View source for Y'all

{{Short description|Contraction of you and all}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Italics title}}
[[File:Florence-yall.jpg|frame|right|The [[Florence Y'all Water Tower]] in [[Florence, Kentucky]]; the words were painted in 1974.<ref>{{cite web | title= Water towers loom large | url= http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/04/07/loc_water_towers_loom.html | work= [[The Cincinnati Enquirer]] | date= April 7, 2001 | access-date= 2010-07-08 | archive-date= April 24, 2022 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220424220901/https://www.cincinnati.com/ | url-status= live }}</ref>]]
'''''Y'all''''' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|pron|j|ɔː|l}} {{respell|yawl}}<span class="nowrap" style="padding-left:{{Italics correction/calc|l}}"></span><ref>[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/you-all you-all] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327165650/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/you-all |date=March 27, 2019 }} and [https://www.dictionary.com/browse/y-all y'all] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710231237/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/y-all |date=July 10, 2019 }}. ''Dictionary.com''. Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary. 2019.</ref>) is a [[Contraction (grammar)|contraction]] of ''[[you]]'' and ''all'', sometimes combined as ''you-all''. ''Y'all'' is the main [[Personal pronoun#Person and number|second-person plural pronoun]] in [[Southern American English]], with which it is most frequently associated,<ref>Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". ''English in the Southern United States'', 2003, pp. 106 Cambridge University Press</ref> though it also appears in some other English varieties, including [[African-American English]], [[South African Indian|South African Indian English]] and [[Sri Lankan English]]. It is usually used as a plural [[Grammatical person|second-person]] [[pronoun]], but whether it is exclusively plural is a perennial subject of discussion.

==History==
''Y'all'' is a contraction of ''you all''. The spelling ''you-all'' in second-person plural pronoun usage was first recorded in 1824.<ref>{{OEtymD|y'all}}</ref><ref>Bailey, Guy (1997). "When did southern American English begin?" Englishes around the world, 1, 255-275.</ref> The earliest two attestations with the actual spelling ''y'all'' are from 1856,<ref>Parker, David B. (2015). "[https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159662 Y’all: It’s Older Than We Knew] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917012150/https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159662 |date=September 17, 2020 }}". ''History News Network''.</ref> and in the ''[[Southern Literary Messenger]]'' (published in [[Richmond, Virginia]]) in 1858.<ref name="Parker">Parker, David B. "Y'All: Two Early Examples." ''American Speech'' 81.1 (2006): 110-112. .</ref> Although it appeared in print sporadically in the second half of the nineteenth century in the [[Southern United States]], its usage did not accelerate as a whole Southern regional phenomenon until the twentieth century.<ref name="Devlin">Devlin, Thomas Moore (2019). "[https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/rise-of-yall The Rise Of Y'all And The Quest For A Second-Person Plural Pronoun] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606124518/https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/rise-of-yall |date=June 6, 2020 }}". ''Babbel''. Lesson Nine GmbH.</ref>

It is not certain whether its use began specifically with Black or White residents of the South, both of whom use the term today;<ref name = "Crystal">Crystal, David. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4djICT7zgGoC&q=%22local+usage%22 ''The Story of English in 100 Words''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928222752/https://books.google.com/books?id=4djICT7zgGoC&q=%22local+usage%22 |date=September 28, 2020 }}. 2011. p. 190.</ref> one possibility is that the term was brought by [[Scots-Irish American|Scots-Irish]] immigrants to the South, evolving from the earlier [[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster Scots]] term ''ye aw''.<ref name = "Montgomery">Montgomery, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ia5tHVtQPn8C&dq=%22y%27all%22+etymology&pg=PA149 "British and Irish antecedents"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928020801/https://books.google.com/books?id=ia5tHVtQPn8C&pg=PA149&dq=%22y%27all%22+etymology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tYgLVM6_JITjsASK54HYBQ&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20etymology&f=false |date=September 28, 2020 }}, from ''The Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol. 6'', John Algeo, ed. 1992. p.149.</ref><ref>Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern Speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". ''English in the Southern United States'', 2003, pp. 108-109 Cambridge University Press</ref><ref>Lipski, John. 1993. "Y'all in American English," ''English World-Wide'' 14:23-56.</ref> An alternative theory is that ''y'all'' is a [[calque]] of [[Gullah language|Gullah]] and Caribbean creole via earlier dialects of [[African-American English]].<ref name = "Schneider">Schneider, Edgar W. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OqUBUgW_Ax8C&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PA284 "The English dialect heritage of the southern United States"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908021356/https://books.google.com/books?id=OqUBUgW_Ax8C&pg=PA284&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oPmcU9qtMNOWyATy24L4Dg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 8, 2020 }}, from ''Legacies of Colonial English'', Raymond Hickey, ed. 2005. p.284.</ref> However, most linguists agree that ''y'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.<ref name = "Schneider" />

