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{{Short description|Second person pronoun used in Pennsylvania}}
[[File:Yinz Are Welcome.jpg|right|thumb|"Yinz Are Welcome" sign at [[Occupy Pittsburgh]] in 2011.]]{{Italic title}}'''''Yinz''''' (see {{section link||History and usage}} below for other spellings) is a [[Grammatical person|second-person]] [[plural]] pronoun used mainly in [[Western Pennsylvania English]]. It is most prominent in [[Pittsburgh]], but it is also found throughout the cultural region known as [[Appalachia]], located within the geographical region of the [[Appalachians]].<ref name="Rehder 2004">{{cite book|last=Rehder|first=John B.|title=Appalachian folkways|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8018-7879-4|oclc=52886851|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MU-43z3ZiToC&q=You%27ns&pg=PA300}}</ref>

==History and usage==
''Yinz'' is a derivation from the original [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]] forms "Yin(s)" (meaning 'One(s)) and related contractions of ''you ones'', ''yous ones'' and ''ye 'uns'', a form of the second-person plural that is commonly heard in [[Scotland]], [[Ulster]] and parts of [[Ireland]] and [[Northern England]]. In the first- and third-person, standard English speakers use distinct pronouns to denote singular and plural. In the first person, for example, speakers use the singular ''I'' and the plural ''we''. However, the second-person pronoun ''you'' performs a double duty since it is both the singular form and the plural form. Crozier (1984) suggests that during the 19th century, when many Irish-speakers switched to speaking English, they filled that gap with ''you ones'', primarily because Irish has both the singular second-person pronoun ''tú'' and the plural form ''sibh''. The following, therefore, is the most likely path from ''you ones'' to ''yinz'': ''you ones'' {{IPA|[juː wʌnz]}} > ''you'uns'' {{IPA|[juːʌnz]}} > ''youns'' {{IPA|[juːnz]}} > ''yunz'' {{IPA|[jʌnz]}} > ''yinz'' {{IPA|[jɪ̈nz]}}. Because there are still speakers who use each form,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2011/02/13/Is-yunz-is-or-is-yinz-ain-t-from-Pittsburgh/stories/201102130223 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924140555/http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2011/02/13/Is-yunz-is-or-is-yinz-ain-t-from-Pittsburgh/stories/201102130223 | archive-date=September 24, 2015 | title=Is yunz is or is yinz ain't from Pittsburgh? |first=Richard | last=Peterson |date=February 13, 2011 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=December 20, 2023}}{{Failed verification|date=December 2023}}</ref> there is no stable second-person plural pronoun form in the southwest or central Pennsylvania area, so the pronoun is variably referred to or spelled as '''''you'uns''''', '''''y'ins''''', '''''y'uns''''', '''''yunz''''', '''''yuns''''', '''''yinz''''', '''''yenz''''', '''''yins,''''' or '''''ynz'''''.

In other parts of the United States, similarly regional British, Irish and Scots-Irish speakers brought over different dialectal second-person plural forms. Examples include ''yunz'', which is used in and around Middletown, Pennsylvania; ''[[you#Informal plural forms|youse]]'', which is found mainly in New York City and Chicago, the [[Philadelphia dialect]] and New Jersey; and ''[[y'all]]'', which is ubiquitous in the South.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yall-youuns-yinz-youse-how-regional-dialects-are-fixing-standard-english |title=Y'all, You'uns, Yinz, Youse: How Regional Dialects Are Fixing Standard English: The real enemy? "You guys." |last=Nosowitz |first=Dan |date=October 13, 2016 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref>

A similar form with similar Irish and Scots roots is found in the [[Atlantic Provinces]] of Canada.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} Rarely written, it is spelled ''yous'' and is usually pronounced as {{IPA|[jɪ̈z]}} or something between {{IPA|[jɪ̈z]}} and {{IPA|[jʊ̈z]}}. It is sometimes combined with ''all'' for emphasis, as in, "are yous all coming to the party?" That usage is also common within Carbon and Schuylkill Counties, Pennsylvania.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

==In popular culture==
Being one of Pennsylvania's most famous regionalisms makes ''yinz'' a badge of pride. For example, a group of Pittsburgh area [[radical cheerleader]]s call themselves "Yinz Cheer", and an area literary magazine was called ''[[The New Yinzer]]'', a take-off of ''[[The New Yorker]]''.   Those perceived to be stereotypical [[blue collar]] Pittsburgh residents are often referred to as  ''[[Yinzer]]s''.

