Scholars International Journal of Linguistics and Literature

Abbreviated Key Title: Sch Int J Linguist Lit

ISSN 2616-8677 (Print) |ISSN 2617-3468 (Online)
Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Journal homepage: https://saudijournals.com/sijll

Original Research Article

Linguistic Analysis of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”

George Mathew Nalliveettil *
Department of Humanities and Sciences, Vignana Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

DOI: 10.36348/sijll.2020.v03i04.004 | Received: 02.04.2020 | Accepted: 09.04.2020 | Published: 22.04.2020

*Corresponding author: George Mathew Nalliveettil

Abstract

Communicative activities in ESL/EFL classroom contexts are productive when relevant linguistic devices are applied to
literary texts. The literary effectiveness of George Bernard Shaw‟s “Pygmalion”, an early twentieth-century play has
been widely appreciated for its linguistic and literary effectiveness. The dialogic structures composed in the actions of
the play reveal the varieties of spoken forms of English present during the Victorian period. After thorough scrutiny of
the available research papers related to “Pygmalion” on the web, this study addressed the issues that were given less
importance by the earlier studies. Considering the significance of “Pygmalion” as a prescribed coursebook in various
universities across the world, this paper analysed the dialogic language of the play from a linguistic perspective. The
existing literature on Pygmalion provides insights into thematic analysis from a literary and socio-linguistic perspective,
referring to the class struggles and feminism. This paper examined the dialogues from a linguistic perspective. Weigand‟s
[1] dialogic principles were applied to the utterances of the characters, thereby providing insights into the metalinguistic
aspects. The paper also presents the semantic effect of the communicative exchanges that the characters engage in when
they meet at different settings in the play. Also, it provides resourceful ideas to the ESL/EFL teachers on various
linguistic aspects that need to be focused while teaching a literary text. The findings of the study reveal the dialogic
forms in “Pygmalion” can be useful to enhance the verbal, non-verbal and written communication of ESL/EFL students.
Keywords: Pygmalion, Linguistic, Analysis, Play, Dialogic, Communicative, Language.
Copyright @ 2020: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the original author and source
are credited.

1952, he won a noble prize in literature and the Oscar

INTRODUCTION
st award for best writing and screenplay of „Pygmalion.‟
In the 21 century, many varieties of English The underlying meaning of linguistic structures in the
are spoken across the world. Moreover, the availability dialogic exchanges between the characters of
of vast web resources in audio-visuals and written form „Pygmalion‟ reveals Bernard Shaw‟s skilful use of
gave impetus to the non-native speakers of English to language to communicate feelings, emotions,
listen to different varieties of English as well as access frustrations, failures, humour and success of the middle-
variety of written texts. In recent years, even though class society of England during the Victorian era. In the
volumes of books are being produced in the areas of „Preface to Pygmalion‟, Bernard Shaw draws the
functional English and Literature and made available to attention of the readers to “German and Spanish” in
the public in the form of print and electronic versions, comparison to the English. He highlights the
the books that were written by eminent writers during deteriorating situation of English not being accessible to
19th and 20th centuries are still prevalent in universities Englishman. The emotional discourse through which he
across the world. communicates sets the tone to make his argument for a
„phonetic enthusiast‟ more acceptable to the readers. In
The intensity of emotions and reasoning in Bernard Shaw‟s view
George Bernard Shaw‟s plays draws the attention of
current generation readers and students of literature to “The reformer England needs today is an energetic
appreciate the dialogues between the characters. His phonetic enthusiast: that is why I have made such a one
skill in scripting sixty plays during his career as a the hero of a popular play. There have been heroes of
playwright makes him be one of the prominent that kind crying in the wilderness for many years past.”
playwrights of the Victorian period. George Bernard (P.7, Shaw, 2018)
Shaw (1856 – 1950) portrayed the life of British
middle-class society during the Victorian period. In

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 116
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

In the above lines, Bernard Shaw tries to play reveal the transformation of a poor and ignorant
convince the readers that the “the reformer England” girl into an aristocratic and cultured society [8].
needs someone who can refine the English of Gallardo [9] applied the concepts of critical discourse
Englishmen, thus rationalising his argument for “an analysis to Pygmalion and stated that the character
energetic phonetic enthusiast”, and being critical to Higgins who views that passion to the perfect use of
those phoneticians who ruined their reputations due to language as a condition for one‟s success uses social
arrogance. The diction through which Shaw introduces power to impose his point of view to make the character
the need for a speech analyst rather than an economic Eliza accept and live under his instructions. Jemeena
reformist clarifies his stance for introducing the and Shenbagapriya [10] point out that the central theme
character Higgins as his mouthpiece in „Pygmalion‟. of Pygmalion is emotion. They think that Bernard
The choice of vocabulary and the sequencing of Shaw‟s anti-sentimental theories forced him to end the
dialogic language indicate Shaw‟s effective use of play in an unromantic atmosphere. Hamoud [11]
linguistic devices to communicate the language spoken applied multiple techniques such as Bernstein‟s
by people from different walks of life. Aiming to principles of relating language and social class to
transform the English society through country‟s analyse the phonological and syntactical perspectives in
intellectual life, Shaw became an active force behind Pygmalion as well as Grice's conversational principles
Fabian society, middle-class socialist group, thus to analyze Eliza‟s speech, Hamoud concludes that
becoming a theatre critic to displace the artificialities Bernard Shaw used language as a medium to convey
and hypocrisies of the Victorian stage [16]. social aspects of the Victorian era indirectly.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE In the past, many researchers discussed the

