Elaborated and Restricted Codes:

An Outline
BASIL BERNSTEIN

University of London

A general outline of the argument will be given first. This will

be followed by a detailed analysis of two linguistic forms or codes and
their variants. The discussion will be linked to the problem of educ-
ability as this is conceived in industrial societies.
To begin with, a discussion must be made between language and
speech. Dell Hymes (1961) writes: "Typically one refers to the act or
process of speech, but to the structure, pattern or system of langtiage.
Speech is a message, language is a code. Linguists have been preoccu-
pied with inferring the constants of the language code." The code
which the linguist invents in order to explain speech events is capable
of generating n number of speech codes; language is a set of rules
to which all speech codes must comply, but rather the particular speech
codes generated are functions of the system of social relations. The
consequences of the form taken by the social relation are often
transmitted in terms of certain syntactic and lexical selections.
Changes in the form of certain social relations, it is argued, act
selectively upon the principles that control selection of both syntactic
and lexical options. Changes in the form of the social relation affect
both the planning procedures used in the preparation of speech and
the orientation of the listener. Different forms of social relations can
generate quite different speech-systems or linguistic codes by affecting
the planning procedures. These different speech-systems or codes create
different orders of relevance and relation for their speakers. The exper-
ience of the speakers may then be transformed by what is made signifi-
cant or relevant by the different speech-systems. This is a sociological
argument; because the speech-system is taken as a consequence of the
foiTii of the social relation; or, put more generally, it is a quality of the
social structure.
The same process can be put rather more formally. Individuals
come to learn their roles through the process of communication. A
role from this point of view is a constellation of shared, learned mean-
ings, through which an individual is able to enter into persistent, con-
sistent, and recognized forms of interaction with others. A role is thus
a complex coding activity controlling the creation and organization
254
 OUTLINE OF CODES 255

of specific meanings and the conditions for their transmission and re-
ception. Now, if it is true that the communication system which behav-
iorally defines a given role is speech itself, it should be possible to
distinguish critical roles in terms of the speech forms they regulate.
The consequences of specific speech forms or codes will transform the
environs into a matrix of particular meanings which becomes part of
psychic reality through acts of speech. As a person learns to subordi-
nate his behavior to a linguistic code which is the expression of the role,
different orders of relation are made available to him. The com-
plex of meanings which a role-system transmits reverberates develop-
mentally in an individual in order to inform his general conduct. On
this argument it is the linguistic transformation of the role which is
the major bearer of meanings; it is through specific linguistic codes
that relevance is created, experience given a particular form, and social
identity constrained.
Children who have access to different speech-systems (i.e., learn
different roles by virtue of their status position in a given social struc-
ttire) may adopt quite different social and intellectual procedures,
despite a common potential.
Two general types of code can be distinguished: elaborated and
restricted. They can be defined, on a linguistic level, in terms of the
probability of predicting for any one speaker which syntactic elements
are to be used to organize meaning across a representative range of
speech. The codes themselves are functions of a particular form of
social relationship, or more generally, of qualities of social structures.
A distinction will be made between verbal or linguistic, and extra-
verbal or paralinguistic components of a communication. The lin-
guistic or verbal component refers to messages in which meaning is
mediated by words; here concern is with their selection, combination,
and organization. The paralinguistic or extraverbal component refers
to meanings through the expressive associates of words (rhythm,
stress, pitch, etc.) or through gesture, physical set, and facial modifica-
tion.
The pure form of a restricted code would be one where all the words,
and hence the organizing structure, irrespective of its degree of com-
plexity, are wholly predictable for speakers and listeners. Examples
of this pure form would be ritualistic modes of communication: rela-
tionships regulated by protocol, types of religious services, cocktail
party routines, some story-telling situations. In these relations indi-
vidual difference cannot be signalled through the verbal channel
except insofar as the choice of sequence or routine exists. It is trans-
mitted essentially through variations in extraverbal signals. Given
the selection of the sequence, new information will be made available
256 SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY

