Language as a Tool for Shaping Identity and Promoting Social Progress in Shaw’s Pygmalion and Walker’s The Color Purple

Abstract

This research work is based on the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach which combines methods of analysis from linguistic and literary stylistics, corpus stylistics, sociolinguistics, dialectology and discourse analysis so that to conduct a twofold analytical study of the language used in Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw and The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Hence, this dissertation intends to incorporate into the traditional descriptive approach a quantitative linguistic inquiry in order to investigate through statistical findings, corpora analyses as well as manual and electronic techniques the different dialectal variables of cockney dialect in Pygmalion and vernacular AAE in The Color Purple that deviate from the standard forms at the phonological, grammatical and lexical levels and then explore the miscellaneous extra-linguistic parameters that impact language use by characters in both literary masterpieces. Moreover, the ultimate goal of the current research is to use sociolinguistic and discourse analysis of the characters’ language so that to determine the extent to which language can be an effective tool for shaping identity and promoting social progress in Pygmalion and The Color Purple. The findings show that sociolinguistic competence enables the main characters to develop new identities and improve their opportunities for social mobility i.e., they undergo social metamorphosis by means of learning the verbal skills paving the way for them to join the high society and gain access to their codes of behavior.