Speech Codes Theory
Research Report by Stephanie Runner

Overview

For further research on Speech Codes Theory I chose to read an article by Gerry Philipsen, published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech. The article is titled "Speaking 'Like a Man' in Teamsterville: Culture Patterns of Role Enactment in an Urban Neighborhood." I chose this article because Speech Codes Theory was developed by Philipsen himself, the author of the article.

Let me begin my explaining what the theory is, in essence. Speech Codes Theory seeks to shed light on the ethnography of communication. In the world, there are many different cultures that exist. Within each of these cultures, there is present a set(s) of communication patterns that is the norm for that culture. These communication patterns are called speech codes. In each different culture, these speech codes, or rather talk itself, are emphasized differently, as Philipsen observed in his field research.

Summary

The article I read dealt with the research that Philipsen performed in south Chicago. He termed this region "Teamsterville." It is inhabited by working class whites who share a set communication pattern. As I mentioned earlier, the title of this article is "Speaking 'Like a Man' in Teamsterville: Culture Patterns of Role Enactment in an Urban Neighborhood," so you can imagine that the article focused mainly on the connection in Teamsterville between communication/talk and manliness-or lack thereof. In other words, the article examined speaking vs. action.

The article gave a couple of situations where speaking would be either appropriate or inappropriate. The basic rule of thumb that Philipsen came to understand and observe is that talk is appropriate for the expression of male solidarity, but is inappropriate and ineffective as a way of demonstrating power in interpersonal situations. For example, let's say that a Teamsterville man was out with his girlfriend and another man insulted the girlfriend. In Teamsterville, the only effective way of dealing with this situation is to resort to physical violence and punch the man that made the insult. A male trying to talk his way out of this situation is considered to be "homosexual" in Teamsterville code, which they consider immoral. So in this "power" situation, speech is highly ineffective.

There are few situations in which speech an effective means for the Teamsterville male. Basically, this is the case only when used in the context of an already existing, ongoing relationship based on personal ties. The speech is supported by the strength of the already existing tie, and serves as a reinforcement of that tie. For instance, let's say that a member a Teamsterville group (a group of boys that hang out on the same corner) invites another member of his group to his house for dinner. The invited boy insults the mother of the boy that invited him. In this situation, since the two boys are both members of the same group and there is a pre-existing, ongoing relationship, instead of the "inviter" punching the insulter, he would use speech and ask the other boy to stop making comments about his mother and/or apologize to his mother. In this type of situation, speech is more effective than not.

So in conclusion, we can summarize speech in Teamsterville as an ineffective means of displaying manliness to someone who is not a "peer," but an effective means of displaying manliness and power to someone to whom there is a close personal tie.


Interpretation and Evaluation

Overall, I found this article very interesting and very easy to read. I thought that Philipsen delivered his ideas clearly for the most part. I saw him as credible since he wrote of his own personal experiences and observations, having been a "part" of Teamsterville for his fieldwork and research. The examples given in the article helped me to better understand the concept of Speech Codes, since the the Teamsterville approach was covered only briefly in the class text by Em Griffin.

However, I found the article to be rather redundant in its expression of communication patterns. At some points, it seemed like the paragraph I was reading was the same as the previous one, just reworded. Yet, what I read was only a small portion of a collection of Philipsen's publications covering his fieldwork. I feel that if I were to read more of the collection, I would have less of a sense of repetition and more a sense of understanding. I would recommend this article and the book it appears in to anyone interested in learning more about the Teamsterville approach and Speech Codes Theory itself.

Bibliography

LINKS

Go here to see our Speech Codes Theory group homepage . This page features more research by Melissa, an application by Chris, an additional application by Andrea, and a critique by Kindra.

Click on this link to see a list of all of Gerry Philipsen's publications . Philipsen is a Professor of Speech Communication at Northwestern University who developed Speech Codes Theory.

Look at the web pages made by other Inco 234 classes.


Email me your comments or suggestions!

This page was last revised by Stephanie Runner on March 11, 1999