What are elaborated and restricted codes?

The restricted code is suitable for insiders who share assumptions and understanding on the topic, whereas the elaborated code does not assume that the listener shares these assumptions or understandings, and thus elaborated code is more explicit, more thorough, and does not require the listener to read between the …

What is a restricted speech code?

Restricted speech code is a kind of shorthand speech, which Bernstein claimed is used by the working class and in more generality by married couples. This can involve not finishing sentences properly as there is a mutual understanding between the people having the conversation.

What is Bernstein’s restricted code?

A concept introduced by the English sociologist Basil Bernstein (1924–2000) to denote an informal use of language, linked to immediate situations (context bound), with a reduced semantic and syntactic range, supposedly characteristic of lower-working-class speakers, in contrast to middle-class speakers who have access …

What are language codes in sociology?

Language codes refer to the different ways people communicate and particularly to a theory by Bernstein that suggests that middle-class school pupils can switch between the restricted language code associated with casual speech and the elaborate code that is used in more formal situations and is the code associated …

What are the two speech codes?

impact on their attainment at school. Bernstein looked at the role of language and its affects in educational success. Bernstein argued there are two types of language use, what he termed elaborated and restricted codes.

How does restricted speech code cause underachievement?

The restricted code is used mainly by working class and may lead to underachievement because it uses limited vocabulary and simple short sentences, this makes working class pupils disadvantaged, as teachers, books and exams use the elaborated speech code typically used by the middle class.

How does restricted code affect education?

The effect of cultural deprivation on education. Cultural Deprivation theory holds that some groups, such as the lower social classes, have inferior norms, values, skills and knowledge which prevent them from achieving in education. Lower class children are more likely to speak in a restricted speech code.

What is the purpose of speech codes theory?

General Purpose: Speech Codes Theory is a theory about communication and culture. Specific Purpose: Speech Codes Theory recognizes that culture is based in shared meaning and values, and impacts how we are able to understand others and coordinate our actions with others.

What did Bernstein say about language?

According to Bernstein in Class, Codes and Control (1971), “Forms of spoken language in the process of their learning initiate, generalize and reinforce special types of relationship with the environment and thus create for the individual particular forms of significance” (p. 76).

What was Bernstein’s theory?

Littlejohn (2002) suggests that Bernstein’s theory shows how the language people use in everyday conversation both reflects and shapes the assumptions of a certain social group. Furthermore, relationships established within the social group affect the way that group uses language, and the type of speech that is used.

How does speech code theory apply to interpersonal communication?

The principal assumption of Speech Codes Theory that I apply here to interpersonal communication is that whenever people engage in interpersonal communication there are traces of culture woven into their messages. Traces of culture appear in many forms, verbal and otherwise.