In Bernard Shaw‟s plays, the dialogic language contributions and achievements of George Bernard
scripted at a metalinguistic level portrays the realities of Shaw, highlighting the rewards bestowed for his literary
the society during the Victorian period. A review of the excellence in the form of plays. Many critics also
current research published on George Bernard Shaw‟s believe that Shaw used characters as a mouthpiece to
Pygmalion discusses class struggle, pronunciation vent out his sarcasm of the Victorian society.
patterns, thematic analysis and stylistic patterns. Considering Pygmalion as one of the Bernard Shaw‟s
Mayer, L. R. (n.d.)[15] points out that Pygmalion masterpieces, there are also universities across the
discusses societal problems and the treatment of world which prescribe “Pygmalion” as the main course
language in education during the Victorian period. book for drama studies in their undergraduate or
According to Anugerahwati [2], Pygmalion, in postgraduate curriculum related to English language
particular, is a book of sociolinguistics because one can and literature. The composition of syntactic structures
learn the culture and social situations prevailing in in the dialogic form can also be read for language
London. From the feminist perspective, Pygmalion is development. It will be a useful classroom resource for
viewed as a reflection of the oppressions that women the enhancement of spoken and written discourse of
experience in a male-dominated society. Lihua [3] ESL (English as a Second Language) students. The
approaches Pygmalion from a feministic perspective playwright‟s creativity in the composition of syntactic
and highlights that Eliza‟s improper English structures and its semantic interpretations calls upon the
pronunciation is due to a weak economic and social attention of the linguists as well as non-linguists to
position in society. Cherlin and Abilasha [4] believe examine the dialogic exchanges.
that George Bernard Shaw‟s Pygmalion draws the
readers attention to social class and feministic A review of the past research in the analysis of
Perspectives. Reynolds [5] points out that though Bernard Shaw‟s Pygmalion suggests that most of the
Shaw‟s career choice was not playwriting, he could researchers presented thematic and literary aspects.
secure a permanent place among the British playwrights However, not many studies have been carried out on
due to Pygmalion. Reynolds points out that even though linguistic aspects of the play. This paper draws attention
Shaw calls for attention to the importance of phonetics to the linguistic elements that the playwright applies to
through Pygmalion, but it remains unclear whether create the intended communicative effect to appreciate
people realised the relevance of studying phonetics. the dialogic language and its relevance in the teaching-
Gadhiraju [6], analyses Pygmalion through the learning of English in ESL classrooms. In order to
characters of Dolittles and highlights the concept of make linguistic analysis relevant, the dialogic principles
class struggle in British society during the Victorian outlined by Weigand [1] were found useful. Weigand‟s
age. Xiaowei [7] approaches Pygmalion from a [1] principles were applied by Nalliveettil and Gadallah
feministic perspective and points out that the character [12] to analyse the dialogic discourse of Tennessee
Eliza is a perfect model for the lost modern female, and Williams‟ „The Glass Menagerie‟. The present study
these lost females can draw lessons from the play and examines the linguistic aspects of Bernard Shaw‟s
achieve the great transformation to win independence, „Pygmalion‟.
esteem and freedom. In Pygmalion, George Bernard
Shaw used an ancient classical myth to explore social
problems that lasted through time, and the actions of the

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 117
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

