LINGUIST List 3.104

Tue 04 Feb 1992

Disc: Youse

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Mark Littlefield, youse
2. Susann Luperfoy, Your All's
3. Karin Evans, Re: 3.99 Queries: Visual Semiotics, HyperQual, Your All's
4. Mark Littlefield, Youse

The various terms used for 2nd personal plural pronoun in English
reflect a need in the language for a way to express this; apparently
you is too ambiguous; the East (Buffalo) is characterized by youse [yuz]
in lower- to middle-class language, although the expressions "youse
guys" is considered substandard or childish. You-all in southern speech
is definitly established as acceptable in all but the most formal
registers. I am interested in this in general, and as a teacher of Spanish,
where usages of the 2nd plural (as well as singular) pronoun vary from
country to country. I believe that, after a period of struggle, American
English will have settled into an acceptable form of 2nd plural pronoun
within 100 years.

>I just read this quote in today's NY Times (1/31 p.A12)
>"'This is all inane, stupid and insulting, and I hope the American people jam
>it down your-all's throat' Bob Slagle, the chairman of the Democratic Party in
>Texas told reporters.
>

Might this be just a bad transcription with the "r" supplied
by the reporter in place of what might have been a very
long vowel, making "your-all's" out of "y'all's." Especially
likely if the reporter's dialect doesn't include "y'all" and
if he/she was anticipating a genitive.

Susann LuperFoy

Message 3: Re: 3.99 Queries: Visual Semiotics, HyperQual, Your All's

Two graduate students at Purdue from Tennessee have both heard and
used "your-all's" in constructions like these:

Your-all's garden is really gorgeous this year.

I don't know if your-all's relatives are going to be able to come.

We made up these examples with the query in mind, but the usage is
very comfortable to both of us.

Lisa Tally (from Pleasant View in Middle Tennessee)
 tallylhsage.cc.purdue.edu
Karin Evans (from Knoxville in East Tennessee)
 kevansmace.cc.purdue.edu

I would like to refine my hasty remarks of 1 February. English
is trying to find a way to express the 2nd person plural. There
seem to be 3 ways of doing this:
1. You + vocative (you people, you guys, you ladies, etc.)
2. Youse
3. You all
It is my impression that 1 is the acceptable term, fitting for
all but the most formal speech. I believe that 2 and 3 are
mutually exclusive. In addition, 2 is considered sub-standard,
and would never be used in formal speech. As for 3, I believe
that it can exist alongside 1, that people who say 'you all'
will also say 'you people.' This is based on some years living
in Williamsburg VA, but it is, at this distance, just a
vague memory.
One sees an adjustment in other languages. In Brazilian Portuguese,
the original 'tu' form of 2nd sg. is now largely (and subject to
regional norms) replaced by 'voce' in the 3rd person. This 'voce'
in turn, and the formal term of address has become 'o senhor/a
senhora', 'the gentleman/the lady/' (also in plural), used with
the 3rd person.
Mark G. Littlefield BITNET: littlemgsnybufva
Foreign Language Department INTERNET: littlemgsnybufva.cs.snybuf.edu
Buffalo State College TELEPHONE: (716) 878-5810
Buffalo NY 14222