The movie "My Fair Lady" was a very interesting film, incorporating the social and linguistic implications of switching languages (or in this case dialects) that we have discussed in our linguistics class. At the start of the movie, a young flower girl named Eliza encounters a linguist named Mr. Higgins, who concentrates in the study of phonetics. Since Eliza's Cockney English speech is full of a non-standard English accent and a vocabulary with several slang phrases, Mr. Higgins characterizes her speech as dreadful and as an insult to the English language. He says that despite her speech habits, however, he could transform her into a lady who can speak with a proper English accent, worthy enough of going to an Embassy Ball. After agreeing to give Eliza lessons, Mr. Higgins uses several linguistic strategies to try to change her accent. He makes her repeat vowels for hours at a time, trying to force her to come out with the right sounds. He then has her repeat phrases like "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain," in order to try to free her from her Cockney accent. When that still didn't make her improve, he puts marbles in her mouth and makes her try to enunciate sentences. After several days of these laborious methods, Eliza finally breaks through and speaks with a proper accent. At the Embassy Ball, Eliza succeeds in fooling people into believing that she is a true English woman instead of a Cockney flower girl. In one sense, Mr. Higgins did indeed succeed in transforming her into a proficient English speaker. Mr. Higgins did not succeed, however, in transforming her into a clone of a woman who grew up in an upper class English society. Eliza still has bonds to her former flower girl friends and the rest of the people from her Cockney society, and no amount of linguistic conversion can break those bonds. In addition, just because she learned the "better" dialect doesn't mean that she forgot her native one. At the horse race, for example, she initially does a good job in concealing her Cockney identity during conversations, but as she kept talking she added in more and more Cockney slang with which she grew up. At the end of the movie, she is still a Cockney flower girl at heart, even though she knows how to speak proper English. When she goes to Mr. Higgins in the final scene, she resorts back to her native dialect and shows that deep down, she still really is a Cockney girl; no matter how much standard English Eliza could learn, she could never truly replace her Cockney roots.
I would agree that she still has "Cockney roots," but she isn't the same person. She has added something to what she was. In some ways, perhaps, she doesn't fit into either society. What might be a similar situation in American culture today?
ReplyDeleteI agree; because of her new dialect, she does not fit in to her old society, but she also does not fit into the upper class society since she does not know how to engage in everyday activities like a rich English woman does. A similar situation could be middle aged foreigners who have recently immigrated to America. They may try to learn English and adapt to the American way of life, but most likely they will never become a "true" American since it is so hard to completely adapt to a new language and culture. The immigrants might then feel that they no longer belong to their native culture since they are trying to switch to American culture. But they also won't feel as though they belong to American culture since they can't completely adapt to the American way of life.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I concur. Just because one learns a different way of speaking, that does not mean that the whole past is erased. It just adds a new dimension to the person. For instance, an American who learns another language, such as French for example, is not now "French." Rather, he or she is an American who has mastered the skills of French. This, in turn, helps the speaker identify with French culture. However, that does not mean that the culture he or she grew up in is forgotten.
ReplyDeleteA situation in American culture where a person does not fit into either society can be recognized most significantly in the case of bi-racial children. Because America is a "melting pot," this is very common. However, just because that kid understands two different cultures, does not mean that he or she will be accepted into one. Often times, bi-racial kids that are mixed with European and African roots, have a hard time identifying with African Americans, if he or she does now speak AAVE for instance.
I like how you alluded to the horse race scene in which Eliza forgets about concealing her Cockney slang when she gets excited about what she is talking about. This demonstrates that she is still more comfortable with her native manner of speaking; she is able to express herself more easily through her native language, though it may be judged as substandard or inferior.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brenda. By trying to maintain her newly found dialect she is unable to express who she is for she was told that she was only allowed to talk about the weather and her health. She is only able to express herself in her native dialect with which that she is comfortable with.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your response on about how even though she is taught to speak Standard British English she is not turned into a high class English woman. I also agree with your comment that by learning proper English she is not entirely part of either social group. However, i on the other hand think knowing both Englishes can be beneficial considering that she can sort of fit into either group.
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