Gerry Philipsen defines a speech code as “a historically enacted, socially constructive system of terms, meanings, premises, and rules pertaining to communicative conduct.” Ethnography is used to understand speech codes because without this understanding, one isn’t able to understand the culture and communicate with the people of that culture. Philipsen created six propositions for the speech code. The first one talks about how each distinctive culture has a distinctive speech code. For example, he compared Teamsterville and Nacirema dinner table rituals and how the Teamsterville children are usually silent during dinner while Nacirema children are always talking. The second proposition says how in any community, there can be multiple speech codes. Proposition three talks about psychology, sociology, and rhetoric and their importance to speech codes. In the fourth proposition, Philipsen states, “if we want to understand the significance of a prominent speech practice within a culture, we must listen to the way people talk about it, and respond to it.” Proposition five shows the importance of totemizing rituals to a speech code. The sixth proposition suggests that if one knows the specific speech codes then that will help them “predict or control what others will say and how they’ll interpret what is said.”

In this cartoon, the cavemen have finally learned how to speak and one of them suggests they establish speech codes. Establishing speech codes is important because every culture has different ways of speaking and different slang. By establishing speech codes they are also establishing their culture, in a way.