Y'all

Y'all is a contraction of you all. The spelling you-all in second-person plural pronoun usage was first recorded in 1824.{{OEtymD|y'all}}Bailey, Guy (1997). "When did southern American English begin?" Englishes around the world, 1, 255-275. The earliest two attestations with the actual spelling y'all are from 1856,Parker, David B. (2015). "[https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159662 Y’all: It’s Older Than We Knew] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917012150/https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159662 |date=September 17, 2020 }}". History News Network. and in the Southern Literary Messenger (published in Richmond, Virginia) in 1858.Parker, David B. "Y'All: Two Early Examples." American Speech 81.1 (2006): 110-112. . Although it appeared in print sporadically in the second half of the nineteenth century in the Southern United States, its usage did not accelerate as a whole Southern regional phenomenon until the twentieth century.Devlin, Thomas Moore (2019). "[https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/rise-of-yall The Rise Of Y'all And The Quest For A Second-Person Plural Pronoun] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606124518/https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/rise-of-yall |date=June 6, 2020 }}". Babbel. Lesson Nine GmbH.

It is not certain whether its use began specifically with black or white residents of the South, both of whom use the term today;Crystal, David. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4djICT7zgGoC&q=%22local+usage%22 The Story of English in 100 Words] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928222752/https://books.google.com/books?id=4djICT7zgGoC&q=%22local+usage%22 |date=September 28, 2020 }}. 2011. p. 190. one possibility is that the term was brought by Scots-Irish immigrants to the South, evolving from the earlier Ulster Scots term ye aw.Montgomery, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ia5tHVtQPn8C&dq=%22y%27all%22+etymology&pg=PA149 "British and Irish antecedents"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928020801/https://books.google.com/books?id=ia5tHVtQPn8C&pg=PA149&dq=%22y%27all%22+etymology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tYgLVM6_JITjsASK54HYBQ&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20etymology&f=false |date=September 28, 2020 }}, from The Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol. 6, John Algeo, ed. 1992. p.149.Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern Speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". English in the Southern United States, 2003, pp. 108-109 Cambridge University PressLipski, John. 1993. "Y'all in American English," English World-Wide 14:23-56. An alternative theory is that y'all is a calque of Gullah and Caribbean creole via earlier dialects of African-American English.Schneider, Edgar W. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OqUBUgW_Ax8C&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PA284 "The English dialect heritage of the southern United States"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908021356/https://books.google.com/books?id=OqUBUgW_Ax8C&pg=PA284&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oPmcU9qtMNOWyATy24L4Dg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 8, 2020 }}, from Legacies of Colonial English, Raymond Hickey, ed. 2005. p.284. However, most linguists agree that y'all is likely an original form in the United States, deriving from gradual processes of grammar and morphological change, rather than being directly transferred from any other English dialects.

Y'all appeared at different times in various dialects of English, including Southern American English and South African Indian English, suggesting parallel, independent development,Hickey, Raymond. [https://books.google.com/books?id=23cqAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&pg=PA253 A Dictionary of Varieties of English] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013133427/https://books.google.com/books?id=23cqAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA253&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0pELVIPZGszjsAToh4LwCw&ved=0CCEQ6AEwATgU#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20genitive&f=false |date=October 13, 2020 }}. 2013. p.231. while emergence in Southern and African-American Vernacular English closely correlates in time and place.

The spelling y'all is the most prevalent in print, ten times that of ya'll;Garner, Bryan. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FwmQpyibKkAC&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PA873 Garner's Modern American Usage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903224924/https://books.google.com/books?id=FwmQpyibKkAC&pg=PA873&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=53-cU6f2CsKSyATXuoLYBg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 3, 2020 }}. 2009. p.873. much less common spelling variants include yall, yawl, and yo-all.

Functionally, the emergence of y'all can be traced to the merging of singular ("thou") and plural ("ye") second-person pronouns in Early Modern English. Y'all thus fills in the gap created by the absence of a separate second-person plural pronoun in standard modern English. Y'all is unique in that the stressed form that it contracts (you-all) is converted to an unstressed form.

The usage of y'all can satisfy several grammatical functions, including an associative plural, a collective pronoun, an institutional pronoun, and an indefinite pronoun.