RESEARCH QUESTIONS either making an initiation or a reactive move which

The present study applies Weigand [1] leads to the progression in the sequence of actions.
principles of dialogic language to address the following: Dialogues between the characters are not just confined
a) The effectiveness of dialogic discourse to to thematic analysis but has the potential to enrich the
perform communicative functions such as readers due to its metalinguistic eloquence. The present
verbal and non-verbal acts. study follows the theoretical framework suggested by
b) How the playwright connects the dialogic Weigand [1] to analyse the exchanges between the
actions of the play and makes it characters in Bernard Shaw‟s „Pygmalion‟.
understandable to the readers
c) How to explore the linguistic aspects of DATA ANALYSIS
dialogic language Initiative and Reactive Speech Acts
d) The suitability of syntactic structures in the In Act I of the play, Shaw conceals the real
dialogues to enhance English language skills names of the characters and introduce them to the
of ESL/EFL students. readers as “THE MOTHER”, “THE DAUGHTER”,
“THE FLOWER GIRL”. He reveals the social identity
Limitations of the Data Analysis and economic background of the characters. The
George Bernard Shaw‟s Pygmalion is a drama familiarity of the roles and responsibilities of a mother
with a Preface followed by Five Acts and a Sequel. and a daughter makes the dialogic language acceptable
Since each of the five acts constitutes of dialogic to the readers. The choice of a specific communication
structures potential for diverse interpretations and style in a given situation often depends on the
grammatical categorisation and could result in familiarity or strangeness between the individuals.
exhaustive data, this study is limited to selective Feller [14] points out that Weigand based her theory on
dialogic structures. This paper applied the theoretical the initiative speech act and the reactive speech act,
approach of Weigand [1] to analyse linguistic aspects of which are considered to be functionally two different
the dialogic language of Pygmalion. types of action. According to feller, the initiative speech
act makes a pragmatic claim, while the reactive act is
Description of the Data expected to fulfil that claim. In Pygmalion, the initiative
The primary source of data for the current and the reactive speech acts between the interlocutors
study is the dialogic exchanges between the characters reveal the variations in the English language use during
in George Bernard Shaw‟s „Pygmalion‟, an early 20th- the Victorian era. The utterances of the interlocutors
century British drama. For data analysis, specific provide clues to the readers of the existence of cockney
dialogic exchanges from the drama are presented in its and Standard English. In Act 1, the interlocutors are
original form. The play was set at the end of the found interacting with each other amid heavy summer
Victorian period, and the dialogic exchanges between rain.
the characters reveal different aspects of social life in
England. It is a five-act-play with a preface and sequel. Datum, ACT I
The significant characters in the play are Professor THE MOTHER. I heard you call him by it. Dont try to
Henry Higgins, Colonel Hugh Pickering, Eliza deceive me.
Doolittle, Alfred P. Doolittle, Mrs Pearce, Mrs Higgins THE FLOWER GIRL [protesting] Who’s trying to
and Freddy Eynsford-Hill. In the sourcebook, the names deceive you? I called him Freddy or Charlie same as
of the characters are given in capital letters, so the same you might yourself if you was talking to a stranger and
procedure is followed when referring to the characters wished to be pleasant.
in data analysis and the discussion section. The source (Shaw, 2018, ACT 1 P. 16)
for data analysis and interpretation for this article are
extracts quoted in its original form that is a re-printed The dialogic discourse between the characters
version of Pygmalion by Shaw [13]. The dialogues are reveals the heightened curiosity of THE MOTHER to
analysed based on the dialogic principles outlined by probe into the relationship of her son with THE
Weigand [1]. FLOWER GIRL. The utterance „young gentleman‟s
name‟ communicates THE MOTHER‟s tone of
Application of Weigand’s [1] theory for data revealing her son as someone who is polite and
analysis educated in spite of his earlier impolite act of knocking
Weigand [1] in Language as a Dialogue the basket of THE FLOWER GIRL, leading to the
(S.Feller. Ed.) proposed relevant principles such as scattering of the flowers on the ground, thus prompting
dialogic and action principle for dialogic analysis. a protest from THE FLOWER GIRL. THE MOTHER
According to her, the speech acts are mutually seems to be more concerned with the reactive move of
dependent because they perform communicative THE FLOWER GIRL addressing her son as „Freddy‟.
functions such as initiative or reactive. In Bernard THE MOTHER‟s initiative to accept „Freddy‟ as her
Shaw‟s „Pygmalion‟, a study of the dialogic exchanges son sparks a reactive move from THE FLOWER GIRL.
between the characters highlights the different aspects THE MOTHER‟s curiosity to know how THE
of language use to fulfil the communicative purpose of FLOWER GIRL knew her son‟s name as „Freddy‟

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 118
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

compels her to make the next move of shedding whether you took me down right? You just shew me
sixpence and buy flowers from THE FLOWER GIRL. what youve wrote about me. [The note taker opens his
The playwright highlights how the colloquial language, book and holds it steadily under her nose, though the
if not understood by the listener, can be a source of pressure of the mob trying to read it over his shoulders
suspicion in a given communicative situation. In the would upset a weaker man]. Whats that? That aint
utterance of THE FLOWER GIRL, the playwright proper writing. I cant read that.
intentionally scripts the utterance “if you was talking”, (Shaw, 2018, ACT 1, P. 19 )
referring to the grammatical inaccuracy of the usage of
the verb „was‟ instead of „were‟. The initiative and The utterance, „shut up‟, though considered to
reactive moves of the interlocutors fulfil the be an ill-tempered response the contextual clues of non-
playwright's goal to inform the readers about the verbal elements about the voice of THE NOTE TAKER
linguistic variations in the language use of different provides the background knowledge to the readers
interlocutors that he will be discussing in the about the tone of the utterance. The behaviour of THE
progression of the play. NOTE TAKER to make notes of the utterances of THE
FLOWER GIRL leads to a verbal conflict between the
Speech act and cognition two interlocutors. The utterance “my words” (standard
According to Weigand [1], a playwright has to form) signifying the ownership of specific structures
use language and create situationally appropriate that THE FLOWER GIRL already produced and later
utterance forms. She points out that the communicative revealed by THE NOTE TAKER as “Cheer ap, Keptin;
structures a playwright composes in the form of n‟ haw ya flahr orf a pore gel” (cockney) is an evidence
dialogues should trigger a cognitive response from the of the existence of standard as well as cockney varieties
readers. Weigand [1] says that the dialogues often fall during the Victorian era. An analysis of the dialogic
into a particular sentence type because the playwright language in Act 1 of Pygmalion indicates variations in
manipulates the structures to make it appear dialogic the utterances of THE FLOWER GIRL. The composing
and connect the actions of the play to the cognitive of cockney into the dialogues of THE FLOWER GIRL
abilities of the readers. In the „Preface to Pygmalion‟, serves the playwright‟s intentions to reveal that the
George Bernard Shaw makes a satiric reference to the demographic background as a reason for such a variety
contributions of his contemporary phonetician, Henry while on the other hand the utterances of THE
Sweet, and states that in the third act of the play “the FLOWER GIRL that comply with the rules of standard
postcards which Mrs. Higgins describes are such as I English is probably intended to make the actions of the
have received from Sweet[13]”. In Act III of drama comprehensible to the readers.
Pygmalion, Mrs. Higgins is heard saying to her son,
Mr. Higgins, “though I like to get pretty postcards in Expression and Meaning
your patent shorthand, I always have to read the copies According to Weigand [1], a language
in ordinary writing you so thoughtfully send me.” [13]. expression has the potential to be used differently by a
Through these dialogic actions, Shaw depicts the mean speaker and listener due to differences in cognitive
attitude of phoneticians during his generation who used abilities such as thinking, perception, knowledge,
phonetic scripts for the purpose of correspondence. It is judgment. Weigand points out that the phrases “with
quite ironic that even the educated class finds great seriousness” and “with high seriousness” is an
challenging to decipher the phonetic scripts, so they example of the difference in usage rather than a
preferred to read messages that are composed using difference in meaning. She believes that the rules
letters of the English alphabet. which operate on these set of expressions facilitate its
use by the principle of free choice. In Act 1, Bernard
In Act 1, Bernard Shaw initially conceals the Shaw introduces the main characters of the play and
name of the main character Prof. Higgins and progresses to Act II, where Eliza decides to take
introduces him as a note-taker. The playwright provides English lessons from Higgins to fulfil her dream of
a picturesque view of the momentary actions that the being employed as a lady in a flower shop. Claiming
characters enact in their interactions. In Act 1, Eliza as his daughter, DOLITTLE insists on interacting
contextual clues in square brackets „[overbearing but with Higgins. However, Higgins is surprised to learn
good-humored]‟ provides additional information to the about the arrival of DOLITTLE and enquires how he
readers about the temperament of THE NOTE TAKER, came to know about the presence of Eliza.
thereby, linking the non-verbal gestures of the
interlocutor to the thought process of the readers. Datum, ACT II
HIGGINS: Then how did you know she was here?
Datum, ACT I DOOLITTLE [“most musical, most melancholy”] I’ll
THE NOTE TAKER [overbearing but good-humored] tell you, Governor, if you’ll only let me get a word in.
Oh, shut up, shut up. Do I look like a policeman? I’m willing to tell you. I’m wanting to tell you. I’m
waiting to tell you.
THE FLOWER GIRL [far from reassured] Then what (Shaw, 2018, ACT II, P. 53-54)
did you take down my words for? How do I know

