Singular y'all?

[Jason Norris]

I grew up in the South. Y'all is definitely plural.

That's not to say you won't hear it used in a singular way, but perhaps that is due to a slight mental lapse rather than dialect variation.

In the example mentioned below, the tired server at Waffle House may have said, "Y'all" all day long. When she served the person sitting alone at the table, it could have simply been a slip. It has happened to me before -- just like that (not at Waffle House, though).

If y'all (or yall, as some spell it) is ever used consistently in a singular fashion, I've never heard it. Or it could be that's just how we talk in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Roll Tide, Y'all.

Jason



Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Alice Faber
Organization: Haskins Laboratories
Subject: Singular y'all?
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>From a blog I regularly read, by a native Torontonian
.
Note the first paragraph:

"Welcome back y'all. (Or is that "y'alls" I can never figure that
out. I was in a "Waffle House" in Tennessee once and the lady who poured
my coffee said "Y'all want cream in that?" which confused me, since I
was alone. Clearly, "Y'all" must be the singular, which perplexingly
must mean that "y'alls" is the plural...right? Maybe this is something
else Laurie can tell us, since she's an English professor.)"

--
Alice Faber
Haskins Labs


If we knew what we were doing,
it wouldn't be called research,
would it?

 -- Albert Einstein