Cockney in Literature
In 1917, George Bernard Shaw wrote "Pygmalion, a play in which Cockney plays an important role. In the pre-wars context, it tells the story of a flower girl, Eliza Doolitle, who lives in the traditional East End and uses Cockney speech. After causing a tumult in the exit of a theatre performance in Covent Garden, she becomes the object of study for Professor Henry Higgins, an arrogant phoneticist who makes a bet with a friend: he is going to make her speak and behave likke a lady, and, in six months, he would be able to fool averyone from London's highest society at an official ball. Eliza, however, proves to be an excellent pupil and wins him the bet.
After becomming a lady, Eliza finds herself in a dilema: she cannot sell flowers for her own financing anymore, a lady does not do that, a lady gets married. Speaking, dressing and behaving like a woman of high society, Eliza loses her independence and placement in the capitalist world.
Known for his sharp socialist criticism, the Irish author makes us see how great ladies are no more than flower girls plus six months of training on phonetics and good manners.
The Cockney speech presented by Eliza was a barrier for her social ascension or economic growth in any sense. In fact, during the narrative her father becomes a rich man by winning in the lottery, which was probably the only way of economic prosperity for someone from their origin. This is a representation of how linguistic prejudice can affect people's lives.
In the case of Cockney dialect, we don't have just the speech of uneducated people, or the indication of their region of birth, but both. In that situation, linguistic prejudice lays bare the strict class structure of English society, which segregates citizans from a determined geographic point, relagating them to exclusion.
After becomming a lady, Eliza finds herself in a dilema: she cannot sell flowers for her own financing anymore, a lady does not do that, a lady gets married. Speaking, dressing and behaving like a woman of high society, Eliza loses her independence and placement in the capitalist world.
Known for his sharp socialist criticism, the Irish author makes us see how great ladies are no more than flower girls plus six months of training on phonetics and good manners.
The Cockney speech presented by Eliza was a barrier for her social ascension or economic growth in any sense. In fact, during the narrative her father becomes a rich man by winning in the lottery, which was probably the only way of economic prosperity for someone from their origin. This is a representation of how linguistic prejudice can affect people's lives.
In the case of Cockney dialect, we don't have just the speech of uneducated people, or the indication of their region of birth, but both. In that situation, linguistic prejudice lays bare the strict class structure of English society, which segregates citizans from a determined geographic point, relagating them to exclusion.
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