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 119
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

The structures such as “I‟m willing to tell you. not have the required competence to assist HIGGINS in
I‟m wanting to tell you. I‟m waiting to tell you” reveal his professional endeavours as a phonetician. In order to
the playwright‟s creativity to integrate poetic make “a cooperative attempt” to make the interlocutors
temperament into dialogic language. The insertion of understand each other, the playwright progresses to
the word “native” to the utterance “woodnotes wild” compose dialogic utterances such as “I‟ve picked up a
denotes to a specific reference to a vernacular dialect girl”, “some girl has picked you up?” and “I don‟t mean
spoken in slum dwellings. The expressions “natural gift a love affair”. The poetic diction in the utterances
of rhetoric” and “sentimental rhetoric” conveys the “picked up” (past tense) and “picked you up?”
linguistic ability of DOLITTLE to influence others and (criticize/correcting the behaviour), differentiating the
hide his real self. The initial usage of the word intended meaning makes the dialogic language more
“rhetoric‟ after a preposition “of” gives a different effective. These utterances also create awareness to the
meaning as compared to the phrase “sentimental readers of its usage in different communicative
rhetoric”. However, these expressions have a contexts.
synonymous relationship because a person who has the
natural talent of being rhetoric can manipulate his skills Utterance and communicative purpose
to influence others. Further, the readers are informed According to Weigand [1], the utterances can
that a linguist can identify “mendacity and dishonesty” be classified as direct, indirect, or idiomatic speech acts
of an individual through his/her speech. but these speech acts are functionally not identical but
differ according to how they convey the communicative
Discourse and Coherence purpose. The literal meaning of the sentence uttered is
Weigand [1] is of the opinion that in a speaker- realised in the direct speech act, while the indirect
listener communicative situation, the habits of an speech act applies the inferencing process to understand
individual can be open points where misunderstanding the meaning. Weigand points out that the literal
occurs. She points out that due to individual variation meaning of an utterance gets blocked in idiomatic
in the cognitive background, understanding between speech act because the meaning is realised in the whole
interlocutors will be very difficult. However, coherence sentence. The communicative functions of these speech
can be achieved when these open points can be acts can be understood only when a listener or a reader
immediately corrected through the „cooperative attempt brings in a certain amount of expert knowledge required
to understand‟. Weigand clarifies that cooperative to comprehend the utterance or a text.
attempt does not refer to the literal meaning of a
sentence, but it is to understand the meaning of an In Act 4, the playwright‟s creative composition
utterance in the context of dialogic interaction, i.e., its of dialogic language to intensify the emotional
communicative function and proposition. In Act III of disturbances of the interlocutors into a physical conflict
Pygmalion, the character HIGGINS is keen to examine achieves the intended result because the characters are
the effectiveness of the pronunciation lessons given to found exchanging the discourse of anger, frustration,
ELIZA. In order to test her competence in conversation, dominance and disillusionment. The playwright‟s
HIGGINS requests his mother, Mrs HIGGINS, to effectiveness to portray non-verbal language in square
provide a platform for Eliza to communicate with a brackets creates an impact to the dialogic actions
group of people who can speak the language because the non-verbal actions guide the readers to
proficiently. create visual images to either empathize or criticise the
attitude of the interlocutors. The intensity of the non-
Datum, ACT III verbal cues given below indicates how the readers go
HIGGINS. I must. Ive a job for you. A phonetic job. beyond the literary meaning to make inferences.
MRS. HIGGINS. No use, dear. I’m sorry; but I cant get
round your vowels; and though I like to get pretty Datum, ACT IV
postcards in your patent shorthand, I always have to HIGGINS [looking at her in cool wonder] The creature
read the copies in ordinary writing you so thoughtfully IS nervous, after all.
send me. LIZA [gives a suffocated scream of fury, and
(Shaw, 2018, ACT III, P. 68) instinctively darts her nails at his face]!!
HIGGINS [catching her wrists] Ah! would you? Claws
In Act III, the playwright introduces MRS in, you cat. How dare you show your temper to me? Sit
HIGGINS scolding her son, HIGGINS, for intruding as down and be quiet. [He throws her roughly into the
an unwanted guest during her leisure hours at home. easy-chair].
However, HIGGINS clarifies that “I‟ve a job for you. A (Shaw, 2018, ACT IV, P. 96)
phonetic job” and MRS HIGGINS reacts to the literary
meaning of the utterance and expresses her inability to The above dialogic exchanges between the
take up the offer due to her past experiences with characters are a progression from a reaction of Higgins
HIGGINS. Mrs HIGGINS interpretation of the to the unusual behavioural response of LIZA hurling
utterance “A phonetic job” contradicts with HIGGINS‟s slippers at him. The playwright intentionally deviates
viewpoint because MRS HIGGINS thinks that she does from the syntactic rules to capitalize “IS” to inform the

