The Impact of Social Class on Speech and Speech Inventiveness in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion

Abstract

The paper analyses the impact of social class on speech and further magical transformation of speech, which refers here speech inventiveness. Pygmalion, which was written by Bernard Shaw and is considered to be one of the most well-known works of contemporary British theater, exploits verbal violence in the guise of common language in order to impose authority over persons who are illiterate. Professor Higgins constantly mistreats the lower class flower girl Liza (Eliza) in the play, but as a result of the phonetic teachings she receives from her, Liza finally goes through a significant social transformation. Liza gains social standing as a consequence of her phonetic education and subsequent language skill improvement, but she also feels alienated because she has left her class as a result of the knowledge she has learned and is not fully welcomed by a different class. To put it another way, Liza's education in phonetics helped her to conform to society and do so, but it did not materially improve her social status.