Youse/You-uns possessive

[Dennis R. Preston]

The ear (perhaps especially the ear of memory) is a funny organ. If
she did indeed say /yuz/ in unstressed (e.g., possessive) position
(e.g., "I saw /yuz/ car over there yesterday") I sure would like to
hear one.

dInIs

>Regardless of grammar, my friend's mother (a Brooklyn native, born
>about 1925) clearly said
>/ y u z /, _not_ / y U z / or / y ^ z /  or / y I z /.
>
>JL
>
>Ed Keer <edkeer at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Ed Keer
>Subject: Re: Youse/You-uns possessive
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Are they /y^zIz/ or /y^z/?
>
>--- "Dennis R. Preston"
>wrote:
>
>>  I have recordings of both "youse" (/y^z/) and
>>  "you-uns" (y^nz) as
>>  possessives. I have no evidence of the "full forms"
>>  (/yus/ or
>>  /yu^nz/) as possessives, but I wouldn't expect it
>>  since the possessed
>>  N is likely to have stress, and I appear to have no
>>  examples where
>>  contrastive stress is placed on 'youse' or
>>  'you-uns.'
>>
>>  dInIs
>>
>>  >Any native speakers out there willing to confirm or
>>  >deny that youse or you-uns can be used in the
>>  >possessive.
>>  >
>>  >I grew up around youse speakers, but don't trust my
>>  >judgements. To me, youse is not possible as a
>>  >possessive:
>>  >
>>  >1. We went over to youse'/youse's house.
>>  >
>>  >Ed
>>  >
>>  >watchmesleep.blogspot.com
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>
>>____________________________________________________
>>  >Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
>>  >http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
>>
>>
>>  --
>>  Dennis R. Preston
>>  University Distinguished Professor
>>  Department of English
>>  Morrill Hall 15-C
>>  Michigan State University
>>  East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
>>  Office: (517) 453-4736
>>  Fax: (517) 453-3755
>>
>
>watchmesleep.blogspot.com
>
>
>
>____________________________________________________
>Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
>http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 453-4736
Fax: (517) 453-3755