Discover English, an EFL textbook for children published by Pearson, mentions girls dancing to Will Smith's Switch in Chapter 1. I was using the chapter to teach English via Skype to an eleven-year-old girl, and wondered if I could incorporate some of the lyrics of the song in the lesson. I couldn't, because I didn't understand them myself, but I noted with interest Smith's use of y'all.
By coincidence I had just read the short chapter, or interlude, on y'all in David Crystal's The Stories of English. He says that y'all originated in the southern states of the USA at the end of the 19th century. It was first mostly used by African Americans, but its usage among all social groups of all American regions soon spread. Crystal notes that y'all is usually used when addressing a group of people, but he has also heard it used to address two people, and to address a single person.
Standard English has one word for you, although it used to have an informal singular form thou (thou was the subject, and thee was used when the object of the verb). The current word you was once only the object form; the subject form was ye. Some dialects still differentiate between you in the singular and you in the plural. My Irish in-laws frequently say ye to address a group and my own dialect (Liverpool) has youse. A friend of mine who taught in a school in Liverpool about twenty years ago said one day to a boy in her class 'Stand up, Hughes' and every child in the class stood up!
Like y'all, youse sometimes refers to just one person. By coincidence, I spotted a written example of this in yesterday's Daily Mail. The sports correspondent (or maybe he's the showbiz correspondent) had criticised Wayne Rooney in an article a few months ago, and now he found himself a few yards away from the footballer at Dubai Airport. Mrs Rooney -- Coleen, who is a Liverpudlian like her husband -- came up to the (one) correspondent and said "What gives youse the right to criticise us?"
A view from over here, y'all.
"Y'all" is a very contagious expression in the US. I'm native New Englander, however 2 years of working in North Carolina a few years ago burned it into my spoken English.
I'd offer another variant on "youse / y'all", that being "wunna", the Barbadian/Bajan version derived from, I believe, Igbo.
Posted by: John | April 06, 2011 at 11:18 PM
Thanks for that, John. I didn't know 'wunna' so am grateful for your knowledge.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | April 07, 2011 at 11:41 PM
As a native Californian, I've always said "you guys." I believe that most Californians use that as the standard plural of "you." "You all," or "y'all" is not an idiom for me. ("You guys" should never be taken literally. It's used for both genders and in contexts where "guy" would be inappropriate.)
I can't for sure that I've ever heard it (cartoons, maybe?), but "youse" is code for working-class New York (which has a lot of Irish influence).
Posted by: Julie | April 08, 2011 at 01:06 AM
Thanks, Julie. The Liverpool accent has a lot of Irish influence too, which is perhaps why 'youse' is used in Liverpool. You hear 'you guys' to address both sexes more and more in the UK nowadays. I wrote on guy here:
http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2010/11/hi-guys.html#tp
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | April 08, 2011 at 10:33 AM
Great piece on "guy" and Guy Fawkes. I never made that connection. Thanks.
Posted by: John | April 08, 2011 at 11:08 AM
Thank you, Julie and John, for your comments. I appreciate your support and interest, and your filling in the gaps in my knowledge about the west coast and the east coast of the USA respectively.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | April 08, 2011 at 12:04 PM
Even an East Coast perspective indelibly tainted by a British (West Indian) education? :)
Posted by: John | April 08, 2011 at 12:43 PM