The speed code theory was created by Gerry Philipsen and defined as “a historically enacted, socially constructive system of terms, meanings, premises, and rules pertaining to communicative conduct”. Philipsen created six propositions of the theory to explain it:

1. Wherever there is a distinctive culture, there is to be found a distinctive speech code
2. In any given speech community, multiple speech codes are deployed
3. A speech code involves a culturally distinctive psychology, sociology, and rhetoric
4. The significance of speaking, depends on the speech codes used by speakers and listeners to create and interpret their communication
5. The terms, rules, and premises of a speech code are inextricably woven into speaking itself
6. The artful use of a shared speech code is a sufficient condition for predicting, explaining, and controlling the form of discourse about the intelligibility, prudence, and morality of communication conduct