through the extraverbal channels, and these channels are likely to

become the object oi special perceptual activity. The code defines the
form of the social relationship by restricting the verbal signalling of
individual differences. Individuals mainly relate to each other through
the social position or status they occupy. Societies differ in terms of
the use made of this code and the conditions which elicit it.
It is necessary to note the following: (1) The status or positional
aspect of the social relationship is important; (2) Orientation is likely
to be towards the extraverbal channels, as new information will pass
through these channels; (3) More specifically, verbal planning is con-
fined to choice of sequence rather than selection and organization
of the sequence; and (4) The code restricts verbal signalling of indi-
vidual difference.
What is more often found is a restricted code, where prediction
is only possible at the syntactic level. The lexicon will vary from
one case to another, but in all cases it is drawn from a narrow range.
It is necessary to point out that a lexicon drawn from a narrow range
is no criterion for classifying the code as a restricted one. The most
general condition for the emergence of this code is a social relationship
based upon a common, extensive set of closely shared identifications
and expectations self-consciously held by the members. It follows that
the social relationship will be one of an inclusive kind. The meanings
are likely to be concrete, descriptive, or narrative rather than ana-
lytical or abstract. In certain areas meanings will be highly con-
densed. The speech in these social relations is likely to be fast and
fluent; articulatory clues are reduced; some meanings are likely to
be dislocated, condensed, and local; there will be a low level of vocabu-
lary' and syntactic selection; and the unique meaning of the individual
is likely to be verbally iniplieit. Restricted codes are not necessarily
linked to social class. They are used at some time by all members of
a society. The major function of this code is to defi and reinforce
the form of the social relationship by restricting the verbal signalling
of individual experience. A restricted code does not necessarily affect
the amount of speech, only its form.
An elaborated code, where prediction is much less possible at the
syntactic level, is likely to arise in that social relationship which raises
the tension in its members to select a verbal arrangement from their
linguistic resources which closely fits specific referents. This situation
will arise where the intent of the other person cannot be taken for
granted, having the consequence that meanings will have to be ex-
panded and raised to the level of verbal explicitness. Here verbal plan-
ning, unlike the case of a restricted code, promotes a higher level of
syntactic organization and lexical selection. The preparation and
 OUILINE OF CODl-S 2.")7

delivery of relatively explicit meaning is the major function ol this

code. If a restricted code facilitates the construction and exchange
of communalized symbols, then an elaborated code facilitates the
verbal construction and exchange of individualized or personal sym-
bols. An elaborated code, through its regulation, induces in its speak-
ers a sensitivity to the implications of separateness and diflerences
and points to the possibilities inherent in a complex conceptual hier-
archy for the organization of experience. These codes are induced by
the social relation, they express it, and regulate it. The ability to
switch codes controls the ability to switch roles.
An elaborated code originally generated by the form of the social
relation becomes a facility for transmitting individual verbal re-
sponses. As far as any one speaker is concerned, he is not aware of
a speech-system or code; but the planning procedures which he is using,
both in the preparation of his speech and in the receiving of speech,
creates one. 1 hese planning procedures promote a relatively higher
kn el of syntactic oroanization and lexical selection than does a restricted
code. That whicii is then made available for learning by an elaborated
code is of a difierent order from that made available in the case of
a restricted code. The learning generated by these speech systems is
qtiite difterent. Learning refers to Avhai h significant, to what is made
relevant, sociall), intellecttuilh, and emotionally. From a develop-
mental perspective, the nser ol an elaborated code comes to perceive
language as a set of theoretical possibilities available for the trans-
mission of tinique experience. The concept oi self, unlike the self-
coneept of a speaker limited to a restricted code, will be \erbally
differentiated, so that it becomes, in itself, the object ot specialized per-
ceptual activity. In the case of a speaker limited to a restricted code,
the concept of self will tend to be refracted through the implications
oi the status arrangements. Here there is no problem of self, because
(he problem is " H relevant.
As a child learns an elaborated code he learns to scan a particular
syntax, to receive and transmit a particular pattern of meaning, to
develop a particular verbal planning process, and very early learns to
orient towards the verbal channel. He learns to manage the role re-
quirements necessary for the effective production of the code. He
becomes aware of a certain order of relationships (intellecttial. social,
and emotional) in his environment; and his experience is transformed
by these relations. As the code becomes established through its plan-
ning procedures, the developing child generates these relations volun-
tarily through his acts of speech. He comes to perceive language as a
set of theoretical possibilities for the presentation of his discrete exper-
ience to others. Through its regulation, an elaborated code develop-
258 SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY

