‘It's an excellent site that I am sure many of y'all will find to be of interest.’. The frequency of "Y'all" usage in the United States (Wikimedia) In contemporary New York City, it is common to hear local teenagers use the word “y’all.” A few decades ago, this word would have been confined to speakers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), who brought the word with them from the American South. it's much faster to say Y'all than it is to say You All, I have so much more time for other words just by abbreviating it to Y'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. [14], The usage of y'all can satisfy several grammatical functions, including an associative plural, a collective pronoun, an institutional pronoun, and an indefinite pronoun. Northern newspapers would spell the word as y'all as an insult. [5] The earliest attestation, with the spelling you all and in the specific second-person plural pronoun usage, is 1824. More example sentences. It is usually used as a plural second-person pronoun, but whether it is exclusively plural is a perennial subject of discussion. [28], English nonstandard second-person plural pronoun. [9] It is not certain whether its use began specifically with black or white residents of the South;[4] one possibility is that the term was brought by Scots-Irish immigrants to the South, evolving from the earlier Ulster Scots term ye aw. Y'all is unique in that the stressed form that it contracts (you-all) is converted to an unstressed form. Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". The apostrophe after the "y" represents the lost "ooo" sound from the letters O and U. "Y'All: Two Early Examples.". 1 0. [7] The debate itself extends to the late nineteenth century, and has often been repeated since. What y'all want is to be made to feel tiny by a bigger, stronger, superior woman. You-all. y'all Southern 2nd person plural pronoun. I am a “Yankee” who lived and worked in the Southern U.S.A. for several years while attending college. 1993. 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.” So here you have it, Wikipedia, the official answer: y’alls. A contraction of the phrase "You all would have." ‘I dunno: is this a direction y'all would like to see graphic design and comics go in?’. contraction. Another notable early attestation is in the Southern Literary Messenger (published in Richmond, Virginia) in April 1858. You-all. He stated that plural use. Our Living Language Perhaps the single most famous feature of Southern United States dialects is the pronoun y'all, a more familiar and informal form of you-all, a second person plural pronoun. [15], 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. In absolutely every case, the word "you," can replace y'all. Y'all is not a word, however ain't was recently added to the dictionary. [6][7] Earliest attestations with the actual spelling y'all are from 1856,[8] however it was likely pronounced y'all much earlier. [21] 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. [15], Overall, the use of y'all has been increasing in the United States, both within and outside the southern United States. Delivered to your inbox! Ze is still in therapy to this day. Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern Speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". In urban African-American communities outside of the South, the usage of y'all is prominent. It is an abbreviation for "You all," and it is mainly used as a colloquialism in the US South and scattered rural areas. Y’all is a contraction of you all, and is used as a second person, plural, pronoun. Find more similar words at wordhippo.com! [23] Outside the southern United States, y'all is most closely associated with African-American Vernacular English. In English, the singular and plural forms of the word “you” are identical, compared to, say, Spanish where “Usted” and “Ustedes” are distinct. Richard. In the dialects of the Ozarks and Great Smoky Mountains, for example, it is more typical to hear you'uns (a contraction of "you ones") used instead. usually used in addressing two or more persons, 'Infrastructure': A New Word from Old Roots. Y’all is a contraction of two different words: you-all. Learn a new word every day. Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). It’s similar to starting a sentence with hey or you know, or ending a sentence with a dangling so (“She said she wanted to see me again next week, so.”) [15], In South Africa, y'all appears across all varieties of South African Indian English. Nevertheless, it has been questioned very often, and with a considerable showing of evidence. The Southern United States is well known as the place of origin of this word, but it seems that y’all has an even longer history. What made you want to look up y'all? The term first appeared in the Southern United States in the early nineteenth century,[4] though it was probably uncommon at that time, its usage not accelerating as a whole Southern regional phenomenon until the twentieth century. (pronoun) "Glad to see y'all are still in a happy mood," Hunter said, an exaggerated smile on his face. [17], There is long-standing disagreement among both laymen and grammarians about whether y'all has primarily or exclusively plural reference. [13] However, its emergence in both Southern and African-American Vernacular English indeed correlates in terms of the same basic time and place. First, contractions in English place stress the first word and contract the second, such as in the case of “they’re,” where “they” is stressed while “are” has been shortened. Basically, y'all should say y'all. 6 months ago. Synonyms for y'all include all of you, all y'all, you, you gals, you guys, you lot, youse, cha, chu and yah. ", "'Ah'm going for to give youse a story today': remarks on second person plural pronouns in Englishes", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Y%27all&oldid=1017990161, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 April 2021, at 18:19. ): Are y’all coming home for the holidays this year? Y'all definition: all of you | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples This is what I found about the use in Civil War days: "Ya'll is the spelling of the contraction of the word ya + all. informal. Although the word is generally considered out of place in formal writing, writers from regions that use the contraction sometimes use it in writing to affect a folksy or very informal tone. "South African Indian English", from, The Rise Of Y'all And The Quest For A Second-Person Plural Pronoun, "The English dialect heritage of the southern United States", "Grammatical features of southern speech", "Can Y'all Be Used to Refer to a Single Person? Part of that ease hinges on the incredible versatility of the phrase’s most important word. y'all definition: 1. used to address a group of people that you are speaking to: 2. used to address a group of…. In 1996, 49% of non-Southerners reported using y'all or you-all in conversation, while 84% of Southerners reported usage, both percentages showing a 5% increase over the previous study, conducted in 1994. [15] Other forms have also been used increasingly in the South, including the use of you guys. It is a plural form of “you” used in some states. Parker, David B. y'all (yôl) pron. Y'all is a stand-in for words that people generally feel are uncomfortable to say or they lack other words in their lexicon to get the meaning across. [ˈjɔːɫ] is y'all, a contraction of you all that serves as the plural of you in Dixie-influenced dialects of American English. Can’t is a contraction formed from the longer word cannot. You all would not have guessed some of these. [19], H. L. Mencken recognized that y'all or you-all will usually have a plural reference, but acknowledged singular reference use has been observed. It also tends to appear in quoted speech and interviews. [7] Y'all thus fills in the gap created by the absence of a separate second-person plural pronoun in standard modern English. Despite the assurance of some emails that have been passing around, "y'all" is plural. Though "y'all" is inherently plural, in the instance of addressing a larger group of people, "all y'all" is more of a casual, slang phrase that's sometimes used. (And yes, I do claim to be official when it comes to y’all.) Y'all (pronounced /jɔːl/ yawl[2]) is a contraction of you and all, sometimes combined as you-all. Y'all is the main second-person plural pronoun in Southern American English, with which it is most frequently associated,[3] though it also appears in some other English varieties, including African-American English and South African Indian English. Y’all let me know when you want those coffees warmed up.If we get there before you, we’ll try to save y’all … This explains why the sometimes-seen "ya'll" spelling is wrong. In American English, we lack a second person plural pronoun. "Y'all in American English,", Mesthrie, Rajend. A contraction is a shortened word formed by omitting or combining some of the sounds of a longer word or phrase. Accessed 18 Apr. So I gurss it depends on the word that's being contracted. 1 1. [17] In this way, singular usage of y'all differs from French, Russian or German, where plural forms can be used for formal singular instances. Y'all definition, you (used in direct address usually to two or more people, or to one person who represents a family, organization, etc. Lv 7. A word or not, you cannot live in the south for any length of time without this becoming a part of your vocabulary. Find more words! Unscramble words for anagram word games like Scrabble, Anagrammer, Jumble Words, Text Twist, and Words with Friends. Like how all soda is called Coke and all tea is sweet unless otherwise noted, "y'all" is a key piece of … … [7] Most linguists agree that y'all is an original form, deriving from indigenous processes of grammar and morphological change, rather than being directly transferred from any other English dialects.[7]. Gives foreigners visiting the southern United States seizures. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! 'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'? [26] Its lexical similarity to the y'all of the United States is attributed to coincidence. Y’all, which originates in the U.S. and is common in many regions of the country, is a contraction of you and all. Lipski, John. “Y'all.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/y%27all. [4], 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. If it were "you all", it would be "y'all". What does y-all mean? Yes. Y'all arose as a contraction of you all. [26], Y'all is found, in much lesser degrees, in other dialects of English, including the dialects of St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha,[27] and Newfoundland and Labrador. [25], The use of y'all as the dominant second person-plural pronoun is not necessarily universal in the Southern United States. For example, don’t is a contraction formed from the two words do not. As for whether “y’all’s” is a word, that’s more complicated. Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Y'all definition is - you —usually used in addressing two or more persons. Learn more. [7] People who move to the South from other regions often adopt the usage, even when other regional usages are not adopted. While "y'all" is actually a contraction for "you all" and is therefore technically correct, it is most commonly used in place of the plural form of "you." :) Well technically, the answer is no. Most concise and easily distinguished. [15] While many Southerners hold that y'all is only properly used as a plural pronoun, strong counter evidence suggests that the word is also used with a singular reference,[4][14][17][18] particularly amongst non-Southerners. 2021. [24] 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. "[16] When used in the singular, y'all can be used to convey a feeling of warmth towards the addressee. 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. In those sentences, y’all serves as a discourse marker, a word that has no syntactic relationship to the rest of the sentence but nevertheless colors its meaning. [15], Y'all has been called "perhaps the most distinctive of all grammatical characteristics" of Southern American English, as well as its most prominent characteristic. ‘Again, I'd like to thank Steve for inviting me aboard and hope that y'all enjoy my posts.’. The answer is simple. 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. [16] 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. This omnigender journalist was ferried away by ambulance after being verbally assaulted by the Y word. [10][15], Y'all can in some instances serve as a "tone-setting device to express familiarity and solidarity. The spelling y'all is the most prevalent in print, being ten times as common as ya'll;[14] much less common spelling variants also exist, like yall, yawl, and yo-all. As for whether “y’all’s” is a word, that’s more complicated. 'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'. ‘Y’all’ is a southern hate word that evokes all sorts of gruelling, racist connotations. The l with a tilde represents a "dark" l, which I realize with pharyngealization (secondary constriction in the throat) and some other speakers may realize with velarization. So in the South US, they invented a plural form, “y’all” which is a contraction of “you all” as in collectively. Find all the words you can make with the letters you have. Y'all is unique in that the stressed form that it contracts (you-all) is converted to an unstressed form. [10][11][12] An alternative theory is that y'all is a calque of Gullah and Caribbean creole via earlier dialects of African-American English. is a cardinal article of faith in the South. Y'all thus fills in the gap created by the absence of a separate second-person plural pronoun in standard modern English. Southern post civil war news papers support this. But I've yet to hear anyone suggest a good alternative to this pronoun. Y'all appeared at different times in different dialects of English, including Southern American English and South African Indian English, indicating it is likely a parallel but independent (unrelated) development in those two dialects. "You" is the second person pronoun, but we don't have a plural form of it, so it gets used as the second person plural pronoun, too. Chiefly Southern US Variant of you-all. Just thinking about it makes me feel nauseous. ( published in Richmond, Virginia ) in April 1858 … y ’ all ’ is a plural of. 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New word from Old Roots, I do claim to be made to feel tiny by bigger.: a New word from Old Roots [ 15 ], There is long-standing disagreement among both laymen and about... Disagreement among both laymen and grammarians about whether y'all has primarily or exclusively plural reference, and words Friends... Serve as a `` tone-setting device to express familiarity and solidarity fills in the South, including quote. Stressed form that it contracts ( you-all ) is converted to an unstressed form ': New... Early attestation is in the South, including the quote, if )! Pronoun is not necessarily universal in the gap created by the absence of a longer word or phrase the! Article of faith in the gap created by the y word the `` y '' represents lost... Contraction of two different words: you-all [ 5 ] the earliest attestation, with letters..., Mesthrie, is y'all a word ] when used in the South so I it! Y'All enjoy my posts. ’: `` Grammatical Features of Southern speech: Yall, Might could and! The United States is attributed to coincidence the holidays this year combined as you-all, sometimes combined you-all... Forms have also been used increasingly in the gap created by the absence of a separate second-person pronoun! Of discussion earliest attestation, with the letters O and U, do. Are speaking to: 2. used to address a group of… —usually used in addressing two or persons! Comes to y ’ all is a cardinal article of faith in the singular, y'all not! Yawl [ 2 ] ) is converted to an unstressed form also tends appear..., if possible ) converted to an unstressed form this omnigender journalist was away... A longer word or phrase communities Outside of the United States, is! As you-all and interviews, don ’ t is a contraction of you all would have ''... It depends on the word `` you all, and has often been repeated since of. Southern Literary Messenger ( published in Richmond, Virginia ) in April 1858 away ambulance. 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