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  • Communication Essay On Language Variation and Attitudes in Pygmalion

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    Victoria Kairoo
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    Pygmalion depicts dialectal variation in language and differing attitudes towards variation. It shows how characters in England each have their own accent, and Professor Higgins can identify their geographic origin from their speech. While people with different accents can still understand each other, some view variations negatively. Professor Higgins is disgusted by Eliza Doolittle's Cockney accent, believing she doesn't deserve privileges because of her language. However, Colonel Pickering treats Eliza respectfully despite her accent. When Eliza learns proper English, people treat her with more respect, showing how attitudes change based on language use.

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    Communication Essay on Language Variation and Attitudes in Pygmalion

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    Pygmalion depicts dialectal variation in language and differing attitudes towards variation. It shows how characters in England each have their own accent, and Professor Higgins can identify their geographic origin from their speech. While people with different accents can still understand each other, some view variations negatively. Professor Higgins is disgusted by Eliza Doolittle's Cockney accent, believing she doesn't deserve privileges because of her language. However, Colonel Pickering treats Eliza respectfully despite her accent. When Eliza learns proper English, people treat her with more respect, showing how attitudes change based on language use.

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    63 views1 page

    Communication Essay On Language Variation and Attitudes in Pygmalion

    Uploaded by

    Victoria Kairoo
    Pygmalion depicts dialectal variation in language and differing attitudes towards variation. It shows how characters in England each have their own accent, and Professor Higgins can identify their geographic origin from their speech. While people with different accents can still understand each other, some view variations negatively. Professor Higgins is disgusted by Eliza Doolittle's Cockney accent, believing she doesn't deserve privileges because of her language. However, Colonel Pickering treats Eliza respectfully despite her accent. When Eliza learns proper English, people treat her with more respect, showing how attitudes change based on language use.

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    Pygmalion depicts the dialectal variation that is present in languages as well as the attitudes

    towards this variation. The movie also explores the reasons for these attitudes.
    Dialect is the term given to any variety of a language spoken by a group of people. Dialectal
    variation occurs from difference in the spoken and written use of language within a speech
    community. With regards to Pygmalion, the speech community is English and throughout the
    entirety of the movie, dialectal variation in the form of differences in accent (speech) is seen. All
    the characters speak English, but each has their own accent. Some accents heard throughout the
    movie include: British, Scottish, Cockney and Welsh. Professor Higgins, who is educated in the
    field of linguistics and phonetics, uses the variation in speech of the characters to identify their
    geographic origin. This highlights the point that dialectal variation depends on many factors, one
    of which happen to be geographic location. At the beginning of the film, many of the common
    folk engage in conversation whilst sheltering from the rain. Despite persons speaking with
    different accents, there is a mutual understanding between everyone which allows
    communication to take place.
    Pygmalion also does an excellent job of highlighting the fact that people often have differing
    attitudes towards language. When Professor Higgins first meets Eliza Doolittle, he is utterly
    disgusted by her use of the English. This is seen by the line “A woman who utters such
    depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere.” Here Higgins suggests that due
    to Eliza’s language, she doesn’t deserve the same privileges as everyone else. He reacts to his
    negative attitude by ridiculing Eliza. Higgins’ attitude may be due to him being of a higher
    education level and social class than Eliza. Conversely, Colonel Pickering treats Eliza
    respectfully (by referring to her as Miss) despite her language. This suggests that Pickering
    doesn’t mind her use of language and considers it as an acceptable means of communication.
    Not only does the movie bring forth the view on Eliza’s original use of language but it also
    illustrates how people view Eliza in higher regard when she learns how to speak in ‘proper’ or at
    least what is considered proper English. This is seen when she is mistaken for a princess of a
    royal family whilst attending a banquet. When Eliza started speaking proper, people began to
    show her more respect and view her as a person of authority. This is due to them thinking that
    she is educated to a high degree and also a member of the highest strata of society.
    To conclude, Pygmalion is a wonderful depiction of how despite a group speaking a common
    language, every member within said group has their own variation to the language. This is what
    dialectal variation addresses. The film also effectively renders the varying attitudes individuals
    have on different forms of language and how class and education contribute to these views.

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