Y'all and No?

[Charles Wells]

1) I have been occasionally hearing non-southern young people (mainly
college students) use "y'all" as a second person plural the way southerners
do.  Has anyone else noticed this?  Is it spreading?

2) I have also heard non-Latino students use "no?" in the way it is used in
Spanish (without any joking Mexican accent), as in

"That movie is at the Rialto, no?"

(In fact, I have never heard a Latino use this construction in English.  I
suppose it is an unwelcome stereotype.)

Has this been noticed by any linguists or lexicographers?



Charles Wells,
Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University
Affiliate Scholar, Oberlin College
Send all mail to:
105 South Cedar St., Oberlin, Ohio 44074, USA.
email: charles at freude.com.
home phone: 440 774 1926.
professional website: http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/math/wells/home.html
personal website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/index.html
NE Ohio Sacred Harp website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/sh.htm