Hey linguistic dorks:
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith FWIW it's the official more-than-one-less-than-five collective pronoun in uniform.
Anything more than five peeps is ALL Y'ALL.
::nods sagely::
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I say y'all and folks IRL. It's often seen as unprofessional, but a lot of queer communities and allies are using it as gender neutral language.
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/ talked about it, he’s saying that “yous”, “y’all” are new forms of the list plural form of you that are developing to disambiguate.
Here (in Ireland) “yous” is quite widely used in speech too. -
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith Speaking as a Canadian that uses it only online...
I only use it as an affecctation for online communication. But vocally, it doesn't come easily off the tongue. If I try it, it's closer to Yuall.
-
@ZachWeinersmith I say y'all and folks IRL. It's often seen as unprofessional, but a lot of queer communities and allies are using it as gender neutral language.
@mayintoronto @ZachWeinersmith I use it IRL (didn't when I was growing up). Utah.
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I grew up in the South so it's a part of my speech that way, but I live in Montreal now and see Anglo Canadians and Americans from the North using it as well. I think especially in queer communities it's spread, as someone else mentioned, as gender neutral language, but i think in general it's exploded in popularity, probably via the popularity of AAVE as you say
-
@ZachWeinersmith https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/ talked about it, he’s saying that “yous”, “y’all” are new forms of the list plural form of you that are developing to disambiguate.
Here (in Ireland) “yous” is quite widely used in speech too.Here in Minnesota; I hear "y'all' used fairly often for second-person plural.
The northern versus southern United States dialect difference seems to be if "y'all" is used for second-person singular (which then leads to variations like "all y'all" for the plural).
-
@ZachWeinersmith Speaking as a Canadian that uses it only online...
I only use it as an affecctation for online communication. But vocally, it doesn't come easily off the tongue. If I try it, it's closer to Yuall.
@Catelli @ZachWeinersmith Same. I don't have an American accent so it sounds too weird but I'll use it online for emphasis.
-
@ZachWeinersmith I say y'all and folks IRL. It's often seen as unprofessional, but a lot of queer communities and allies are using it as gender neutral language.
@mayintoronto @ZachWeinersmith
A frequent complaint I hear about "y'all" is that it's an Americanism, and that's considered low-status.
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I use it in emails to fill the English 2nd person plural deficit.
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith just one data point but I know Canadian Millenial and GenZ who use it in conversation.
I must admit though that despite having spent a fair bit of time as a Canadian in Texas, I still don't understand when and how to use "all y'all" appropriately.
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith weirdly, when I lived in the South for school I didn't use "y'all" because it came off as ... unearned in a way
I only started using it later. And probably more online than IRL
part of that may well be because my IRL linguistic community in my current location understands "hey you guys?" to be genderfree whereas some of y'all will interrogate that assumption
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
Mid Atlantic here. Culture has a mix of north and south. I've always used y'all vocally, and I use it typed also, but it feels weird in that context. I tend to type the way I speak, and I feel "y'all" has a better flow than "you all".
I guess I could rearrange the whole thing to type something normal, but then I wouldn't be typing as I speak.
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith I'm from Germany and have a strong second-person-singular-plural-distinction. You vs. y'all fits nicely when I want to make sure all are adressed. Also, feels better than "you guy" or smth.
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith @mayintoronto not a linguist, but a Canadian in tech, where "guys" has been liberally used too often, until lately.
I adopted "y'all" and "folks" a number of years ago as antidotes to "guys". I use them online and off, and don't care if people do a double-take.
But I don't hear others using them. It would be great if they did!
-
@Catelli @ZachWeinersmith Same. I don't have an American accent so it sounds too weird but I'll use it online for emphasis.
@drgroftehauge @Catelli Possibly it's hard because the actual pronunciation can be something more like yaw or even yawool, and if you don't saw it right it sounds off.
-
@ZachWeinersmith I say y'all and folks IRL. It's often seen as unprofessional, but a lot of queer communities and allies are using it as gender neutral language.
@mayintoronto It's funny--my wife is from Ohio and says folks as if it's precisely synonymous with people. That is, it's totally neutral. But for me, saying "folks" is strictly for non-professional contexts. Like I wouldn't say "folks who work in accounting."
-
Hey linguistic dorks:
So, I grew up in Texas where "y'all" was normal, though not always used when outside the US South. In the last 10-20 years, it seems like it's become normal. Like I see Canadians using it. But it occurred to me that I *actually* only see it used online. I had the impression that Y'all basically won the Second Person Plural wars via the popularity of AAVE, but perhaps it's more of an online slang usage?
@ZachWeinersmith If I hear or see 'y'all' in any variety of 'standard' English, I begin judging. Tryhard fake social media talk.
If you're an authentic speaker of a kind of English that uses y'all, I think that's awesome. That's a totally different box of frogs from 'OMG clock this deal I found on Amazon y'all, link in description'.
The only thing that makes me hurl harder is Big Political Accounts (you know who) using 'folks' or worse, 'friends'.
-
@drgroftehauge @Catelli Possibly it's hard because the actual pronunciation can be something more like yaw or even yawool, and if you don't saw it right it sounds off.
@ZachWeinersmith @drgroftehauge
Anecdote. I and a colleague were in Birmingham Alabama at a restaurant for dinner. Waiter was a great guy, with a southern accent.
I asked him if he could detect our Canadian accent, and he said no. Was surprised we could hear his.
So he said "Let me try to speak Canadian. 'Hey how y'all doin'?"
My colleague and I dissolved into laughter. We explained the "y'all" to him and he had a good laugh too.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login