A Sociolinguistic Study On Pygmalion

The language development, which is closely related to the development of human society, is a dynamic process. However, the early studies of language regarded language as an isolated entity without any influence of society and non-lingual factors. Not until1960s did the scholars at home and abroad begin to pay attention to the close relationship between language and society. That Bright put forward the co-variation theory and Labov built his variation theory based on his research in New York stores marked the real beginning of sociolinguistic study.The previous studies have been mainly focused on the verification of the theory through empirical research, paying more attention to the similarities between language use and social factors. This paper attempts to analyse the outstanding playwright Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion on the basis of Labov’s Variation Theory. Pygmalion, which chooses language as its theme, mainly tells us a story about Eliza who changes from a flower girl to a graceful lady through language standardization. The play shows us the importance of language as well as its powerful social functions.Previous researches on Pygmalion are mainly carried out on the basis of literary theories, while the present research is to be carried out on the basis of sociolinguistic theory, trying to find out vital linguistic factors for speaker’s social identity.Through analysis we find that language is not only the main way of communication, but also it can reflect speaker’s identity and social status. People reveal their social information consciously or unconsciously through the choices of different language varieties. They also use language varieties to show their respect to the hearer, highlighting the hearer’s power and authority.Language has its own class and social stratum as well. Some words or vowel pronunciations belong to speakers from the upper class not only because they have the unique rights to own these linguistic features, but because the lower class people are not able to pronounce them correctly. Some of these linguistic items have to be taught through education for which the poor may not be able to afford. However, this kind of linguistic items can reflect speakers’ identities and even can change their social identities as well as the course of their life through changing their language speaking. Besides, we find that vowels/·au/and/·i/are lower class pronunciation markers. During the language training, Eliza spends most of the time standardizing them into their corresponding upper class pronunciation/ei/and/au/. The pronunciation of these vowels can indicate a speaker’s social class. In addition, we find that in the time when the play is set, men and women are interested in different things:women tend to focus their attention on clothing, social communication and love, while men devote more time and energy to art and literature.Eliza changes her language, first of all, to find a job in a flower shop. In other words, she wants to be a member with social status higher than hers. Language changing is the best way to achieve this aim. Eliza changes her language, making it standard enough to meet the requirements of the upper class. First and foremost, she has the positive attitudes toward the language of the upper class. Therefore, she does her utmost to standardize her broken English to perfect English with the purpose to reconstruct her social identity so that she can pass into the upper class and confidently find a sense of belongings in this upper group.These findings will deepen people’s understanding of the relationship between language use and social factors and help people appreciate the play from the perspective of Sociolinguistics, then people can get a more thorough interpretation of the play. It is also of significant value for us to establish good interpersonal relationship in our daily communication. Further analysis of Pygmalion can be carried out on the basis of its audible as well as visible materials and can focus on gender differences of language use in terms of intonation.