''Y'all'' appeared at different times in various dialects of English, including [[Southern American English]] and [[South African Indian|South African Indian English]], suggesting parallel, independent development,<ref name = "Hickey">Hickey, Raymond. [https://books.google.com/books?id=23cqAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&pg=PA253 ''A Dictionary of Varieties of English''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201013133427/https://books.google.com/books?id=23cqAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA253&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0pELVIPZGszjsAToh4LwCw&ved=0CCEQ6AEwATgU#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20genitive&f=false |date=October 13, 2020 }}. 2013. p.231.</ref> while emergence in Southern and [[African-American Vernacular English]] closely correlates in time and place.

The spelling ''y'all'' is the most prevalent in print, ten times that of ''ya'll'';<ref name = "Garner">Garner, Bryan. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FwmQpyibKkAC&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PA873 ''Garner's Modern American Usage''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903224924/https://books.google.com/books?id=FwmQpyibKkAC&pg=PA873&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=53-cU6f2CsKSyATXuoLYBg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 3, 2020 }}. 2009. p.873.</ref> much less common spelling variants include ''yall'', ''yawl'', and ''yo-all''.<ref name = "Crystal" />

==Linguistic characteristics==
Functionally, the emergence of ''y'all'' can be traced to the merging of singular ("[[thou]]") and plural ("[[Ye (pronoun)|ye]]") second-person pronouns in [[Early Modern English]].<ref name = "Schneider" /> ''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.<ref name = "Garner" />

The usage of ''y'all'' can satisfy several grammatical functions, including an associative plural, a [[collective noun|collective pronoun]], an institutional pronoun, and an indefinite pronoun.<ref name = "Montgomery" /><ref name = "Bernstein" />

''Y'all'' can in some instances serve as a "tone-setting device to express familiarity and solidarity."<ref name = "Hickey2">Hickey, Raymond. [https://books.google.com/books?id=92SqCciTOIQC&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PT361 "Rectifying a standard deficiency"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916201748/https://books.google.com/books?id=92SqCciTOIQC&pg=PT361&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oPmcU9qtMNOWyATy24L4Dg&ved=0CE0Q6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 16, 2020 }}, from ''Diachronic Perspectives on Address Term Systems''. Irma Taavitsainen, Andreas Juncker, eds. 2003. p.352.</ref> When used in the singular, ''y'all'' can be used to convey a feeling of warmth towards the addressee.<ref name = "Lerner">Lerner, Laurence. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cXmXLi5O2hUC&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&pg=PA218 ''You Can't Say That! English Usage Today''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919121719/https://books.google.com/books?id=cXmXLi5O2hUC&pg=PA218&dq=%22y%27all%22+%22usage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=53-cU6f2CsKSyATXuoLYBg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20%22usage%22&f=false |date=September 19, 2020 }}. 2010. p. 218.</ref> In this way, singular usage of ''y'all'' differs from French, Russian or German, where plural forms can be used for formal singular instances.<ref name = "Lerner" />