Y'all can in some instances serve as a "tone-setting device to express familiarity and solidarity."Hickey, Raymond. [https://books.google.com/books?id=92SqCciTOIQC&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PT361 "Rectifying a standard deficiency"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916201748/https://books.google.com/books?id=92SqCciTOIQC&pg=PT361&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oPmcU9qtMNOWyATy24L4Dg&ved=0CE0Q6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 16, 2020 }}, from Diachronic Perspectives on Address Term Systems. Irma Taavitsainen, Andreas Juncker, eds. 2003. p.352. When used in the singular, y'all can be used to convey a feeling of warmth towards the addressee.Lerner, Laurence. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cXmXLi5O2hUC&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PA218 You Can't Say That! English Usage Today] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919121719/https://books.google.com/books?id=cXmXLi5O2hUC&pg=PA218&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=53-cU6f2CsKSyATXuoLYBg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 19, 2020 }}. 2010. p. 218. In this way, singular usage of y'all differs from French, Russian or German, where plural forms can be used for formal singular instances.

There is historic disagreement whether y'all is primarily or exclusively plural, with debate steming from the late nineteenth century to the present. While some Southerners hold y'all is only properly used as a plural pronoun, counter evidence suggests usage include singular references,{{cite journal |last1=Hyman |first1=Eric |title=The All of You-All |journal=American Speech |date=2006 |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=325–331 |doi=10.1215/00031283-2006-022}} particularly amongst non-Southerners.{{cite web| last =Okrent| first =Anrika| date =2014-09-14| url =http://theweek.com/article/index/267886/can-yall-be-used-to-refer-to-a-single-person| title =Can Y'all Be Used to Refer to a Single Person?| work =The Week| publisher =The Week Publications| access-date =2014-09-15| archive-date =September 15, 2014| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140915100256/https://theweek.com/article/index/267886/can-yall-be-used-to-refer-to-a-single-person| url-status =live}}

H. L. Mencken, in recognizing the typical plural reference of y'all or you-all, acknowledged occasional observation of the singular reference, writing that the exclusive plural usage of y'all

{{quote|is a cardinal article of faith in the South. ... Nevertheless, it has been questioned very often, and with a considerable showing of evidence. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, to be sure, you-all indicates a plural, implicit if not explicit, and thus means, when addressed to a single person, 'you and your folks' or the like, but the hundredth time it is impossible to discover any such extension of meaning.|H. L. Mencken, The American Language Supplement 2: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States|1948, p.337{{cite book

|title = The American Language Supplement 2: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States

|last = Mencken

|first = H.L.

|date = 4 April 2012

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G-WrlQMn8OYC&pg=PT686

|access-date = 2014-10-07

|publisher = A. Knopf ebook

|isbn = 9780307813442

|archive-date = September 18, 2020

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200918130543/https://books.google.com/books?id=G-WrlQMn8OYC&pg=PT686

|url-status = live

}}}}

The existence of the genitive (or possessive) form y'all's indicates that y'all functions as a pronoun as opposed to a phrasal element. The possessive form of y'all has not been standardized; numerous forms can be found, including y'alls, y'all's, y'alls's, you all's, your all's, and all of y'all's.

All y'all, all of y'all, and alls y'all are used by some speakers to indicate a larger group than is necessarily implied by simply y'all.{{cite web|last=Simpson|first=Teresa R.|title=How to Use "Y'all" Correctly|url=http://memphis.about.com/od/midsouthliving/qt/yall.htm|access-date=December 16, 2008|archive-date=November 18, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118195522/http://memphis.about.com/od/midsouthliving/qt/yall.htm|url-status=live}} All y'all can also be used for emphasis; the existence of this etymologically pleonastic form is further evidence that speakers now perceive y'all as a grammatically indivisible unit.

