Abstract:
George Bernard Shaw's masterpiece Pygmalion deals with the social function of language and reveals that Linguistic Competence is one of the markers of social status. It presents the story of the social transformation of a flower girl into a ‘lady’ through linguistic retraining. This work has been analyzed from a variety of perspectives such as Freudian psychology and sociolinguistic perspectives. With regard to the social function of language we can offer two interpretations of the play: a story of successful education and social self transformation، or a failed dream of education in which education not only does not promote the social status of the main character but also results in a crisis of identity for her. This article aims at exploring the process of acculturation in terms of the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu whose concepts of habitus، field، and capital are considered as a significant contribution to the disciplines of cultural studies، anthropology and sociology. In Shaw’s play the social positions of different characters change in different ways: through accumulation of cultural capital، especially language retraining، or through gaining economic and symbolic capital. Bourdieu’s insights، the writers maintain، can shed some light on the significance and modality of these changes. As such، the paper makes a case for the relevance of Bourdieu in studying Shaw’s work.
Machine summary:
In Shaw’s play the social positions of different characters change in different ways: through accumulation of cultural capital, especially language retraining, or through gaining economic and symbolic capital.
(1997: 3) In what follows we will examine the concepts of class, culture and language in Shaw’s Pygmalion in the light of Bourdieu’s notions of cultural capital, habitus, and field.
2. Discussion Now this brief familiarity with Bourdieu's terminology and insights might help us examine the social condition of characters in the class- ridden society of England presented in Shaw's Pygmalion.
Therefore, at the very beginning of the play, Shaw presents us with a stratified society in which linguistic competence is one of the indicators of social status.
Apart from her appearance, Eliza's manner of speaking also illustrates that her class and social status is different from that of other ladies and gentlemen in the play such as Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering.
Linguistic competence, in Bourdieu's term, is a cultural capital, thus it can be a suitable factor in distinguishing different classes of people from one another.
Such non-standard and ungrammatical speech clearly manifests that Eliza lacks linguistic competence and belongs to a social class different form that of other characters'.
In Pygmalion, too, Shaw creates a similar situation by putting Eliza in a process of acculturation, through which she accumulates cultural capital, and consequently, her cultural field changes.
In Higgins's house, apart from learning graceful speech, Eliza is introduced to a world of new tastes and arts; markers of upper class distinction.