required plural marking in 2PP

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Jul 8, 2012, at 11:54 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:

>
> On Sun, Jul 8, 2012 at 2:18 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Prescribed gap
>> Michael Newman wrote: <<<required plural marking in 2PP ...  To be
>> understood I should have said "you guys." This is the next logical step in
>> the evolution of the English pronoun ...  to the extent that such steps can
>> be described as logical.>>>
>> WB: Naive language users are more analogical than logical. There has
>> probably always been systemic pressure to maintain a singular vs. plural
>> distinction in English pronouns. The bizarreness is the pedantic rail
>> against filling the gap. I'll use y'all at home, you guys in the classroom,
>> you people at a group I'm angry at. Probably other forms of second person
>> plural to fit the occasion. This is an instance of prescriptivists using a
>> paradigm gap as a shibboleth.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> From watching random tube, I get the impression that "you all" /
> "you-all" is pretty much the standard plural of "you," in the States,
> regardless of the speaker's race, creed, color, or sexual orientation.
> It's just that, AFAIK, no one with sufficient academic credentials or
> of sufficient social prominence has yet had the nerve to go on record
> as having said so.

I think I that or "you guys," but "guys" still has the hint of excluding women, so "you all" or "everyone" works better.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org