THE STUDY ATTEMPTED TO RELATE THE DEGREE OF SPEECH FLUENCY TO SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS OF THE SPEAKER. THE FORM OF THE SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP ACTED SELECTIVELY ON THE SPEECH POSSIBILITIES OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND AGAIN IN SOME WAY THESE POSSIBILITIES CONSTRAINED BEHAVIOR. THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE TRANSFORMED LANGUAGE POSSIBILITIES INTO A SPECIFIC CODE WHICH ELICITED, GENERALIZED, AND REINFORCED THOSE RELATIONSHIPS NECESSARY FOR ITS CONTINUANCE. TWO GENERAL TYPES OF CODE COULD BE DISTINGUISHED, ELABORATED AND RESTRICTED. THEY COULD BE DEFINED, ON A LINGUISTIC LEVEL, IN TERMS OF THE PROBABILITY OF PREDICTING FOR ANY ONE SPEAKER WHICH STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS WOULD BE USED TO ORGANIZE MEANING. IN THE CASE OF AN ELABORATED CODE, THE SPEAKER WOULD SELECT FROM A RELATIVELY EXTENSIVE RANGE OF ALTERNATIVES, AND THEREFORE THE PROBABILITY OF PREDICTING THE PATTERN OF ORGANIZING ELEMENTS WAS CONSIDERABLY REDUCED. IN THE CASE OF A RESTRICTED CODE THE NUMBER OF THESE ALTERNATIVES WAS OFTEN SEVERELY LIMITED, AND THE PROBABILITY OF PREDICTING THE PATTERN WAS GREATLY INCREASED.