Y'all (pronounced/jɔːl/yawl[2]) is acontraction ofyou andall, sometimes combined asyou-all.Y'all is the mainsecond-person plural pronoun inSouthern American English, with which it is most frequently associated,[3] though it also appears in some other English varieties, includingAfrican-American English,South African Indian English andSri Lankan English. It is usually used as a pluralsecond-personpronoun, but whether it is exclusively plural is a perennial subject of discussion.
Y'all is a contraction ofyou all. The spellingyou-all in second-person plural pronoun usage was first recorded in 1824.[4][5] The earliest two attestations with the actual spellingy'all are from 1856,[6] and in theSouthern Literary Messenger (published inRichmond, Virginia) in 1858.[7] Although it appeared in print sporadically in the second half of the nineteenth century in theSouthern United States, its usage did not accelerate as a whole Southern regional phenomenon until the twentieth century.[8]
It is not certain whether its use began specifically with Black or White residents of the South, both of whom use the term today;[9] one possibility is that the term was brought byScots-Irish immigrants to the South, evolving from the earlierUlster Scots termye aw.[10][11][12] An alternative theory is thaty'all is acalque ofGullah and Caribbean creole via earlier dialects ofAfrican-American English.[13] However, most linguists agree thaty'all is likely an original form in the United States, deriving from gradual processes of grammar and morphological change, rather than being directly transferred from any other English dialects.[13]
Y'all appeared at different times in various dialects of English, includingSouthern American English andSouth African Indian English, suggesting parallel, independent development,[14] while emergence in Southern andAfrican-American Vernacular English closely correlates in time and place.
The spellingy'all is the most prevalent in print, ten times that ofya'll;[15] much less common spelling variants includeyall,yawl, andyo-all.[9]
Functionally, the emergence ofy'all can be traced to the merging of singular ("thou") and plural ("ye") second-person pronouns inEarly Modern English.[13]Y'all thus fills in the gap created by the absence of a separate second-person plural pronoun in standard modern English.Y'all is unique in that the stressed form that it contracts (you-all) is converted to an unstressed form.[15]
The usage ofy'all can satisfy several grammatical functions, including an associative plural, acollective pronoun, an institutional pronoun, and an indefinite pronoun.[10][16]
Y'all can in some instances serve as a "tone-setting device to express familiarity and solidarity."[17] When used in the singular,y'all can be used to convey a feeling of warmth towards the addressee.[18] In this way, singular usage ofy'all differs from French, Russian or German, where plural forms can be used for formal singular instances.[18]
There is historic disagreement whethery'all is primarily or exclusively plural,[13] with debate steming from the late nineteenth century to the present.[16] While some Southerners holdy'all is only properly used as a plural pronoun, counter evidence suggests usage include singular references,[9][15][18][19] particularly amongst non-Southerners.[20]
H. L. Mencken, in recognizing the typical plural reference ofy'all oryou-all, acknowledged occasional observation of the singular reference, writing that the exclusive plural usage ofy'all
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 Supplement 2: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, 1948, p.337[21]
The existence of the genitive (or possessive) formy'all's indicates thaty'all functions as a pronoun as opposed to a phrasal element.[17] The possessive form ofy'all has not been standardized; numerous forms can be found, includingy'alls,y'all's,y'alls's,you all's,your all's, andall of y'all's.[16]
All y'all,all of y'all, andalls y'all are used by some speakers to indicate a larger group than is necessarily implied by simplyy'all.[22]All y'all can also be used for emphasis; the existence of this etymologicallypleonastic form is further evidence that speakers now perceivey'all as a grammatically indivisible unit.[16]
Y'all has been called "perhaps the most distinctive of all grammatical characteristics" ofSouthern American English.[13] LinguistWalt Wolfram and English professor Jeffrey Reaser wrote, "No word in the American English vocabulary probably carries as much regional capital."[24] People who move to the South from other regions often adopt the usage, even when other regional usages are not adopted.[25] Outside the southern United States,y'all is most closely associated withAfrican-American Vernacular English.[26] 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. In urban African-American communities outside of the South, the usage ofy'all is prominent.[27]
The use ofy'all as the dominant second person-plural pronoun is not necessarily universal in the Southern United States. In some dialects of theOzarks andGreat Smoky Mountains, for example, it is common to hearyou'uns (a contraction of"you ones") used instead.[16] In the Missouri Ozarks (and adjoining regions of the state), "you-all" is the preferred form, though “all y’all” may be indicated, depending upon context. Other forms have also been used increasingly in the South, includingyou guys.[16]
A survey conducted in 1996 reported 49% of non-Southerners and 84% of Southerners usedy'all oryou-all in conversation, with a 1994 survey returning a 5% increase by both groups.[16]
In South Africa,y'all appears across allvarieties ofSouth African Indian English.[28] Its lexical similarity to they'all of the United States may be coincidental.[28]
Y'all appears in other dialects of English, includingMaori English inNew Zealand,Sri Lankan English[29] and dialects ofSt. Helena,Tristan da Cunha,[30] andNewfoundland and Labrador.[31]
