A speech code is any rule or regulation that limits, restricts, or bans speech beyond the 
strict legal limitations  upon freedom of speech or  press found in the legal definitions of 
harassment, slander, libel, and fighting words. Such codes are common in the workplace, in 
universities, and in private organizations. The term may be applied to regulations that do 
not explicitly prohibit particular words or sentences. Speech codes are often applied for the 
purpose of suppressing hate speech or forms of social discourse thought to be disagreeable 
to the implementers. 
A  speech  code  can also  be defined  as "a  historically enacted  socially constructed 
system of terms,  meanings, premises,  and rules, pertaining to  communicative conduct." 
"This theory seeks to answer questions about the existence of speech codes, their substance, 
the way  they can  be discovered, and  their force upon  people within  a culture" (Griffin, 
2005).  This  theory  deals  with only  one  type  of human  behavior,  which is  speech acts 
(utterance that has performative function in language and communication). 
A  basic  definition  of  speech  code  by  sociologist  Basil  Bernstein  is,  "...a  coding 
principle is a rule governing what to say and how to say it in a particular context". Work by 
Gerry Philipsen has been influential in the development of speech codes theory. Work in the 
1960s influences the theory as it stands today in the field of communication. Before speech 
codes theory  got  its  name  Philipsen  first referred  to this  theory as  the  Ethnography  of 
Communication. He decided to change it because he recognized that many people could not 
get past the idea of Ethnography as simply a research method. He was considered a naturalist 
who watched, listened and recorded communicative conduct in a cultures natural setting. 
Em Griffin stated that, "Many people can't get past  the idea of  ethnography as simply  a 
research method." With that being said, Philipsen moved from description to explanation, 
resulting in him labeling his work "speech codes theory". Philipsen's ultimate goal was to 
develop a theory that would capture the relationship between communication and culture. 
"The Speech Codes theory was created for ultimately two purposes. The first was to 
distill some of what might be learned from a large body of fieldwork research on culturally 

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LECTURE 3. SPEECH CODE

Speech codes theory refers to a framework for communication in a given speech community. As an academic discipline, it explores the manner in which groups communicate based on societal, cultural, gender, occupational or other factors. A speech code is any rule or regulation that limits, restricts, or bans speech beyond the strict legal limitations upon freedom of speech or press found in the legal definitions of harassment, slander, libel, and fighting words. Such codes are common in the workplace, in universities, and in private organizations. The term may be applied to regulations that do not explicitly prohibit particular words or sentences. Speech codes are often applied for the purpose of suppressing hate speech or forms of social discourse thought to be disagreeable to the implementers. A speech code can also be defined as "a historically enacted socially constructed system of terms, meanings, premises, and rules, pertaining to communicative conduct." "This theory seeks to answer questions about the existence of speech codes, their substance, the way they can be discovered, and their force upon people within a culture" (Griffin, 2005). This theory deals with only one type of human behavior, which is speech acts (utterance that has performative function in language and communication). A basic definition of speech code by sociologist Basil Bernstein is, "...a coding principle is a rule governing what to say and how to say it in a particular context". Work by Gerry Philipsen has been influential in the development of speech codes theory. Work in the 1960s influences the theory as it stands today in the field of communication. Before speech codes theory got its name Philipsen first referred to this theory as the Ethnography of Communication. He decided to change it because he recognized that many people could not get past the idea of Ethnography as simply a research method. He was considered a naturalist who watched, listened and recorded communicative conduct in a cultures natural setting. Em Griffin stated that, "Many people can't get past the idea of ethnography as simply a research method." With that being said, Philipsen moved from description to explanation, resulting in him labeling his work "speech codes theory". Philipsen's ultimate goal was to develop a theory that would capture the relationship between communication and culture. "The Speech Codes theory was created for ultimately two purposes. The first was to distill some of what might be learned from a large body of fieldwork research on culturally

distinctive ways of speaking. The second was to provide a focus for further research and discussion. The theory was first published in prototypical form with an introduction to the concept of speech codes and a presentation of four empirically grounded principles about speech codes. It was presented as a formal theoretical statements with five empirical grounded propositions, four of which were carried over intact from the earlier version." There were four questions that Philipsen sought to answer through his research on the Speech Code Theory:

