Speaking as a free action

I was strolling through the rules so that I can get a gist of whether or not to join, and I want to know, in regards to the fighting rule of "two actions per post" guideline for combat, whether or not speech was considered a free action. I'm joining either way, but I sorta want to get a feel of the combat pacing- if speech were a free action, the fight pacing would be more meticulous, cartoon-like, with room for dialogue. If it weren't then combat would be a more frenetic affair with no room for speaking. So yeah, I think it's an important distinction...