[[Yinztagram]] is a software program with a [[Pittsburgh]] theme.<ref name=app>{{cite web| title =Yinztagram By Pegula | work =[[iTunes Store]] | publisher =[[Apple Inc.]] | date =2012 | url =https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yinztagram/id551110367?mt=8 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120828164832/http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yinztagram/id551110367?mt=8 | url-status =dead | archive-date =August 28, 2012 | access-date =December 13, 2012 }}</ref>

[[YinzCam]] is a [[Pittsburgh]]-based software development company.<ref>{{cite news | title =Next page: Shake things up! 2.0 | first=Greg | last=Victor | newspaper = [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] | date =December 20, 2009  | url =http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2009/12/20/Next-Page-Shake-Things-Up-2-0.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112160855/https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2009/12/20/Next-Page-Shake-Things-Up-2-0.html | archive-date=January 12, 2014 | access-date =December 20, 2023}}</ref>

At the end of every episode of ''VH-1's Top 20 Countdown'', host [[Jim Shearer]] always says "I'm Jim Shearer, and I'll see yinz later."

In the TV series ''[[One Dollar (TV series)|One Dollar]]'' (2018), set in a rust belt town (shot in and around Pittsburgh), the Yinz address is frequently used.

Waypoint YINZZ in [[Newell, West Virginia]] marks the approach to [[Pittsburgh International Airport]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opennav.com/waypoint/US/YINZZ|title = YINZZ waypoint &#124; OpenNav}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ye (pronoun)|''Ye'' (pronoun)]]
* {{section link|You|Plural forms from other varieties}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Barbara Johnstone and Andrew Danielson, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070308191925/http://english.cmu.edu/people/faculty/homepages/johnstone/ResearchPapers/dailies.html 'Pittsburghese' in the Daily Papers, 1910-1998: Historical Sources of Ideology about Variation]", ''New Ways of Analyzing Variation'' conference, October 2001.
*Johnstone, B., Bhasin, N., and Wittkowski, D., "Dahntahn" Pittsburgh: Monophthongal /aw/ and representations of localness in Southwestern Pennsylvania. ''American Speech'' 77(20):146-166.
*Johnstone, Barbara, Speaking Pittsburghese:  The Story of a Dialect.  ''Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics''.  Oxford:  OUP.
*Crozier, A. (1984). The Scotch-Irish influence on American English. ''American Speech'' 59: 310–331.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{commons category}}
*[https://pittsburghspeech.pitt.edu/ Pittsburgh Speech and Society] A site for non-linguists, created by [[Carnegie Mellon University]] linguist [[Barbara Johnstone]]
*[http://www.pittsburghese.com/ Pittsburghese.com] (more humorous than scientific)
*[http://pittsblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/what-do-you-call-steeler-fan.html What Do You Call a Steeler Fan?]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060418201819/http://barnestormin.blogspot.com/2006/02/are-yinz-from-pittsburgh.html  Are yinz from Pittsburgh?].
*[https://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/pittsburghese/ PBS Series, "Do You Speak American?"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20231220065934/https://www.pghcitypaper.com/arts-entertainment/philadelphyinz-1340103 "Philadelphyinz Reps The Burgh with Brotherly Love"], Pittsburgh City Paper

{{Modern English personal pronouns}}
{{Yinz}}
{{Pittsburgh}}

[[Category:Yinz| ]]
[[Category:English-language slang]]
[[Category:Modern English personal pronouns]]
[[Category:Culture of Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Second-person plural pronouns in English]]