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 120
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

readers of the tone of voice and making that specific interpersonal communication. However, PICKERING
utterance to be heard at a louder voice to signal that the is found to be competent as well as good-mannered
interlocutor is referring to the present state of mind of because of which LIZA learns to lead a civilized life
LIZA. The usage of the word “creature” by HIGGINS, under intolerable conditions of HIGGINS. In the play,
comparing the actions of LIZA to that of an animal Bernard Shaw initially portrays LIZA as a flower girl
further hurts her feelings. The playwright portrays the who earns her living by selling flowers in the streets.
reactionary move of LIZA with exclamation marks “!!”. However, on the other hand, HIGGINS is depicted as a
The composition of the structure “Claws in, you cat” phonetician from an academic community. The
reminds the readers of sharpness of ELIZA‟s nails and communication styles and personality traits of each of
the intensity of the injury or bruises and the physical these two characters hailing from different cultural
pain that HIGGINS has already undergone. The initial environments often lead to conflicting situations with
usage of “creature” further connects with “cat” to make either of the interlocutors, finding it challenging to
the actions of ELIZA appear beastly. accommodate the social nature of each other. Though
LIZA cooperates to improve her competence in spoken
Integrating competence and performance English, she often rebukes HIGGINS for his personality
Weigand [1] believes that human beings traits of not respecting her feelings and for treating her
ability to speak integrates with other abilities such as like a machine. On the other hand, LIZA appreciates
perceiving and thinking and so they are aware that they PICKERING for addressing her as “Miss Doolittle” and
have to distinguish between what is said and what for “a hundred little things” that helped her to mould
individual social beings mean in particular contexts. social mannerisms needed for a civilised society. The
She points out that human beings possess an playwright also sheds light on the importance of
extraordinary human ability called “competence-in- integrating verbal as well as non-verbal communication
performance” and the cultural environment partly in enhancing human relations.
shapes it and partly determined by human nature.
Weigand says that the central reference point of Language use and Misunderstanding
competence-in-performance are human beings and their Weigand [1] points out that it is not only by
purposes, interests, abilities and also comprises of all understanding each other‟s language that human beings
parameters that influence human actions such as human understand one other, but they also use different ways
nature and intentions. to come to an understanding because language use
accepts misunderstanding as well. The interlocutors can
The dialogic exchanges between the characters overcome misunderstanding because they can correlate
reveal how communication styles of individuals as well as negotiate their interests, tasks and positions.
influence the listeners to change their attitudes. In the Weigand opines that through the process of clarifying
conversation, Liza reminds Pickering of his respectful difficulties, they correct their misunderstandings and
attitude while addressing her and reveals that the non-understanding.
expression “Miss Doolittle” made her feel good and
praises him for his mannerisms. Act V is a revelation of the sequence of events
leading to the disappearance of LIZA from HIGGINS„s
Datum, ACT V house. Further, the playwright highlights the
transformation of DOLITTLE from a slum-dweller to a
LIZA [continuing] It was just like learning to dance in respectable position. DOLITTLE is however found to
the fashionable way: there was nothing more than that be unhappy of his current social status as he finds it as
in it. But do you know what began my real education? an obstacle for his personal space and so criticises
HIGGINS for elevating him to a higher social stature.
PICKERING. What? Amid LIZA‟s disappearance from HIGGINS‟s house in
LIZA [stopping her work for a moment] Your calling Act 5, the playwright shifts reader‟s attention to
me Miss Doolittle that day when I first came to DOLITTLE. The dialogic interaction in which LIZA
Wimpole Street. That was the beginning of self-respect and HIGGINS are found to have unpleasant verbal
for me. [She resumes her stitching]. And there were a exchanges at the end of Act IV makes the readers be in
hundred little things you never noticed, because they a state of suspense about the actions that might follow
came naturally to you. Things about standing up and in Act V.
taking off your hat and opening doors—
(Shaw, [1] ACT V, P. 117) As the readers progress to Act V, they are
expected to infer from the lines of dialogic language
The dialogic language though is a reference to about LIZA‟s disappearance from HIGGINS‟s house.
the attitude of PICKERING towards LIZA, also At the beginning of Act 5, the playwright depicts the
differentiates HIGGINS‟ competence in phonetics and appearance of HIGGINS at Mrs Higgins‟s house,
his personality traits. The playwright highlights that telephoning the police and later conveying to MRS
though HIGGINS is competent with the spoken English HIGGINS‟s about LIZA‟s sudden escape from
skills, his personality traits seem to be an obstacle in HIGGINS‟s house. In order to make the actions of the

