Pygmalion (Group 4)

Language and Society The Role of Language in Creating Social Class

Victorian Era

Social Identity
1) Working-Class Society
- Have their own language with specific accent
- Blue-collar jobs (relating to manual works/particularly in industry) which depends
on daily or weekly wages
- Lower education system
THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a
mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy atbaht
pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them? [Here, with apologies, this desperate attempt to
represent her dialect without a phonetic alphabet must be abandoned as
unintelligible outside London.] (ACT I)
- Elizas language is so unintelligible with cockney accent (which is often used to
refer to working-class Londoners in the East End)
- Linguistically, Cockney English refers to the accent or dialect of English traditionally spoken
by working-class Londoners. -Wikipedia

2) Upper-middle-Class Society
- They have formal and excellent accent (duch ad duchess)
- They speak elegantly by using correct pronunciation.
- Experience formal education to highest level of education
- White-collar jobs (professional jobs) who can personal incomes monthly

HIGGINS [with professional exquisiteness of modulation] I walk over everybody! My

dear Mrs. Pearce, my dear Pickering, I never had the slightest intention of walking
over anyone. All I propose is that we should be kind to this poor girl. We must help
her to prepare and fit herself for her new station in life. If I did not express myself
clearly it was because I did not wish to hurt her delicacy, or yours. (ACT II)
-Professor Henry Higgins is brilliant linguists. An author of Higgins Universal
Alphabet (Representative of the upper middle class society)
-Correct in pronunciation, well arranged grammar and great choice of words

ACT 1

1) The flower girl spontaneously calls the gentleman, who knocks her flower basket
out of her hands, Freddy, as a polite address. This use of the name Freddy is
unfamiliar to the upper class and his mother disturbed that the flower girl knows her
son's name. The mother misunderstanding arises from her lack of knowledge of the
flower girls lower-class slang.

2) The flower girl guesses that she is suspected of soliciting because she called a
man Captain. She does not know if that address has any other implications in upper
class English.

3) The phonetician can guess the origin of every man in the crowd by his accent.
The man is able to deduce a surprising amount of information about various
bystanders based only on their manner of speaking. He offends a gentlewoman by
revealing that she comes from a less reputable part of London than she would like
people to know.

4) The man is an educated academic, who studies phonetics. While he studies all
sorts of accents and dialects, he shows a shockingly extreme prejudice against the
flower girl's lower-class speech. "such depressing and disgusting sounds has no
right to be anywhereno right to live."

ACT 2

1) The flower girl hopes that by learning to speak differently, she can change her life
and identity, finding a better job and moving up the social ladder.

2) Eliza is upset and prepares to leave, but Higgins gives her a chocolate and
promises her boxes and barrels of them if she stays. He tells Eliza that when she
learns to speak better, she will ride taxis all around town. He tries to tempt her with
thoughts of a wealthy life, over Mrs. Pearce's protestations. Pickering objects, as
well, calling Eliza "Miss Doolittle" ( a convention usually reserved for high-class
ladies)

3) Mrs. Pearce enters and tells Eliza that she has more clothes for her to try on.
She leaves eagerly, saying "Ah-ow-oo-ooh!" ( Eliza's decidedly un-classy

exclamation indicates her lower-class upbringing, showing how far she has to go to
transform into a noble lady.)

4) To the shock of the other guests, Eliza describes her father's drinking habit. Not
only is it an inappropriate topic of conversation, but she also slips back into her
lower-class speech habits (including incorrect grammar) Eliza does not yet fit in with
Mrs. Higgins' upper-class guests, as shown by her lack of manners in speaking of
inappropriate subjects and her unpolished language. Eliza does not yet fit in with
Mrs. Higgins' upper-class guests, as shown by her lack of manners in speaking of
inappropriate subjects and her unpolished language
4) Eliza's first public test is somewhat of a flop as far as the details of speech go.
She talks about the weather in barometrical terms and relates a lurid story, which
involves her father pouring gin down her aunt's throat. If that was not enough to
give her away, she swears as she goes out the door.