The existence of distinctive speech codes.
Еhe substance of the speech codes (whether they contained a vocabulary or way of speaking that held meanings for social constructs and worlds).
How speech codes could be observed and formulated.
The force of the speech code in social life. Works by Basil Bernstein heavily influenced Philipsen. Bernstein used the term "speech codes" in sociology and further elaborated on speech codes and their contexts. He stated that, "within the same society, there can exist different social groups or social classes whose communicative practices differ in important ways" (Philipsen,1997). Bernstein argues that people have different ways of speaking, which shapes and reinforces their understanding of themselves, other people, and social life. Bernstein believes that a coding principle is, "a rule governing what to say and how to say it in a particular context." Dell Hymes constructed the S.P.E.A.K.I.N.G. model to aid in the search for speech codes in specific speech communities. The letters stand for the following (as reported by Miller):

Situation (setting or scene)
Participants (analysis of personalities and social positions or relationships)
Ends (goals and outcomes)
Acts (message form, content, etc.)
Key (tone or mode)
Instrumentalities (channels or modalities used)
Norms (framework for producing and processing messages)
Genre (interaction type) Teamsterville and Nacirema

Rhetoric. The discovery of truth and persuasive appeal. Speech codes reveal structures of self, society, and strategic action, no matter the culture.

The meaning of speech codes (The speech community assesses the meanings of speech.)

We must listen to the way people talk within a culture and also how they respond. People within that culture decide what they feel is mere communication, small talk or normal chitchat.

The site of speech codes (The terms, premises, and rules of a speech code are inextricably woven into the speech itself).

In order to understand our own speech codes and even another's we must first analyze the speech of native speakers.

The discursive force of speech codes (Speech Codes impact life.)

Obtaining shared speech codes, participants can guide metacommunication (the talk about talk). Characteristics According to Philipsen there are three defining characteristics of the speech codes theory. The first characteristic being that speech codes are, "grounded in the observation of communication conduct in particular times and places" (Gudykunst, 2005). Speech codes theory is concerned about observing communication conduct through noticing, describing, interpreting and explaining the findings. The second is that speech codes present, "a way to interpret or explain observed communicative conduct by reference to situated codes of meaning and value." Different meanings are interpreted in multiple ways depending on that community's discursive life. The last characteristic is that this theory, "provides a general understanding of communicative conduct." Philipsen characterizes the Speech Code Theory by stating that, "It is general in 3 ways. It presents a characterization of the nature of all speech codes. It contains a general answer to the question of how an observer might systematically try to learn about the particularities of particulars, local ways of speaking. It presents a general answer to the question of how speech codes relate to communicative conduct." According to Gerry Philipsen, the Speech Codes Theory is a historically enacted, socially constructed system of terms, meanings, premises, and rules, pertaining to

communicative conduct. One of his six general propositions is that wherever there is a distinctive culture, there is to be found a distinctive speech code. For example, when we are immersed in a new community with a culture that is unfamiliar to us, we often find certain patterns of speech to be strange. Because we are an outsider, we pick up on these differences initially. Yet over time, we grow accustomed to these patterns and no longer notice a difference in pronunciation and/or grammar. Speech codes are seen in the way a group determines when to communicate and what is appropriate to say at a particular time. Examples of places and situations with speech codes

Within cultures
In workplaces (note that workplaces often also have official speech codes in the legal sense)
Within social groups such as special-interest clubs and organizations.
Bilingual speech codes
Between country culture
Certain geographic subcultures. In a previous paper (Bernstein, 1962) two general types of linguistic code, elaborated and restricted, were proposed. These codes were regarded as functions of different forms of social relationships. The codes were thought to entail qualitatively different verbal planning orientations which control different modes of self-regulation and levels of cognitive behaviour. Social class differences in the use of these codes were expected. Speech samples were obtained and the hesitation phenomena analysed, from a discussion situation involving small groups of middle and working class subjects with varying I.Q. profiles. It was found that the middle-class groups used a shorter phrase length and a longer pause interval than the working-class group. These differences in the hesitation phenomena were sharper when working-class and middle- class groups, matched for intelligence on a group verbal and non- verbal test, were compared. It was considered that the members of the two class groups were oriented to qualitatively different levels of verbal planning which control lexicon and structural selections. The working-class groups were thought to be making selections from a lower level of the linguistic hierarchy; whilst the middle-class subjects irrespective of verbal I.Q. were oriented to making selections from a higher level of the hierarchy.

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LECTURE 3. SPEECH CODE