"Y'all" redux

[Jonathan Lighter]

Come to think of it, I've heard "y'allses," but only a few times.  Definitely a working-class usage.

JL

Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Beverly Flanigan
Subject: Re: "Y'all" redux
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"y'all house" as possessive? I've heard both "y'all's" and "y'allses" as
possessive, but not "y'all." Do you have "y'allses"?

At 07:10 PM 2/19/2005, you wrote:
>As a white South Louisianian, I have never heard "Y'all" as a singular
>pronoun, but the use of "y'all's" and "y'all" as a possessive pronoun is
>used.(I passed by y'all's/ y'all house yesterday, but y'all weren't home.)
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Wilson Gray"
>To:
>Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 2:45 PM
>Subject: "Y'all" redux
>
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > Subject: "Y'all" redux
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-----
> >
> > In an earlier discussion as to whether Southern-English speakers could,
> > would, or did use "y'all" as a singular, a white Mississippian, who
> > posted directly to me instead of to the list, and I, a black East
> > Texan, maintained that "y'all" is always plural. Many others didn't
> > agree and suggested that I might want to read what David Crystal, in
> > his "The Stories of English," has to say about his experience of the
> > use of "y'all" in Fort Worth, Texas, that experience being that "y'all"
> > *is* used as a singular.
> >
> > In Texas, we say that the West begins at Fort Worth. So, I suggested
> > that perhaps there's or some kind of dialect split between East Texas
> > and Fort Worth.
> >
> > I have now read what Prof. Crystal has to say. Since I've never been
> > farther west in Texas than Longview, I accept Prof. Crystal's
> > description of the use of "y'all" in a representative metropolitan area
> > in West Texas.. However, He also provides a dialect map that shows that
> > East Texas, like Mississippi, falls into the region of Southern
> > English, whereas Fort Worth is located in the region of Western
> > English.
> >
> > So, concerning the "y'all" question, the answer appears to be that it
> > depends on where you are and/or whether your informant is back or
> > white.
> >
> > -Wilson Gray
> >


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