Y'all

The Florence Y'all Water Tower in Florence, Kentucky. The sign was changed from "FLORENCE MALL" to solve a temporary legal issue with the intent to change it back soon afterward, but instead became an attraction in its own right.

Y'all, formerly spelled "You-all'", is a contraction of the phrase "you all", and is pronounced as one syllable. It is used as a plural second-person pronoun. Commonly believed to have originated in the Southern United States, it is primarily associated with Southern American English, African-American Vernacular English, and some dialects of the Western United States.^[1] It is also used outside the United States in the English-speaking islands of the West Indies, Sri Lankan English

Usage

There are currently four generally recognized, and one generally unrecognized^{[not in citation given]} properties that y'all follows^[2]:

1. A replacement for the plural of you.
   • Example: "Y'all can use the internet at the same time."
2. An associative plural, including individuals associated but not present with the singular addressee.
   • Example: "Y'all can come over at around 10:30," Chris says.
     • Chris explains to John that he and John's friends, who are not present at the time, can come over at around 10:30. Chris is speaking to John, but treats John as a representative for others (i.e., his friends).
3. An institutional plural addressed to one person representing a group.
   • Example: "Y'all sell the best candies, Mrs. Johnson."
     • Y'all is received by Mrs. Johnson who is the representative of a small candy business.
4. A form used in direct address in certain contexts (e.g., partings, greetings, invitations, and vocatives)
   • Example: "Hey, y'all!"
     • A greeting that addresses a multitude of people without referencing a singular identity comprising that multitude

Y'all is also used in the phrase "all y'all", which is a more inclusive form comparable to "all of you". Note that we can be used as the first-person analog of y'all for the first three properties listed above.

Origin

The true origin of the term is uncertain. It is a common belief that y'all evolved in the speech of people in the Southern United States as a replacement for "you all" due to its convenience. Rather than say you-all, you-uns, you lot, or you guys; y'all may be construed as a single element requiring only one morpheme.

Though the you all contraction argument may make sense when considering current-day vernacular, it is prudent to consider the vernacular which existed at the time which y'all was likely invented. By the late 1700s, Scots-Irish immigrants had settled in the Southern United States. It is well established that Scots-Irish immigrants frequently used the term ye aw.^{[3][verification needed]} Some evidence suggests that y'all could have evolved from ye aw due to the influence of African slaves who may have adapted the Scots-Irish term.^{[4][verification needed]}

Controversy

There is also a long-standing disagreement about whether y'all can have primarily singular reference. While y'all is generally held in the Southern United States to be usable only as the plural form of "you," a scant but vocal minority (for example, Eric Hyman^[5] and Michael Doshier) argue that the term can be used in the singular as well. Adding confusion to this issue is that observers attempting to judge usage may witness a single person addressed as y'all if the speaker implies in the reference other persons not present: "Have y'all [you and others] had dinner yet?" (to which the answer would be, "Yes, we have", by a single person acting as spokesman for the group.)

H.L. Mencken presented the argument over whether y'all or you-all cannot have a primarily singular reference, saying that the idea that it cannot

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: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, 1948, p.337

All Y'all

While "y'all" is actually a grammaticalization for "you all," it is most commonly used as a plural form of "you." "All y'all" or "all of y'all," clarifies that the entire group is meant.

For example

"Are y'all going to the movies?"

The thrust of this question is whether movies are in the plans of the group. The asker is not focusing on whether the whole group, or just some of them, are going.

"Are all y'all going to the movies?"

Here, the person asking does want to know whether the whole group is going.

Things are further complicated when using the possessive form of the word. For example

"Is this y'all's car?"

or

"Is this all y'all's favorite color?"

There is some debate on the spelling of the possessive form of y'all. Some will spell it "y'all's" while others will spell it "y'alls." As there does not seem to be an official answer, it is a matter of personal preference.^[6]

Variant form: all yuh

This form is used in Trinidadian English and Trinidadian Creole English as a replacement for y'all - often, seemingly, just to avoid repetition of y'all, or to change the rhythmic form of a phrase or sentence.^[7][8]

"ALL YUH: All of you people. A group. All yuh hear dis — Listen up everyone."^[9]

See also

Look up y'all in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Yinz
• You
• We
• Southern American English
• English personal pronouns

References