- Oct 2, 2011
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As many of us English-speakers have learned at one point or another, English used to make a distinction between ye, you, thee, and thou. With ye being the second person plural (formal), you the second person singular (formal); and thee the second person plural (informal) and thou the second person singular (informal). But all of these have in almost all cases having been truncated to a universal second person plural pronoun: "you". While there seems to have been more nuanced rules at play at different points of the English language, this is largely the the broad strokes of it.
While, generally, we have a good ability to grasp, from context, whether a person means "you" in the singular or "you" in the plural, there are plenty of occasions where confusion can arise. And in some places in the English speaking world, local dialectical words or expressions have arisen that help fill in those gaps. As an American, I am most familiar with examples of this in American English. In the American North East one will occasionally find the use of "youse" or "youse guys", and around Pittsburg, Pennsylvania one can even find "you-uns" or "yinz". Though the most well known American dialectical second person plural pronoun is, arguably, "y'all", a contraction for "you all". Historically limited to the American South, this word has also been spreading in use, to varying degrees, to other parts of the United States.
At this juncture, I would like to point out that while, yes, I am an American, I am not from the American South. I am from the Pacific Northwest which does not traditionally use "y'all", but it is a place where it has slowly been making limited headway.
This word has often, at least in some parts of America, often been associated with bad grammar, or sounding uneducated; perhaps through prejudice against American Southerners; but that prejudice has been disappearing and the word is gaining more traction. And I think it's easy to see why: It is, among American English speakers, rather ubiquitous, especially as the internet has brought more people into contact with others of different dialects. It serves a helpful function in language, offering a second person plural distinct from "you",, that distinction eliminates the possibility of of confusion where it could otherwise exist. And also, arguably, it's just really fun to say, it flows very smoothly off the tongue (at least, in many cases of American English).
As such, I believe and strongly defend the use of "y'all" as a perfectly legitimate second personal plural pronoun. And advocate that it should enjoy more widespread provenance. Perhaps it may never enjoy much use outside of American dialectical English; but I still maintain it is good, useful, already has widespread use among many English speakers, and serves an invaluable linguistic function. If your own English dialect already has this function, that's all well and good; but if your English dialect lacks any distinction between a first person plural pronoun and a second person plural pronoun, I encourage you to try out "y'all". It's as delectable to the linguistic palette as Southern BBQ is for the taste buds.
-CryptoLutheran
While, generally, we have a good ability to grasp, from context, whether a person means "you" in the singular or "you" in the plural, there are plenty of occasions where confusion can arise. And in some places in the English speaking world, local dialectical words or expressions have arisen that help fill in those gaps. As an American, I am most familiar with examples of this in American English. In the American North East one will occasionally find the use of "youse" or "youse guys", and around Pittsburg, Pennsylvania one can even find "you-uns" or "yinz". Though the most well known American dialectical second person plural pronoun is, arguably, "y'all", a contraction for "you all". Historically limited to the American South, this word has also been spreading in use, to varying degrees, to other parts of the United States.
At this juncture, I would like to point out that while, yes, I am an American, I am not from the American South. I am from the Pacific Northwest which does not traditionally use "y'all", but it is a place where it has slowly been making limited headway.
This word has often, at least in some parts of America, often been associated with bad grammar, or sounding uneducated; perhaps through prejudice against American Southerners; but that prejudice has been disappearing and the word is gaining more traction. And I think it's easy to see why: It is, among American English speakers, rather ubiquitous, especially as the internet has brought more people into contact with others of different dialects. It serves a helpful function in language, offering a second person plural distinct from "you",, that distinction eliminates the possibility of of confusion where it could otherwise exist. And also, arguably, it's just really fun to say, it flows very smoothly off the tongue (at least, in many cases of American English).
As such, I believe and strongly defend the use of "y'all" as a perfectly legitimate second personal plural pronoun. And advocate that it should enjoy more widespread provenance. Perhaps it may never enjoy much use outside of American dialectical English; but I still maintain it is good, useful, already has widespread use among many English speakers, and serves an invaluable linguistic function. If your own English dialect already has this function, that's all well and good; but if your English dialect lacks any distinction between a first person plural pronoun and a second person plural pronoun, I encourage you to try out "y'all". It's as delectable to the linguistic palette as Southern BBQ is for the taste buds.
-CryptoLutheran
