A Sociolinguistic Approach to Pygmalion: Eliza's Bidialectalism

Abstract

This project focuses on Eliza Doolittle’s language in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, originally published in 1912. My objective is to describe and analyze the linguistic features of Eliza’s shift in speech from a low-prestige accent (Cockney) to the high-prestige Received Pronunciation (RP) and to discuss how and why this shift, in the context of Eliza’s sociolinguistic circumstances, distances her from both upper- and lower-class social groups. The research methods are those used in historical sociolinguistics and linguistic corpus studies. This study’s hypothesis is that Eliza is never able to fully assimilate into upper-class society because of her monetary and educational background. After undergoing phonetic lessons taught by Professor Higgins, she is also separated from the lower class she was born into. It is also hypothesized that Eliza relies on facets of the Cockney dialect when distressed, and that this blend of RP and Cockney highlights Eliza’s bidialectalism as the root of her separation from both classes within the society of the time.