Communication Theory

There were many elements of joining a new social group that bedeviled Eliza. One element that she absolutely hated was being clean. When she was given a bath, she screamed and yelled in horror. Another element that bedeviled Eliza was the speech of someone who was in the upper class. Her speech was the only reason why Professor Higgins took her in. At first, her tone, language, and words were completely horrible. Also, the way the upper class dressed bedeviled Eliza. She had to leave all of her old, street clothes behind as she acquired a new wardrobe from Professor Higgins.

She finds these to be such formidable obstacles because this was the way she was raised and brought up. She lived on the streets her whole life so of course it would be difficult to adjust to a completely different environment. Eliza’s whole family lived in her situation, as shown when we meet her father in a scene.

2.

Higgins communicates status nonverbally through many ways. One way he communicates status nonverbally is how he dresses. Higgins always wore very nice and formal clothing, never being casual. This shows that he comes from the upper class. He also communicates status nonverbally through posture. He always stood up straight and sat like a gentleman.

Professor Higgins used these same techniques to help Eliza communicated status nonverbally. He gives Eliza a whole new wardrobe, which makes her look like she belongs in the upper class. He also changes the way she stands and walks. This fools many people into thinking Eliza was from the upper class, especially at the end when one of Higgins’ old students claims that Eliza was of royalty.

3.

The syntactic rule of language is to dictate the proper order of words for the intended meaning. The pragmatic rule of language is to deal with the implications or interpretations of statements. Professor communicates status verbally using both of these rules. Higgins will sometimes have an order of words sound weird in...