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 121
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

play realistic and appealing, the playwright aptly relates

the sequences of the play from LIZA‟s disappearance to
the arrival of DOLITTLE. However, it‟s quite puzzling
to learn the acquaintance between MRS HIGGINS and
DOLITTLE. In the initial appearance of Act II, DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
DOLITTLE reveals the source of information for The relevance of Weigand’s [1] theoretical
reaching MR HIGGINS‟s house, but in Act V, it is principles to evaluate dialogic discourse
surprising to note that there is no hint given about his In the opening lines of „Preface to Pygmalion‟,
past interactions with MRS HIGGINS‟s but the George Bernard Shaw states “Pygmalion needs, not a
playwright abruptly introduces him to be at the doors of preface, but a sequel” [13]. It coincides with the
MRS HIGGINS‟s house. theoretical observations of Wiegand‟s [14] wherein she
states that arguments are dependent on the speaker‟s
Datum, ACT V perspective and to be understood as a communicative
MRS. HIGGINS. But what has my son done to you, Mr. means to promote the speaker‟s point of view and can
Doolittle? be judged differently by different individuals. Bernard
DOOLITTLE. Done to me! Ruined me. Destroyed my Shaw though disagrees to the idea of a preface,
happiness. Tied me up and delivered me into the hands progresses to present a detailed background of the
of middle class morality. reasons behind the deterioration of spoken English and
(Shaw, [13], ACT V, P. 108-109) the need to address this issue by the native Englishmen.
After the end of Act V, the playwright adds a sequel to
narrate the sequence of events that happens in the lives
In Act V, the very moment DOLITTLE of Liza, Freddy, Pickering and Higgins. Bernard Shaw
notices HIGGINS, he becomes nostalgic and when Mrs is of the view that after the end of Act V, the readers
HIGGINS‟s enquires of his current state of may predict a romantic relationship between Higgins
disappointment, DOLITTLE expresses unpleasant and Liza. The playwright‟s intentions to control the
feelings and holds HIGGINS responsible for elevating communicative moves of the reader, though is not
his status to the middle class. The expressions “ruined”, appreciable, leads to the inclusion of “sequel” at the end
“destroyed”, “tied”, and “delivered” indicates different of the drama. In the sequel, Shaw presents different
parts of speech with “-ed” endings. The words viewpoints that his readers may predict and makes
“destroyed”, “tied” and “delivered” are verbs while critical observations to put forward his point of view as
“ruined” is an adjective. The expression “middle class an acceptable ending to the story.
morality” when examined critically and related to the
past life of DOLITTLE gives the readers a feeling that The effectiveness of dialogic discourse to perform
he was happier in the past. The accusations of communicative functions such as initiation and
DOLITTLE is also indicative of how lazy individuals, reactive
when elevated to a higher status, complain of In Pygmalion, the dialogic exchanges between
accomplishing the current professional responsibilities the characters make the actions of the play quite
and feel unhappy for being given a higher stature in realistic, because the playwright engages the readers to
society. In order to reveal a transformation in absorb themselves into the meaning-making process of
DOLITTLE‟s career, the playwright initially creates a familiar contexts as they journey through the realities
sense of confusion and misunderstanding in the minds that people from different walks of life experience
of interlocutors but also intermittently reveals the during the Victorian era. The initiation of a dialogue
realities that remain as a surprise to other interlocutors with communicative intent, sometimes quite long, as
and to the readers as well. observed in DOLITTLE‟S utterances, and reactive
moves of other characters make the dramatic text
The dialogic expressions of DOLITTLE serve resemble the form of spoken discourse. The dialogues
to fulfil the intentions of the playwright to evoke composed by Bernard Shaw in Pygmalion complies to
curiosity in the readers wherein the actions of the play Feller [14] theory, wherein she pointed out how two
through verbal exchanges between the characters different types of action, namely initiative and reactive
provide hints about the attitude, self-image and speech act makes the dialogic discourse more
perceptions that influence different categories of people meaningful. The playwright initially introduces the
in a society. The intensity and the choice of dialogic characters with names such as ‟THE FLOWER GIRL‟,
expressions “Oh! Drunk! am I? Mad! am I?” though „THE GENTLEMAN‟, and „THE NOTE TAKER‟. It
quite simplistic in form and structure but quite deviates from the practice that people follow in their
innovative in composition reveal Bernard Shaw‟s everyday life wherein the initiative move to introduce a
literary shrewdness of making the discourse realistic stranger to the audience involves firstly, the real name
and exciting for the readers. The wit in the dialogues of being introduced and then a detailed description of an
DOLITTLE, often highlights the realities of Victorian individual‟s social and professional background is
life and society. presented. In real-life situations, when an individual is
being introduced to the audience for the first time, it is a

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 122
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

