Accents， Identity， and Stereotype in the film My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady is a 1964 American musical film starred by Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins respectively. Based on the 1912 stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw， this film tells the tale of how London phonetics professor Henry Higgins gives cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle speech lessons in order to pass her off as a duchess， making her a presentable and noble lady in the Embassy Ball of the high society of London.

It is worth particular noticing that the primal focus of this film is on phonetics and phonology rather than the topics of conversation or how she should act or behave appropriately （Razfar， A.， & Rumenapp， J. C. 2013）. This is of vital importance as it displays the inextricable connection between accents and identity. As Professor Higgins puts it in his refashioning “guttersnipe” Eliza， I “change her into a different human being by creating a new speech for her”. By equating the “spoken self” with ones social identity， Professor Higgins blatantly directs the audiences attention to the embedded associations （or stereotypes） attached to ones way of speech.

Being frown upon as uneducated and vulgar manner of speaking， Elizas “Cockney” accent immediately gives away her humble origin and upbringing， thus reinforcing the overall negative attitude to it. As an English variety associated with London East End， Elizas position as a lower working class East Ender is tongue-evident. Set in the Edwardian and Victorian era， Londons East End grows to be associated with poverty and filthiness. So is the speech of East End Londoners. As shown in Professor Higgins words， “Look at her， a prisoner of the gutter / Condemned by every syllable she utters / By right she should be taken out and hung /For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.” Cockney is not only stigmatized as “inferior” （the language of prisoners of the gutter） but also “corrupt” （the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue）. If this would not suffice to show how Cockney was historically perceived by the London high-brows， in 1909 these attitudes even received an official recognition thanks to the report of The Conference on the Teaching of English in London Elementary School issued by the London County Council， where is stated that “... the Cockney mode of speech， with its unpleasant twang， is a modern corruption without legitimate credentials， and is unworthy of being the speech of any person in the capital city of the Empire”.

Eliza Doolittle， as a symbol of a whole category of people from the lower strata of society， is keenly aware of the value of ‘proper speech in improving her prospects for employment. In order to secure an assistant job in a florists shop， Eliza willingly accepts and endures speech tutoring， endlessly repeating phrases like “In Hertford， Hereford and Hampshire， hurricanes hardly ever happen” and “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”. Though experiencing countless confrontations and conflicts with Professor Higgins， Eliza continues her trial-and-error study as she bears strong practical motives to learn how to speak with a more socially acceptable upper-class accent. On the surface level， this process is Professor Higgins experiment on accent and identity. He intends to use his successful remodeling of Eliza to win the wager with Pickering and further prove his belief in “l(fā)anguaging social identity”， as stated by him in the film “An Englishmans way of speaking absolutely classifies him. The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him”. But if viewed from a different perspective， for Eliza， this is more of an empowering process. Once victimized and inflicted by her socially stigmatized Cockney accent， Eliza decides to empower herself by imitating the socioeconomically and politically powerful tongue as she tries to climb up the social ladder. Ironically， this empowering process is also built on her recognition of the existence of a “proper way of speaking” and its association with higher social status. In this sense， Eliza， for all the time， is a victim who is manipulated by the popular notion of accent and identity. On a second thought， all characters in this film are victims of such stereotypical associations between accents and identity from a purely linguistic perspective. And the main culprits for creating such stereotypes are just no others； each one should claim a share of responsibility.

However， putting aside the factor of linguistic richness， we can see that language stereotyping， in actual social setting， serves perfectly for the interests and needs of the established groups to dispel “outsiders” and freeze their “social upward mobility” in an seemingly invisible but highly efficient way by marginalizing and stigmatizing their tongue. In Elizas case， coming from Lisson Grove in Paddington， one of the poorest areas of London at the turn of the century， Eliza speaks and behaves in a way that sets her decidedly apart from the upper-class characters of the story. The resulting estrangement between her and Professor Higgins upon the first meeting illustrates what fundamentally divides social classes lies not only in terms of wealth， but in communication. Being able to speak with Received Pronunciation （RP） wins her entry ticket to the circle of upper social class while her Cockney accent only serves as a stumbling block as evidenced by the failure in landing an assistant job and the public shock caused by her lapse of Cockney slang at Ascot Racecourse.

In this sense， we can see that people with a collective awareness of covert or overt linguistic stereotypes， tend to employ languages and accents not only to communicate but constitute and negotiate each others identities. Just as Miller （2004） explains， “Speaking is itself a critical tool of representation， a way of representing the self and others. It is the means through which identity is constituted， and agency or self-advocacy is made manifest. In other words， we represent and negotiate identity， and construct that of others， through speaking and hearing” （p. 293-4）.

Today， public opinion of Cockney becomes more tolerant and favorable. Class barriers as defined by accent also begin to break down as Cockney-speaking figures receiving more and more recognitions such as actor Michael Caine. Nevertheless， “popular culture has a history of taking advantage of Cockneys implied lack of refinement， and continues to use it today” （Espey， N）. From Eliza Doolittles apparent need to be rid of it， to director Guy Ritchies use of it in gangster films， the Cockney accent has carried， and continues to carry， the burden of a gritty connotation.

References：

[1]Miller，J.Identity and language use： the politics of speaking esl in schools[J].Aneta Pavlenko，págs，2004：290-315.

[2]Razfar，A.，&Rumenapp;，J.C.Applying linguistics in the classroom：a sociocultural approach[J].Routledge，2013.

[3]Espey，N.Cockney Rhyming Slang：An iconic vernacular[OL].http：//coventgardenmemories.org.uk/page_id__66.aspx？path=0p29p35p.

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】李美，西安醫(yī)學(xué)院外國(guó)語學(xué)院 。