The film "My Fair Lady" can also be interpreted from the relationship between language and thought.
We often feel that language is a tool for expressing our thoughts. Thoughts are primary and language is secondary. Is this true? Whether thought determines language, or language determines thought. We used to think that thought determines language, but there are many modern philosophers who think that language determines thought. Which side is correct is still inconclusive. It is undeniable that language plays an important role in the formation of ideas.
A closer look at Eliza's thoughts before and after reveals a big difference. At first, she spoke the vulgar language of the lower-class people in the UK. From her singing, you can see the desire of the lower-class citizens to change the status quo and their self-sufficiency. Her thoughts at that time were more mundane, and at the same time free and uninhibited. Eliza went to the linguist Higgins to learn the correct pronunciation. Relying on Higgins' rigorous training and her own efforts, she successfully entered the upper class. She pronounced her so correctly that Zoltan Kapati, also a linguist, couldn't identify her. Her thoughts are also very different before and after. The thoughts in front of her are more aggressive and free. When she learned the language of the upper class, her thoughts and behaviors seemed to be disciplined, and she no longer had the yelling that she used to be. The quarrel with Higgins is also limited to dissatisfaction with their relationship, a bit of Chinese Confucianism, which means "feeling in love, and ending with etiquette and righteousness". The influence of language on thought is important. On the surface, not pronouncing the "h" sound is a common sound that distinguishes the language of the upper class and the lower class. In fact, not pronouncing the "h" sound will affect people's thoughts. If the "h" sound is not pronounced, Eliza will directly pronounce the vowel, such as a (/æ/). Directly pronouncing the a sound needs to be enlarged. Mouth, often speaking with your mouth wide open like this will give people a feeling of yelling. Such a way of speaking is easy to form a more pungent and unscrupulous thought and behavior. The correct pronunciation requires the first "h" sound, and the "h" sound means that the mouth is obviously not as wide as before, but this way the pronunciation will appear more rounded and full, and relatively speaking, it will sound better. After a long period of correct pronunciation training, Eliza's voice has become beautiful, but at the same time it has lost the more direct pronunciation before. Her thoughts also became restrained, not as aggressive as before. Therefore, we can see that there is a big difference between pronouncing one more /h/ sound and one less /h/ sound, so that the "h" sound seems to play a role in discipline people's thoughts.
Classic works are so classic because they allow people to interpret them from different angles. At least, we can still clearly see from "My Fair Lady" that language still has an important influence on thinking, and what we say affects how we think.
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