Development of you-plural

[Harold F. Schiffman]

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I am not a member of this group, but I consulted you (plural) some time
ago in connection with a problem I have with the claim that Quakers were
responsible for the switch from 'thou' to 'you' in early modern English.
I appreciated all the help I got from you (plural).

Following this up I wonder now if people could help me with a related
issue.  I have noticed for some time that the lack of a second person
plural in English (as a result of loss of thou) results in different
groups of English speakers attempting to develop a new one. What I hear is
things like 'you-all' and its contracted form 'y'all' (American South);
'you-lot' (Britain, commonwealth?); 'you-folks' (some other American
dialects, not sure which); 'you-uns' (American Appalachia?); 'you-guys,'
(US, younger generations) ' youse-guys,' 'youse', or 'yiz' (American
NE urban, non-standard).  There may be others: 'you-blokes'? 'you-birds'
(sic!); 'all-of-you' ... ('yIz' may be an unstressed form of 'youse'.)

What I'm interested in now is whether anyone has done longitudinal studies
of this, or any kinds of sociolinguistic studies, as I would like to cite
this development and its history.  In my lifetime, I have seen 'you-guys'
gain in acceptability so that it now seems to be the commonest form in the
US, although people of my generation (I was born before WWII) and
*especially* my parents' generation, don't like it.  (In the retirement
home where my parents live, they try desperately to train the teenage
workers not to use this with the residents, as in "are you guys ready to
order?" in the dining room etc. since that generation finds it offensive.)
I think this has been grammaticalized to the extent that there is even a
possessive form: 'you-guys's' pronounced [yugayzIz] as in 'I'll need
you-guys's receipts in order to do the reimbursements'.

I'd appreciate  anything anybody can tell me about this.

Thanks,

Hal Schiffman
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                          Harold F. Schiffman

Professor of Dravidian Linguistics and Culture          Research Director
Dept. of South Asia Regional Studies                  Penn Language Center
820 Williams Hall, Box 6305                   715-16, Williams Hall Box  6305

                        University of Pennsylvania
                        Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-5825                                        (215) 898-6039
Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      Fax (215) 573-2139

Email:  haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn                       plc at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
WWW:  http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/    http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~plc/

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