End of ADS-L Digest - 18 Oct 1995 to 19 Oct 1995

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There are 16 messages totalling 358 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. y'all, singular usage? (2)

 2. y'all are crazy (9)

 3. You'uns/ye'uns/y'uns (2)

 4. y'all/y'uns (2)

 5. y'all, youse, gyno-Americans



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Date:  Fri, 20 Oct 1995 06:27:16 MST

From:  Tom Uharriet <UTOM[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ADMN.712.NEBO.EDU>

Subject: Re: y'all, singular usage?



> >Believe it or not, the second person pronoun 'y'all' is a hot

topic on

> >MEDTEXTL, evolving from a discussion of second person pronouns and their

> >usage in Medieval English, French, modern German, etc. The question is

> >whether 'y'all' is used for the singular. We have heard strong voices on

> >both sides of the question, ranging from witness accounts of having heard

> >it recently to experienced speakers never having heard it. Is there a

> >reliable account of the phenomenom or is anyone working on it these days?



How strange. When I've heard _y'all_ addressed to individuals, I

have always assumed an implied plural as in

  Door-to-door sales rep. to individual resident at the door:

    "Can y'all use a savings on . . ."

    (meaning, "Can you and yours use a savings on . . .")



As for using it without an implied plural, the proscriptionist in me

calls it an error in the same way that I sometimes hear _ye_

missused or missunderstood.





Tom Uharriet

utom[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]admn.712.nebo.edu