convention to present their academic and professional The visual and auditory descriptions that the
credentials. However, in Pygmalion, readers have to playwright depicts in the opening scene of the play
apply inferencing skills to identify the roles and guide the readers to create mental images of the scene
responsibilities of characters because Bernard Shaw where characters are found to be communicating due to
introduces them with anonymous names that are quite their proximity to one another. In order to make the
familiar to the readers. Bernard Shaw creates interest dialogic context clear to the readers, Bernard Shaw
and suspense in the readers' mind because the urge and provides detailed information about the scene where
inquisitiveness to uncover the happenings between the characters communicate with each other. Shaw‟s
characters make the readers concentrate more on their approach in composing dialogues for Pygmalion is
reading activity. The playwright elevates the dramatic quite similar to the views of Weigand [1] wherein she
discourse of the play to make it appealing to the readers' states the misunderstandings that can occur in speaker-
intellect and emotions. The tone of initiative and listener communicative situations can be corrected
reactive speech acts through which the characters when the meaning of an utterance is understood in the
communicate to express their feelings and opinions context of dialogic interaction. In Act I of the play, the
enables the readers to connect with new language opening dialogue initiated by THE DAUGHTER with
expressions. These expressions can be used to her mother is linked to the weather conditions. The
communicate agreement, disagreement, humour, description of the setting with dialogic language
sarcasm, anger, frustration, irony, and to reason an relevant to the context brings coherence to the actions
argument as well. of the play. The familiarity of contextual dialogues and
the usage of everyday expressions such as the mother,
The effectiveness of dialogic discourse to perform daughter, bystander, flower girl, gentleman, and the
communicative functions such as verbal and non- note-taker make the discourse between these characters
verbal acts comprehensible to a reader. Further, the playwright
The intention of George Bernard Shaw to skilfully integrates the dialogues to the setting wherein
provide a preface and a sequel to the drama, though the characters engage in verbal exchanges on matters
curtails the readers to make intelligent guesses about related to time, transport, weather conditions,
the past and future actions of the play, creates an geographic location, and money, giving hints to the
awareness of different situations that the readers are readers of their economic status and social background.
likely to uncover at different stages of drama. The
background context that Shaw provides in the preface The characters such as THE SARCASTIC
functions as a link to all the five acts of the play BYSTANDER and THE BYSTANDERS
wherein the readers' attention is drawn to the way the GENERALLY, though considered being insignificant
characters use language to express their views and characters as their roles and appearance in the play
feelings. The structures of the dialogic communication remain temporary, but their utterances signalling their
serve to fulfil the playwright‟s intentions of presenting interference creates a dramatic effect due to the
a realistic description of the scenario in which the sarcasm. Their abrupt and unwelcoming utterances also
characters live in. These dialogic structures coincide pave the way in aggravating the misunderstanding
with the views of Wigand [1] that the utterances between the main characters of the play. The usage of
composed by a playwright have to be situationally everyday expressions such as “business”, “promotion”
relevant and match the cognitive levels of the readers. “shelter” “insulted” revealing the anger of a bystander
The playwright skillfully integrates the behavioural makes the ESL/EFL readers visualise the scene and
patterns as well as the cockney spoken by THE connect it to real-life situations. In the opening scene of
FLOWER GIRL, thereby, making the discourse the play, the playwright creates suspense by concealing
understandable to the readers. the identity of the characters with anonymous names
such as notetaker, flower girl and gentleman and as the
Further, the physical movements and the actions of the play progress; the readers get to know the
mental state of THE NOTE TAKER during his real names of the main characters as Higgins, Pickering
conversation with THE FLOWER GIRL depicted in the and Liza. The concealment of the names serves as a
present tense, “opens his book and holds it steadily”, strategy to make the readers curious about the dialogues
create a visual effect and presents the scene more that follow, thereby creating more interest to uncover
livelily to the readers. The playwright‟s ability to the later developments in the play.
describe physical movements, mental states and the
actions of the characters employing simplistic language In the opening scene of Act V, the playwright
expressions makes the text relevant for ESL (English as ends the suspense created at the end of Act IV with the
a Second Language) classrooms. The syntactic sudden disappearance of LIZA from the home of
structures of dialogic language can be a useful resource HIGGINS. The playwright brings all the main
and serve as language input to the ESL/EFL students. characters of the play together to MRS HIGGINS‟
house, and the discourse between these characters
How the playwright connects the dialogic actions of highlight the ordeals of DOTLITTLE and LIZA after
the play and makes it understandable to the readers their transformation to higher stature in the society.

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 123
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

