Introduction to the Speech Codes Theory By Matt Staiduhar

Gerry Philipsen constructed the Speech Codes Theory while dong social work in a Chicago community where he worked, called "Teamsterville". He got interested originally in communication practices after reading an article entitled "The Ethnography of Speaking." He talked to people on the street corner, women on porches and men at corner bars so he could describe the speech codes of residents in Teamsterville. By speech codes, Philipsen means "a system of socially constructed symbols and meanings, premises, and rules, pertaining to communicative conduct." His ultimate goal was to develop a general theory that would capture the relationship between communication and culture. Such a theory would aid cultural researchers in knowing what to look for, and offer clues on how to interpret the way people speak. Philipsen labeled his work the Speech Code Theory, which specifically seeks to answer questions about existence of speech codes, their substance, the way they can be discovered, and their force on people within a culture. Philipsen outlines the core of Speech Codes Theory in five general prepositions:

The Distinctiveness of Speech Codes
The Substance of Speech Codes
Meanings of Speaking
The Site of Speech Codes
The Discursive Force of Speech Codes

An example of this that I came up with was how many African Americans tend to use "ebonics" in their vocabulary. Where I work back home, I tend to work in a lot of neighborhoods that are predominanlty black. When black people say the word "ask", it often comes out sounding like "ax". Another word that is pronounced differenly is the word "breath". When black people say this word, it sounds like they are saying "bref". Also, Latino people often say "wuz up", which means "what is up". These are just of few example of the Speech Codes Theory are present in our everyday life.

I have only scraped the surface of the Speech Code Theory. For research, application, and a critique of this theory, check out the links below.
For research of Speech Codes, check out Melissa's page.
For more research of Speech Codes, check out Stephanie's page.
For an application of this theory in a real life situation, check out Chris's page.
For another application of Speech Codes, check out Andrea's page.
For a critique of this theory, check out Kindra's page.
For some research about speech codes on college campuses across the contry, check this out.


Speech Codes deals with the relationship between communication and culture. There is another theory that deals with a similar set of criteria, and that would be the Genderlect Theory. This theory deals with the relationship between communication and culture, with that culture being males and females. Check it out.

Another theory that is related to Speech Codes is the Face-Negotiation Theory. This theory entails communication and culture in the work environment. This theory deals with high-context vs. low-context cultures. This also relates to the Speech Codes because Philipsen studied the lower class areas of Chicago, which were typically low-context cultures. Check it out.





This page was last revise by Matt Staiduhar (ms348997@oak.cats.ohiou.edu) on March 12, 1999