y'all

[Wilson Gray]

Not in Black English. My _impression_ is that the same is true of
other Southern dialects, given that I've never heard "y'all" used as a
singular in the speech of anyone and I've seen it only in comic-strip
eye-dialect and other untrustworthy sources.

-Wilson

On 4/21/07, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      y'all
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> An editorial colleague of mine just mentioned that she's given to
> understand that "y'all" is now a standard singular form in Southern
> US dialects. I've been under the impression that singular "y'all" is
> more the mark of someone who's trying to sound Southern but isn't.
> But I really don't have a good detailed edge on Southern dialects; I
> learned my use of plural "y'all" in Alberta, where just occasionally
> some people use it to make clear that they're using the plural;
> nobody would use it in the singular there unless they were doing a
> "Southern" impression. And I've never really been in Dixie (I don't
> think Orlando really counts any more, if it ever did).
>
> So, y'all -- is singular "y'all" acceptable in Southern US dialects?
> Or at least some of them?
>
> Thanks,
> James Harbeck.
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                                      -Sam'l
Clemens
------
The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.

                                           Rumanian proverb

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