===Singular usage===
There is historic disagreement whether ''y'all'' is primarily or exclusively plural,<ref name = "Schneider" /> with debate steming from the late nineteenth century to the present.<ref name = "Bernstein" /> While some Southerners hold ''y'all'' is only properly used as a plural pronoun, counter evidence suggests usage include singular references,<ref name = "Crystal" /><ref name = "Garner" /><ref name = "Lerner" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hyman |first1=Eric |title=The ''All'' of ''You-All'' |journal=American Speech |date=2006 |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=325–331 |doi=10.1215/00031283-2006-022}}</ref> particularly amongst non-Southerners.<ref name="singular">{{cite web| last =Okrent| first =Anrika| date =2014-09-14| url =http://theweek.com/article/index/267886/can-yall-be-used-to-refer-to-a-single-person| title =Can Y'all Be Used to Refer to a Single Person?| work =[[The Week]]| publisher =The Week Publications| access-date =2014-09-15| archive-date =September 15, 2014| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140915100256/https://theweek.com/article/index/267886/can-yall-be-used-to-refer-to-a-single-person| url-status =live}}</ref>

[[H. L. Mencken]], in recognizing the typical plural reference of ''y'all'' or ''you-all'', acknowledged occasional observation of the singular reference, writing that the exclusive plural usage of ''y'all'' 

{{quote|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<ref>{{cite book
 |title        = The American Language Supplement 2: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
 |last         = Mencken
 |first        = H.L.
 |date         = 4 April 2012
 |url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=G-WrlQMn8OYC&pg=PT686
 |access-date  = 2014-10-07
 |publisher    = A. Knopf ebook
 |isbn         = 9780307813442
 |archive-date = September 18, 2020
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20200918130543/https://books.google.com/books?id=G-WrlQMn8OYC&pg=PT686
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>}}

===Possessive forms===
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.<ref name = "Hickey2" /> 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''.<ref name = "Bernstein" />

===''All y'all''===
''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''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Simpson|first=Teresa R.|title=How to Use "Y'all" Correctly|url=http://memphis.about.com/od/midsouthliving/qt/yall.htm|access-date=December 16, 2008|archive-date=November 18, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118195522/http://memphis.about.com/od/midsouthliving/qt/yall.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> ''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.<ref name = "Bernstein" />

==Regional usage==
[[File:Y'allMap.jpg|thumb|300px|Frequency of "y'all" to address multiple people, according to a 2011 survey of American dialect variation<ref name="www4.uwm.edu">{{Cite web |url=http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/states.html |title=Dialect Survey Results |access-date=February 29, 2012 |archive-date=December 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222022459/http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/states.html |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

===United States===
''Y'all'' has been called "perhaps the most distinctive of all grammatical characteristics" of [[Southern American English]].<ref name = "Schneider" /> Linguist [[Walt Wolfram]] and English professor Jeffrey Reaser wrote, "No word in the American English vocabulary probably carries as much regional capital."<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Wolfram| first1 = Walt| last2 = Reaser| first2 = Jeffrey| title = Talkin' Tar Heel : How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina | publisher = The University of North Carolina Press| date = 2014| location = Chapel Hill| page = 82 | isbn = 978-1-4696-1437-3 }}</ref> People who move to the South from other regions often adopt the usage, even when other regional usages are not adopted.<ref name = "Montgomery2">Montgomery, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wCeaAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22y%27all%22+southern&pg=PT197 "Y'all"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926231315/https://books.google.com/books?id=wCeaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT197&dq=%22y%27all%22+southern&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LJIMVNfjEuzjsAS04IJA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20southern&f=false |date=September 26, 2020 }}, from ''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 5: Language''. Michael Montgomery et al. eds. 2007.</ref> Outside the southern United States, ''y'all'' is most closely associated with [[African-American Vernacular English]].<ref>Baugh, John. [https://archive.org/details/beyondebonicslin00baug/page/106 <!-- quote="y'all" "usage". --> ''Beyond Ebonics'']. 2000. p.106</ref> 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 of ''y'all'' is prominent.<ref>Wright, Susan. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1VOgBAAAQBAJ&dq=y%27all+%22african+american+vernacular%22&pg=PA177 "'Ah'm going for to give youse a story today': remarks on second person plural pronouns in Englishes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429081413/https://books.google.com/books?id=1VOgBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA177&dq=y%27all+%22african+american+vernacular%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAmoVChMI6-6w05WWyAIVRm4-Ch07tQbu#v=onepage&q=y'all%20%22african%20american%20vernacular%22&f=false |date=April 29, 2016 }}, from Taming the Vernacular, Jenny Cheshire and Dieter Stein, Eds. Routledge, 2014. p.177.</ref>

The use of ''y'all'' as the dominant second person-plural pronoun is not necessarily universal in the Southern United States. In some dialects of the [[Ozarks]] and [[Great Smoky Mountains]], for example, it is common to hear ''[[you'uns]]'' (a contraction of ''"you ones"'') used instead.<ref name = "Bernstein">Bernstein, Cynthia. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4hSipu5yeqMC&q=y%27all&pg=PA3 "Grammatical features of southern speech"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408052822/https://books.google.com/books?id=4hSipu5yeqMC&pg=PA3&dq=Bernstein,+Cynthia.+%22Grammatical+features+of+southern+speech%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=b9yiVNfICYWgNvqygogB&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=y'all&f=false |date=April 8, 2016 }}, from ''English in the Southern United States'', Stephen J. Nagle, et al. eds. 2003. pp.107-109.</ref> 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, including ''[[you guys]]''.<ref name = "Bernstein" />

A survey conducted in 1996 reported 49% of non-Southerners and 84% of Southerners used ''y'all'' or ''you-all'' in conversation, with a 1994 survey returning a 5% increase by both groups.<ref name = "Bernstein" />

===South Africa===
In South Africa, ''y'all'' appears across all [[variety (linguistics)|varieties]] of [[South African Indian|South African Indian English]].<ref name = "Mesthrie">Mesthrie, Rajend. "South African Indian English", from ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IZVqidxVsLwC Focus on South Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804024658/https://books.google.com/books?id=IZVqidxVsLwC |date=August 4, 2020 }}''. Vivian de Klerk, ed. 1996. pp.88-89.</ref> Its lexical similarity to the ''y'all'' of the United States may be coincidental.<ref name = "Mesthrie" />

===Rest of the world===
''Y'all'' appears in other dialects of English, including [[Māori language|Maori]] English in [[New Zealand]], [[Sri Lankan English]]<ref>[https://groundviews.org/2013/01/28/a-z-of-sri-lankan-english-y-is-for-yall/ Groundviews]</ref> and dialects of [[St. Helena]], [[Tristan da Cunha]],<ref>Schreier, Daniel. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&pg=PA236 "St Helenian English"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926070922/https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&pg=PA236&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vIwLVPPiFPC1sQT71ILgDg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22y'all%22%20genitive&f=false |date=September 26, 2020 }}, from ''The Lesser Known Varieties of English: An Introduction''. Daniel Schreier, et al. eds. 2010. pp.235-237, 254.</ref> and [[Newfoundland and Labrador]].<ref>Clarke, Sandra. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&q=%22y%27all%22&pg=PA236 "Newfoundland and Labrador English"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926070922/https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C&pg=PA236&dq=%22y%27all%22+genitive&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vIwLVPPiFPC1sQT71ILgDg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBQ#v=snippet&q=%22y'all%22&f=false |date=September 26, 2020 }}, from ''The Lesser Known Varieties of English: An Introduction''. Daniel Schreier, et al. eds. 2010. p.85.</ref>

==See also==
{{Wiktionary|y'all|all y'all}}
* [[English personal pronouns]]
* {{section link|You#Plural_forms}}
** [[Ye (pronoun)]]
** [[Yinz]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Modern English personal pronouns}}

[[Category:American English]]
[[Category:Second-person plural pronouns in English]]
[[Category:Slang of the Southern United States]]
[[Category:African-American slang]]