"Sarah Banick" wrote in message
news:L_adnRJDRuCLYm_ZnZ2dnUVZ_vGdnZ2d@comcast.com...
>
> "Karen Selwyn" wrote in message
> news:M2AIg.18223$ok5.15841@dukeread01...
>> James Silverton wrote:
>>> Did she really? I had always understood y'all was second person
>>> *plural* but, come to think of it, I seem to remember someone saying
>>> that Texicans were beginning to mess up Southern speech again!
>>
>> My friend from Nashville says that "y'all" is singular, and that "all
>> y'all" is the plural.
>>
>> Karen Selwyn
>>
>
> Hmmmm....I grew up in East Tennessee and now live in Atlanta. "Y'all" in
> my experience is always plural. "You" works fine in the singular. Y'all is
> often used as "all of you" as in "What y'all doin'" I don't have much of
> a Southern accent, but I still think y'all is a handy way to shorten some
> sentences.
And I grew up in West Tennessee (Memphis), and concur that "y'all (you all)"
is always plural. "All y'all" is used when you need to clarify whether all
members of the group referenced are included, or whether only some are.
"Are all y'all planning to go with us (or will some not be going)?"
> BTW, as others are pointing out with Texan and midwestern accents, there
> is no one "Southern" accent. The pleasant Southern drawl used in parts of
> Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi is nothing like the harsh sound of a
> mountain accent from East Tennessee/Western North Carolina. Etc.
GG
|