Question

How did the different dialects that the characters use in Pygmalion affect your ability to understand and follow the dialogue? Use examples from the play in your response.

Answer 1

Answer:

The different dialects made it a bit difficult to understand and follow the dialogue. I could understand Higgins and Pickering well, but it was tough to understand what Eliza was saying sometimes. For example, consider this excerpt from the play:

THE FLOWER GIRL: Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy atbaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?

I had to read this excerpt several times to understand what Eliza was saying. In such cases, the other characters’ responses to Eliza helped me figure out what she was saying.

Explanation:

This is the the exact answer from Edmentum

Answer 2

Answer:Shaw's play explores aspects of language in a variety of ways. Higgins and Pickering study linguistics and phonetics, taking note of how people from different backgrounds speak differently. In Act Three, we see the importance of proper small talk in a social situation. And the play also reveals some of the powers of language: Eliza's transformation is spurred simply by Pickering calling her by the name Miss Doolittle, while Higgins' insults and coarse language, which severely hurt Eliza's feelings, show the potential violence of language. The play is most interested, though, in the connections between a person's speech and his or her identity. As we see in the beginning of the play, Higgins can easily guess where people are from based on their accent, dialect, and use of particular slang. How different people speak the same language thus reveals a surprising amount about their identity. However, Shaw also exposes how shallow and imprecise this conception of identity is, how it doesn't actually capture or represent the full person. After all, Eliza's way of speaking transforms over the course of the play. Eliza is able to change her identity simply by learning to talk differently.

Explanation: