The document discusses how speakers convey meanings and personal images through their use of language and behavior. It focuses on the characters in the film My Fair Lady, particularly Eliza Doolittle. Eliza learns to modify her pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and body language to project different personas on different occasions, from a poor Cockney flower girl to a lady of high social class. However, she struggles at times to fully leave behind her original ways of speaking and acting. The document emphasizes that one's choice of words, pronunciation, topics of discussion, and nonverbal behavior all contribute to the impression formed of a person.

1. Improving
personal image.
My Fair Lady
ADRIANA VIZENTAL
“Aurel Vlaicu” University, Arad

2. With every word we say, with
every gesture we make, we
convey not only a variety of
meanings and attitudes, but also
an image of ourselves; which, in
their turn, carry further meanings.

3. I. Speakers convey meanings & attitudes by
way of:
◆ what they say & what their words mean
◆ their intonation
◆ their paralanguage*: tone of voice, explanatory
gestures, mimicry, …
◆ etc.
◆ * Paralanguage = the speaker’s ‘meaningful behavior’ (the
speaker is signaling that he wants to convey some additional
meaning)

4. II. Speakers give information about themselves
through
◆ their pronunciation
◆ their word choice
◆ the quality and inflections of their voices
◆ the grammatical accuracy and complexity
of their sentences
◆ their body language (e.g. body posture,
non-intentional gestures, … .)
◆ etc.

5. With every word uttered, with every gesture made,
speakers convey two types of information :
➢ Non-intentional information
➢ Intentional information
In other words...

6. Clothes make the man.
Naked people have little
or no influence in society!
Mark Twain
Language
= a very important set of clothes

7. Manipulating personal image:
Speakers often strategically manipulate their
linguistic and non-linguistic repertoire
so as to improve their personal image.
➢ improve their pronunciation
➢ control their voice
➢ select their vocabulary carefully
➢ learn grammar
➢ restrain their bodily motions
➢ dress more elegantly
➢ select their subjects of discussion more carefully
➢ learn to shut up when it is not necessary to speak

8. My Fair Lady
Directed by George Cukor
book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Dialogue transcript
http://www.script-o-rama.com/oldindex.shtml
Based on
Pygmalion
By G.B. Shaw

9. Henry Higgins, the phonetician, speaks of
An Englishman's way of speaking
absolutely classifies him. The
moment he talks he makes some
other Englishman despise him.
a “verbal class distinction”
Scene 1 : On the street, on a rainy evening
http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/1.MyFairLady.Look.going.mp4

10. It's ‘aoow’ and ‘garn’ that keep her in her
place
Not her wretched clothes and dirty face
[……]
If you spoke as she does, sir, instead of the
way you do?
Why, you might be selling flowers, too!
Speaking about Eliza, the poor flower girl

11. Eliza Doolittle
Cockney accent
specific allophones :
/au/ instead of [əu]: (/gauiŋ/ for going);
/a:/ instead of [auə] (/fla:z/ for flowers);
specific interjections: aoow, garn
typical swear words: blimey, bloody, bloomin’
specific honorifics: Capt'n, Governor
imaginative slang: busybody, absobloominlutely
faulty grammar: I ain't done nothin' wrong
Paralanguage & body language
 loud, shrieking voice
 wide, disjointed gestures
 poorly dressed and dirty

12. What Higgins bets :
● that in six months he can teach that
incarnate insult to the English language to
speak such perfect English that she can be
accepted in the highest social circles
What Eliza remembers:
• that if she learns to speak better English
she can get a job as a lady's maid or a
shop assistant ….

13. Eliza has come to take lessons.
She tries to present a totally
different image of herself.
ROLE:
➢ she is no longer a poor flower girl, but a client
offering to pay for a service
➢ she wants to appear as a proud, experienced
and well-behaved person
Scene 2 : In Higgins’ house
http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/2.MyFairLady.Lessons.mp4

14. Changes – levels of behaviour
 she has cleaned up:
o I ain't dirty! I washed my face an' hands before I come, I did.
 she has come by taxi
 she uses longer words and more complex grammar:
o My name is of no concern to you whatsoever.
 her pronunciation is more careful:
o It's business of a [ei] personal nature.
 her intonation is more emphatic (more ups and
downs) and her rhythm of speech is faster: she wants
to show she is not intimidated;
 her body language is more complex:
 straight back, raised head – to show self-respect
 but wide gestures (moves her head and shoulders too much -
she does not know that a civilized person restrains body
language).
BUT: this image is just a pose: it collapses under the
pressure of Higgins’ rudeness.

15. Eliza has learned to speak correctly :
 beautiful pronunciation, passable grammar;
 she is dressed exquisitely;
 her body posture is perfect;
YET she makes a fool of herself because
 she uses slang typical for her own class
o … they done the old woman in [and] pinched her new straw hat
 her topics are uncharacteristic for the social
environment
o Them she lived with would have killed her for a hatpin, let alone
a hat
 she becomes emotional: she overenthusiastically
encourages her horse:
o Come on, Dover! Come on! Come on! Come on!
 she swears, using slang & a 4-letter word:
o Move your bloomin' arse!
Scene 3 : At the Ascot races
http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/3.MyFairLady-Ascot%20races.mp4

16. Scene 4 : At the Embassy ball
http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/4.MyFairLady-Embassy-ball.mp4
To everybody, Eliza appears
as a true princess :
 her clothes and jewels are exquisite
 her body language is delicate and restrained (her
mysterious smile seems to hide a romantic secret);
 her language (pronunciation, grammar, word choice)
is educated
 she knows that she must not speak if not asked, etc.

17. Conclusion
A person may be wearing the most
exclusive clothes and still be rejected
if he is no master of the other components
of image: language and behavior
(including body language).

18. References
 My Fair Lady Script – Dialogue Transcript, http://www.script-o-rama.com/oldindex.shtml (Web Feb.
2010)
 Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21cONdNOhJs&list=PLgclzKRpF6GxfOZJLpZWh7EStAPlwtl8J
 Video 1. http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/1.MyFairLady.Look.going.mp4
 Video 2. http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/2.MyFairLady.Lessons.mp4
 Video 3. http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/3.MyFairLady-Ascot%20races.mp4
 Video 4. http://vizentaladriana.ro/videos/Video-Main/4.MyFairLady-Embassy-ball.mp4
 Vizental, A. 2008. Phonetics and Phonology. Arad: “Aurel Vlaicu” University Press.
 Vizental, Adriana. 2009. Meaning and Communication: from Semantic Meaning to Pragmatic
Meaning. Arad: "Aurel Vlaicu" University Press.
 Vizental, Adriana. 2010. “Meaning, Image and Attitude (I). In Journal of Humanistic and Social
Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Arad: “Aurel Vlaicu” University, Year I, No. 2:
67-76 http://www.jhss.ro/en/archive.htm; http://www.jhss.ro/downloads/vol_1_2_2010.pdf