DOLITTLE and LIZA accuse Prof. Higgins of his utterances with their semantic effectiveness
interference in transforming their lives. The father and communicate vivid realities of different sections of
the daughter accuse Prof. Higgins responsible for people living in contemporary society. In order to
unwanted interference in their personal lives. The familiarise the setting of the play, the playwright prefers
English lessons that LIZA learnt elevated her status in to familiar expressions such as “THE NOTE TAKER”,
society, but she feels that it has increased her misery. “THE FLOWER GIRL” and “THE GENTLEMAN”
On the other hand, DOLITTLE‟s feels that undue and also creates an atmosphere of anonymity before
importance is given to his stature also gave rise to revealing the real names these characters to the readers.
challenging situations due to which he struggles to keep However, the familiarity in common names makes the
up the expectations of the society. The phonetic lessons utterances of the characters comprehensible to the
that LIZA learnt from Prof. Higgins and the “silly joke” readers. Most of the utterances in the play have the
in the letter written to Ezra D. Wannafeller that potential for different interpretations and therefore can
DOLITTLE as the “most original moralist at present in be resourceful for classroom discussions in ESL/EFL
England”, again by Prof. Higgns, though a positive classrooms. ESL/EFL teachers can also use selective
aspect to be appreciated, makes their career path quite dialogues to promote classroom interaction among the
challenging. The playwright skillfully composes the students. Since these dialogues are composed of words
dialogues by integrating the behavioural patterns and paving the way for appropriate syntactic structures at
the spoken discourse of LIZA. DOLITTLE is sentence level, it can be a source of language input for
introduced initially in Act II, and then again in Act V. ESL/EFL students because they have the potential for
In Act V, he is found voicing out his protest about a creative interpretations using the target language. The
reference of his name to the letter written to Ezra logic and reasoning in the arguments and exchanges of
D.Wannafeller by Prof. Higgins. It links the thematic the characters often seem to have an auditory effect due
context of the play, revealing how a casual remark on a to the use of non-verbal cues as well as its intensity to
written script by eminent personalities in the society convey the intended idea precisely to the readers. The
can change the fate of an individual. revelation of uneasiness, anger, anxiety, frustration,
criticism, provocation in the dialogic language makes
The suitability of syntactic structures in the the readers empathise and sympathize with the
dialogues to enhance English language skills of ESL characters.
students
In Pygmalion, the dialogic structures with CONCLUSION
unusual word order make the discourse impressive to The insights based on linguistic analysis of
the readers. These structures can be a source of Pygmalion presented in this paper can be a model for
language input to the ESL undergraduates. In addition other researchers in the interdisciplinary fields of
to the contextual meaning within the text, the dialogues language and literature to apply similar approaches to
scripted in Pygmalion can be a useful resource for analyse literary texts. Also, the analysis of syntactic
interactive sessions in the classrooms. As pointed out structures to derive underlying meanings and identify
by Weigand [17], speech acts expect readers to apply grammatical categories of words can be a resourceful
their critical thinking skills to comprehend and analyse input for ESL teachers to follow similar techniques
the underlying meanings of dialogic language. In order while discussing literary texts in ESL classrooms. As
to intensify the actions of the play and create an impact mentioned earlier in the limitations of the study, George
on the readers' mind, George Bernard Shaw uses words Bernard Shaw‟s Pygmalion is a drama with creative
such as “creature”, “claws” “cat”. The syntactic expressions and has the potential for thematic and
structures presented in the form of dialogues in linguistic interpretations. In the past, many researchers
Pygmalion can be used by ESL/EFL teachers to create have contributed articles in the thematic analysis of
classroom activities such as lexical sets and other Pygmalion while this paper approached the play from a
vocabulary related communicative activities through linguistic viewpoint and provided insights for other
which students can be trained to generate appropriate researchers in the field.
and meaningful sentences. However, in most of the
colleges across the Telangana region, the study of REFERENCE
Pygmalion is limited to the specialised English 1. Weigand, E. (2009). Language as dialogue: From
language courses and remains unexplored by science rules to principles (S. Feller, Ed.). Amsterdam:
and engineering students. Benjamins.
2. Anugerahwati, M. (2010). Pygmalion: A Study of
How to explore the linguistic aspects of dialogic Socio-Semantics. TEFLIN Journal,21(2), 201-210.
language Retrieved April 23, 2019.
In Pygmalion, an analysis of the dialogic 3. Chen, L. (2006). A Feminist Perspective to
exchanges between the characters of the play informs Pygmalion. Canadian Social Science,2(2), 41-44.
the readers about how various sections of people during Retrieved April 24, 2019.
the Victorian era used English to express their opinions 4. Cherlin, C., & Abilasha, R. (2018). Feministic
and feelings. The structural patterns of the dialogic Perspective in George Bernard Shaw‟s

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 124
 George Mathew Nalliveettil; Sch Int J Linguist Lit, April, 2020; 3(4): 116-125

Pygmalion. International Journal of English 11. Hamoud, A. M. (2019). The use of the Concept of
Language, Literature in Humanities, (Special Issue "Language Variation" As a Stylistic Device in
- Publication of Conference Proceedings), 223– Pygmalion: Toward Socio-Stylistic
228. Approach. International Journal of English
5. Reynolds, J. (2016). Shaw's Pygmalion: The Play's Linguistics, 9(5), 422–429.
the Thing. JSTOR,36(2), 238-255. Retrieved May 12. Nalliveettil, G. M., & Mohamed, M. S. (2016).
12, 2019. Discourse Analysis of Tennessee Williams' "The
6. Gadhiraju, C. (2017). Myths of creation: A study of Glass Menagerie". Advances in Language and
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. International Literary Studies, 7(3), 201–210
Journal of Advanced Education and Research,2(2), 13. Shaw, G. B. (2018). Pygmalion (Reprint 2018).
64-66. Retrieved May 13, 2019. New Delhi, India: Prakash Books India Pvt Ltd.
7. Xiaowei, Z. (2018). A Study on Feminism of 14. Feller, S. (2009). Introduction: In the tide of
George Bernard Shaw‟s Pygmalion. Studies in change. In Language as Dialogue: From rules to
Literature and Language,17(3), 6-9. Retrieved principles of probability. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:
May 13, 2019. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 5:5-11
8. Gupta, P., & Mahajan, P. (2015). The Recreation of 15. Mayer, L. R. (n.d.). A Teacher‟s Guide to the
Archetypal Pygmalion in George Bernard Shaw‟s Signet Classics Edition of George Bernard Shaw's
“Pygmalion”. International Journal of English Pygmalion. Retrieved December 28, 2019, from
Language, Literature and Translation Studies, 2(2), https://www.penguin.com/static/pdf/teachersguides
242-244. Retrieved May 13, 2019. /Pygmalion.pdf.
9. Gallardo, B. C. (2001). “Why can‟t women talk 16. Weintraub, S., & Stewart, J. I. (n.d.). George
like a man?”: An investigation of gender in the Bernard Shaw. Retrieved June 13, 2019, from
play Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw. Retrieved June https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-
10, 2019, from Bernard-Shaw/images-videos
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/30361303.pdf 17. Pirnajmuddin, H., & Arani, F. S. (2011). Discourse
10. .Shenbagapriya, K., & Jemeena, J. (2018, and Power in George Bernard Shaw‟s
December 22). Problems and emotions in Pygmalion. Studies in Literature and Language,
Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw. Retrieved June 13, 3(3), 146-152. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
2019, from
http://ijirt.org/Article?manuscript=147391

© 2020 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 125