Y'all

Y'all (pronounced as one syllable (/jɔːl/ yawl)) is a contraction of the words "you" and "all". It is used as a plural second-person pronoun. Commonly believed to have originated in the Southern United States, it is primarily associated with Southern American English, African-American Vernacular English, and some dialects of the Western United States.[2] It is also found in the English-speaking islands of the West Indies.

Contents

Usage

There are currently four generally recognized properties that "y'all" follows:[3]

  1. A replacement for the plural of you.
    • Example: "Y'all can use the internet at the same time!"
  2. An associative plural, including individuals associated but not present with the singular addressee.
    • Example: "Y'all can come over at around 10:30," Stephanie says.
      • Stephanie explains to John that John and John's friends, who are not present at the time, can come over at around 10:30. Stephanie is speaking to John, but treats John as a representative for others.
  3. An institutional plural addressed to one person representing a group.
    • Example: "Y'all sell the best candies, Mrs. Johnson."
      • Y'all is received by Mrs. Johnson who is the representative of a small candy business.
  4. A form used in direct address in certain contexts (e.g., partings, greetings, invitations, and vocatives)
    • Example: "Hey, y'all!"
      • A greeting that addresses a multitude of people without referencing a singular identity comprising that multitude

Second-person singular usage

There is long-standing disagreement about whether y'all can have primarily singular reference. While y'all is generally held in the Southern United States to be usable only as the plural form of "you", a scant but vocal minority (for example, Eric Hyman,[4]) argues that the term can be used in the singular as well. Adding confusion to this issue is that observers attempting to judge usage may witness a single person addressed as y'all if the speaker implies in the reference other persons not present: "Have y'all [you and others] had dinner yet?" (to which the answer would be, "Yes, we have", by a single person acting as spokesman for the group.)

H. L. Mencken recognized that y'all or you-all will usually have a plural reference, but acknowledged singular reference use has been observed. He stated, appropriate use

is a cardinal article of faith in the South. ... Nevertheless, it has been questioned very often, and with a considerable showing of evidence. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, to be sure, you-all indicates a plural, implicit if not explicit, and thus means, when addressed to a single person, 'you and your folks' or the like, but the hundredth time it is impossible to discover any such extension of meaning.

— H. L. Mencken, The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, 1948, p.337

All y'all

While "y'all" is actually a contraction of "you all," it is most commonly used as a plural form of "you." "All y'all," "all of y'all," or "alls y'all" clarifies that the entire group is meant, rather than an undefined subset thereof. Cf. "we" vs. "we all," or "they" vs. "they all."

For example

"Are y'all going to the movies?"
The thrust of this question is whether movies are in the plans of the group. The asker is not focusing on whether the whole group, or just some of them, are going.
"Are all y'all going to the movies?"
Here, the person asking specifically wants to know whether the whole group is going.

Possessive usage

Things are further complicated when using the possessive form of the word. For example

"Is this y'all's car?"

or

"Is this all y'all's favorite color?"

There is some debate on the spelling of the possessive form of y'all. Some will spell it "y'all's" while others will spell it "y'alls." As there does not seem to be an official answer, it is a matter of personal preference.[5]

Origin

Y'all clearly arose as a contraction of you-all. Y'all fills in the gap of a separate second person plural pronoun in standard English (created when thou disappeared and you incorporated singular meaning), similar to the phrases you-uns, you lot, or you guys. (Cf. yous, an informal plural second-person pronoun common in Ireland, and often rendered "youse" in Australia and New Zealand, or vosotros ["you others"], the Peninsular Spanish second-person plural, the latter having arisen when vos [originally the second-person plural] became the prevailing polite second-person singular term.)

Though the you all contraction argument may make sense when considering current-day vernacular, it is prudent to consider the vernacular which existed at the time which y'all was likely invented. By the late 18th century, Scots-Irish immigrants had settled in the Southern United States. It is well established that Scots-Irish immigrants frequently used the term ye aw.[6] Some evidence suggests that y'all could have evolved from ye aw due to the influence of African slaves who may have adapted the Scots-Irish term.[7].

See also

References

  1. ^ "Water towers loom large". The Cincinnati Enquirer. April 7, 2001. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/04/07/loc_water_towers_loom.html. Retrieved 2010-07-08. 
  2. ^ Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". English in the Southern United States, 2003, pp. 106 Cambridge University Press
  3. ^ Ching, Marvin K. L.: "Plural You/Ya'll Variation by a Court Judge: Situational Use". American Speech - Volume 76, Number 2, Summer 2001, pp. 115-127 Duke University Press
  4. ^ "The All of You-all" Hyman, Eric, American Speech 81:3(2006)
  5. ^ Teresa R. Simpson, About.com, "How to Use "Y'all" Correctly"
  6. ^ Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern Speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". English in the Southern United States, 2003, pp. 108-109 Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ Lipski, John. 1993. "Y'all in American English," English World-Wide 14:23-56.