Texas Twang in the Chicago Tribune

[Wilson Gray]

I found the article on the Tribune's Web site. Very interesting! I'll
buy the book, when it becomes available. Needless to say, I still
haven't heard "y'all" used as a singular, but I'm willing to grant that
that may be an age-related factor. Or it may be geographically
constrained, given that none of the locations cited in the article is
in East Texas.

FWIW, I once worked for twelve years with a white colleague from
Lubbock. He didn't speak with a Southern drawl. Rather, he sounded like
a cowboy in a 'Forties horse opera. On the other hand, I've met
Northerners who don't even know the meaning of the word "drawl," even
though, in one case, the person, a Vermonter, had a step-family from
North Carolina whose members spoke with a very noticeable drawl. So who
knows what struck the reporter as being a drawl?

-Wilson Gray

On Jan 6, 2005, at 10:56 AM, Barbara Need wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>
> Subject:      Texas Twang in the Chicago Tribune
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Today's Chicago Tribune (section 1, page 1!) has an article about
> work by Guy Bailey and Jan Tillery on Texas English ("TXE"). Part of
> the article discusses the Texan use of "y'all" used in the singular.
>
> Barbara Need
> UChicago--Linguistics
>