LL-L "Etymology" 2008.01.05 (06) [E]

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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
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L O W L A N D S - L  -  05 January 2008 - Volume 06
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From: R. F. Hahn < sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Lowlanders,

On the topic of pronominal repluralization I wrote amongst other things:

In Modern English, the original objective case of the second person plural
form has become the general nominative second person pronoun. This is
because this plural form came to be used as a polite pronoun and eventually
made the familiar pronoun redundant. As a result, there is no longer a
distinction both between familiar and polite and between singular and
plural.

<...>

The Dutch and Afrikaans suffixing of a word for "people" seems to be being
"reenacted" these days in American English, where the use of an older polite
form did away with the distinction between singular and plural, and the
plural is now being restored by the addition of "guys" to "you." If this
becomes formalized, English may end up with "you" for the singular and with
something like *"youguys" for the plural.

Of course, this need for repluralization is not new, at least not in
American English. However, "you people" has a negative ring to it (probably
because of its early usage), something like "your kind of people," and "you
all" (> "y'all") did not spread to general American English because it is
Southern and therefore stigmatized, has low prestige.

I know that not too long ago especially older Americans greatly disliked
"you guys" (and in some varieties even genitive "you guyses"!), found it
disrespectful, especially coming from younger people addressing them.
However, not only does it seem to be more acceptable now but I hear more and
more seniors use it themselves. Might "you guys" make it eventually, and
might it be passed on to other varieties of English?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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