Posted on 02/20/2005 7:45:38 PM PST by bayourod
In a June appearance on NBC's Today Show, singer Marc Anthony made an unusual but, according to some linguists, not-so-surprising word choice.
When co-host Matt Lauer asked Anthony how he'd spend the upcoming weekend, Anthony said, "Y'all know I don't talk about my personal life."
A New York native of Puerto Rican descent using "y'all," a distinctly Southern term?
Linguists Guy Bailey and Jan Tillery would say Anthony is exhibit A in a national trend that is spreading the uses of "y'all" beyond the South. The two, who teach at the University of Texas at San Antonio, wrote an article in 2000 called The Nationalization of a Southernism, in the Journal of English Linguistics.
After conducting a national poll by telephone, the team concluded that the spread was dramatic and recent, most likely in the past 50 years as younger non-Southerners were significantly more likely to use "y'all" than older non-Southerners. Those regions bordering the South and Texas, like Kansas and New Mexico, were most likely to adopt it, as well as the Rocky Mountain region, which, they argued, had cultural similarities with the South.
As for why non-Southerners might use a markedly Southern term, the authors cite geographic mobility — Northerners moving to the South adopting it and Southerners moving to the North retaining it. But ultimately, the authors argue, it's a matter of addressing a "hole" in the English language.
Ever since English lost the second person singular "thou," it has relied on the pronoun "you" to act as both singular and plural. English speakers have improvised ways to avoid ambiguity in the plural: in the Northeast, "youse" or "youse guys"; around Pittsburgh "yunz" or "yinz," a contraction of "you-ones"; in the South, "y'all," a contraction — or "fusion" as Bailey and Tillery say — of "you-all"; and finally "you guys."
But "you guys" feels awkward to certain segments of the population, says Joan Houston Hall, chief editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. A term that gained popularity in the 1960s, it still sounds inappropriately familiar to some elderly ears, she says, and some women are uncomfortable with the masculine gender implied by "guys." "Y'all" elegantly resolves all these concerns.
Others argue that "y'all" is spreading for a much simpler reason: Both culturally and numerically, the South is on the rise. But more important, "y'all" is standard in what linguists call African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), the lingua franca of rap and hip-hop.
You mean "Y'all'll be 'similated. Erzistince tain't werth it."
"All y'alls" is totally different than "y'alls." "Y'alls" can be singular or plural; "All y'alls" is definitely plural. It's just a matter of preference. LOL!
You're right--the South is not uniform. My people go back in Virginia to about 1680 or so. We tend to say "all y'all" when referring to a big group. "All y'all" can also differentiate between "some of y'all", as in "Are all y'all coming with me to the Tractor Supply Store, or am I just bringing Cousin Elizabeth and them?"
just tired of MSM reruns.
Having it does make understanding Latin much easier, as do the 'thee' and 'thou' in old English in the King James version of the Bible.
Yeah, but it sounds like it comes from some bad gangster movie.
Ok - I really laughed out loud when I read you had your wife "pinged"......... I tell my Marine about things I read or comments made here on FR - the other night I began, once again with "Today on FR I read...." and I looked at him and said, " I really don't need to say that I read this on FR do I? Since that is where I get all my news........"
For those who wish to see a more definitive dictionary of southern verbiage and terminology I offer this: HOW TO SPEAK SOUTHERN
Not true. Only non-southerners who are trying to mimic southern speech make that mistake. It's a common misconception outside the south. Y'all is never singular. It always refers to more than one person. But most times it means those of you (pl) present. All y'all includes those not present. It's the difference between you (pl) and everyone. Cf: "Y'all are invited to my birthday party" -- You people present are invited. "All y'all are invited to my birthday party." -- You people present and those not present (in your group) are invited. Everyone in your group is invited. It's the same difference as we or us meaning you and me and we or us meaning you, me, and some others.
I pronounce "Houston" the correct way "Hugh-ston, as opposed to the Senator's way... House-ton.
As for triborough (TRI-burro), he's just trying to jerk me around.
and "you gals" means both male and female too, right?
Not nerecessily! I never say "you gals". Hadn't even thought of it. "You guys" work well for me in all situations. Maybe it's because I've never lived further south than California, and never lived further east than Idaho.
Another common expression down here is "we don't really care how y'all do it up north." :)
I started saying it deliberately. there needs to be a definitive plural form of the word "you". Doing without it is just silly.
There already is.....Y'all. :-))
The accent of central New York is very similar to the midwest, too. But that line is moving westward in NY.
Thanks for pinging/paging/beeping me over here.
"But ultimately, the authors argue, it's a matter of addressing a "hole" in the English language."
Eggzackary. I use it a lot online (being in the North) because it is a gentler way of addressing people. If a person says, "You do this," it comes across as an order. If a person says, "Y'all do this," it comes across as a nonthreatening request.
All of you. I've always said, all of you.
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