My fair Lady is a comedic film which recounts the tale of Eliza Doolittle, a flower

girl who is transformed from her previous rudimentary state into a beautiful,
mannerly lady fit to attend the Embassy Ball, a change which is catalysed by the
witty Professor Higgins who drills her to perfect.
The film portrays numerous components of language such as dialectal variations,
different attitudes towards language and instances of communicative behaviour.
Though these components are present, the element most prominent is that of
dialectal variation. In the film Eliza is first presented as a poor girl having to sell
flowers for a living and who could not speak proper Standard English. Eliza
dialect fell into the basilect region of the language spectrum as she deviated so
strongly from standard language. With utterances such as "Aoooow" and "Garn"
her language was described by Professor Higgins to be a, A cold blooded murder
of the English tongue and calls her an Incarnate insult to the English
language.
Professor Higgins on the other hand is well educated and speaks the Queens
English with little or no deviation from standard language falls into the acrolet
region of the language spectrum. Being such a fluent speaker of the English
language Mr Higgnins is able make a living teaching phonetics.
Different attitudes towards language also became clear in the film in numerous
instances. It was observed that those who spoke closer to the standard English
garnered more respect and better jobs than those who spoke closer to the
basilect region of the spectrum. An example of this can be clearly observed by
Elizas treatment by Mr Higgins initially when they first meet in contrast to how
he treated Mr Pickering on their first encounter. Eliza was called a variety of
names and had insults thrown at her about her language and her appearance
while Pickering was treated with respect. Professor Higgins was even able to link
her language to where she lived, indicating the extent to which language defined
a persons socioeconomic conditions. Elizas job as a flower girl was even pointed
out by Mr Higgins to be the fault of her poor language as he says to Mr
Pickering ,If you spoke as she does, sir, Instead of the way you do, Why, you
might be selling flowers, too!. The link between profession and kanguage is
also made clear when the professor tells Eliza that if she spoke better English she
could get a job as a ladys maid or a shop assistant. Those who speak better
English are also seen to have better living conditions, which can be clearly seen
by the contrast between Professor Higgins residence and Elizas home.