y'all

[J. Eulenberg]

I am from North Texas.  The ONLY time I ever heard y'all used in singular
form was by my cousin, when I arrived in Portland, Oregon, for a summer
visit; and we have to assume that he was kidding -- or just didn't know!

Julia Niebuhr Eulenberg <eulenbrg at u.washington.edu>

On Tue, 5 Aug 2003, Prof. R. Sussex wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Prof. R. Sussex" <sussex at UQ.EDU.AU>
> Subject:      y'all
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'd like to ask whether y'all is unmarked in plural address, and in
> what senses it can be used in singular address, if indeed it can be.
> The parallel youse in Australia is usually plural, but can sometimes
> be used for singular address. Strange differences from T/V!
> Roly Sussex
>
>
> --
>
> Roly Sussex
> Professor of Applied Language Studies
> Department of French, German, Russian, Spanish and Applied Linguistics
> School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies
> The University of Queensland
> Brisbane
> Queensland 4072
> AUSTRALIA
>
> Office: Greenwood 434 (Building 32)
> Phone:  +61 7 3365 6896
> Fax:    +61 7 3365 6799
> Email:  sussex at uq.edu.au
> Web:    http://www.arts.uq.edu.au/slccs/profiles/sussex.html
> School's website:
>         http://www.arts.uq.edu.au/slccs/
> Applied linguistics website:
>         http://www.uq.edu.au/slccs/AppliedLing/
>
> Language Talkback ABC radio:
> Web:    http://www.cltr.uq.edu.au/languagetalkback/
> Audio:  from    http://www.abc.net.au/hobart/
>
> **********************************************************
>