File:Y'allMap.jpg

Y'all has been called "perhaps the most distinctive of all grammatical characteristics" of Southern American English. Linguist Walt Wolfram and English professor Jeffrey Reaser wrote, "No word in the American English vocabulary probably carries as much regional capital."{{cite book| last1 = Wolfram| first1 = Walt| last2 = Reaser| first2 = Jeffrey| title = Talkin' Tar Heel : How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina | publisher = The University of North Carolina Press| date = 2014| location = Chapel Hill| page = 82 | isbn = 978-1-4696-1437-3 }} People who move to the South from other regions often adopt the usage, even when other regional usages are not adopted.Montgomery, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wCeaAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22y%27all%22+southern&pg=PT197 "Y'all"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926231315/https://books.google.com/books?id=wCeaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT197&dq=%22y%27all%22+southern&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LJIMVNfjEuzjsAS04IJA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20southern&f=false |date=September 26, 2020 }}, from The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 5: Language. Michael Montgomery et al. eds. 2007. Outside the southern United States, y'all is most closely associated with African-American Vernacular English.Baugh, John. [https://archive.org/details/beyondebonicslin00baug/page/106 Beyond Ebonics]. 2000. p.106 African Americans took Southern usages with them during the twentieth-century exodus from the South to cities in the northeastern United States and other places within the nation. In urban African-American communities outside of the South, the usage of y'all is prominent.Wright, Susan. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1VOgBAAAQBAJ&dq=y%27all+%22african+american+vernacular%22&pg=PA177 "'Ah'm going for to give youse a story today': remarks on second person plural pronouns in Englishes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429081413/https://books.google.com/books?id=1VOgBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA177&dq=y%27all+%22african+american+vernacular%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAmoVChMI6-6w05WWyAIVRm4-Ch07tQbu#v=onepage&q=y'all%20%22african%20american%20vernacular%22&f=false |date=April 29, 2016 }}, from Taming the Vernacular, Jenny Cheshire and Dieter Stein, Eds. Routledge, 2014. p.177.

The use of y'all as the dominant second person-plural pronoun is not necessarily universal in the Southern United States. In some dialects of the Ozarks and Great Smoky Mountains, for example, it is common to hear you'uns (a contraction of "you ones") used instead.Bernstein, Cynthia. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4hSipu5yeqMC&q=y%27all&pg=PA3 "Grammatical features of southern speech"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408052822/https://books.google.com/books?id=4hSipu5yeqMC&pg=PA3&dq=Bernstein,+Cynthia.+%22Grammatical+features+of+southern+speech%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=b9yiVNfICYWgNvqygogB&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=y'all&f=false |date=April 8, 2016 }}, from English in the Southern United States, Stephen J. Nagle, et al. eds. 2003. pp.107-109. In the Missouri Ozarks (and adjoining regions of the state), "you-all" is the preferred form, though “all y’all” may be indicated, depending upon context. Other forms have also been used increasingly in the South, including you guys.

A survey conducted in 1996 reported 49% of non-Southerners and 84% of Southerners used y'all or you-all in conversation, with a 1994 survey returning a 5% increase by both groups.

In South Africa, y'all appears across all varieties of South African Indian English.Mesthrie, Rajend. "South African Indian English", from [https://books.google.com/books?id=IZVqidxVsLwC Focus on South Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804024658/https://books.google.com/books?id=IZVqidxVsLwC |date=August 4, 2020 }}. Vivian de Klerk, ed. 1996. pp.88-89. Its lexical similarity to the y'all of the United States may be coincidental.

Y'all appears in other dialects of English, including Maori English in New Zealand, Sri Lankan English[https://groundviews.org/2013/01/28/a-z-of-sri-lankan-english-y-is-for-yall/ Groundviews] and dialects of St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha,Schreier, Daniel. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&pg=PA236 "St Helenian English"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926070922/https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&pg=PA236&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vIwLVPPiFPC1sQT71ILgDg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20genitive&f=false |date=September 26, 2020 }}, from The Lesser Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Daniel Schreier, et al. eds. 2010. pp.235-237, 254. and Newfoundland and Labrador.Clarke, Sandra. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&q=%22y%27all%22&pg=PA236 "Newfoundland and Labrador English"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926070922/https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&pg=PA236&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vIwLVPPiFPC1sQT71ILgDg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBQ#v=snippet&q=%22y'all%22&f=false |date=September 26, 2020 }}, from The Lesser Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Daniel Schreier, et al. eds. 2010. p.85.

{{Wiktionary|y'all|all y'all}}

• English personal pronouns
• {{section link|You#Plural_forms}}
• Ye (pronoun)
• Yinz

{{Reflist|2}}

{{Modern English personal pronouns}}

Category:American English

Category:Second-person plural pronouns in English

Category:Slang of the Southern United States

Category:African-American slang