mentally induces in its speakers an expectation of separateness and

difference from others. It points to the possibilities inherent in a com-
plex conceptual hierarchy for the organization of experience.
It is possible to distinguish two modes of an elaborated code. One
mode facilitates the verbal elaboration of interpersonal relations, and
the second facilitates the verbal elaboration of relations between
objects. These two modes of an elaborated code would differentiate
between ranges of experience and would presuppose learning to man-
age different role relations. The two modes possess the general features
of an elaborated code. Both carry low syntactic prediction; both orient
their users to the expectation of difference; and both point to logically
similar conceptual orders. But the referents of the relationships are
different.
An individual going into the arts is likely to possess an elaborated
code oriented to the person; while an individual going into the sciences,
particularly the applied sciences, is likely to possess an elaborated
code oriented to object relations. To be able to switch from one mode
to the other may involve a recognition of, and an ability to translate
verbally, several different orders of experience. It may also involve a
reeogmtiou of and an ability to manage the different types of role rela-
tions which these modes of speech promote. Over and above any gene-
tic dispositions towards person or object relations, it may well be the
case that certain kinds of family settings and schools can orient the
child towards, and stabilize, the use of, one or both of these two modes
of an elaborated code. It is possible for an individual to be limited to
an elaborated code and to the role relations of either of its two modes,
or to possess both modes, or to possess all forms of elaborated and
restricted codes. These alternatives may be subject to considerable envi-
ronmental influence.
A child who is limited to a restricted code will tend to develop
mainly in terms of the regulation inherent in the code. For such a
child, speech does not become the object of special perceptual activity,
neither does a theoretical attitude develop towards the structural
possibilities of sentence organization. The speech is epitomized by a low-
level and limiting syntactic organization, and there is little motiva-
tion or orientation towards increasing vocabulary. The original social
relation between mother and child exerted little pressure on the child
to make his experience relatively explicit in a verbally differentiated
way. Speech is not perceived as a major means of presenting inner
states to the other. The type of learning, the conditions of learning,
and the dimensions of relevance initiated and sustained through a
restricted code are radically different from learning which is induced
through an elaborated code. Where a child is limited to a restricted
 OUTLINE OF CODES 259

code it is probable that he will be especially sensitive to the extraverbal

channels as agencies for signalling individual intent.
The rigid range of synthetic possibilities leads to difficulty in con-
veying linguistically logical sequence and stress. The verbal planning
function is shortened, and in sustained speech sequences this often
creates a large measure of dislocation or disjunction. The thoughts
are often strung together like beads on a frame rather than following
a planned sequence. A restriction in planning often creates a high
degree of redundancy. This means that there may well be a great
deal of repetition of information through sequences which add little
to what has already been given. Role relations may be limited and
code switching may be hampered by the regulative consequences of
a restricted code. An individual limited to a restricted code will tend
to mediate an elaborated code through his own regulation.
The orientation towards these codes, both elaborated and restricted,
may be independent of the psychology of the child, independent of
his native ability; although the level at which a code is used will
undoubtedly reflect certain purely psychological attributes. The
orientation towards these codes may be governed entirely by the
form of the social relation, or more generally by the quality of the
social structure. The intellectual and social procedures by which indi-
viduals relate themselves to their environment may very much be a
question of their speech models within the family and the codes these
speech models use.
Children socialized within middle class and associated strata can
be expected to possess both an elaborated and a restricted code; while
children socialized within vsonre sections oi the woiking class strata,
particularly the lower working class, can be expected to be limited to
a restricted code. If a child is to succeed as he progresses through
school, it becomes critical for him to possess, or at least to be oriented
lowards, an elaborated code.
The relative backwardness of lower working class and rural children
niav well be a form of culturally induced backwardness which is trans-
mi ued to the child through the linguistic process. The code the child
brings to the school symbolizes his social identity. It relates him to his
kin and to his local social relations. The code progressively orients the
child towards a pattern of relationships which constitute for him his
psychological reality, and this reality is reinforced every time he speaks.

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