Pygmalion

I wonder if Higgins' abilities are realistic. The idea that a person can differentiate 130 different vowel sounds seems absurd to me. What makes one accent better than another? Although Higgins can tell them apart minutely, society in general can tell what class one is by their speaking habits. Language seems to be a way of keeping people in their respective classes as well. By learning to speak better, Eliza is breaking out of her class and opening up new opportunities for herself. This is by odd chance though, a sort of cinderella story, and normally she would be stuck in the same economic situation through her whole life. When we think of the things which hold people back in society, speech pattern is not typically something that springs to mind. It is not the only thing which must be refined of course, but in Eliza's case it is the main change.