There’s actually an interesting article on it here at U Penn’s Language Log. I’m a Yankee, so I don’t hear “y’all” all too much (although I occasionally lapse into it instead of using the local “youse” or “youse guys” as the second person plural.) I’ve heard “y’all” as well as “youse” being addressed to a single person, but I’ve always interpreted that as “you and yours.” So, if I ask a friend “Hey, how youse doing,” I mean it as “how are you and your family doing” even if I am only addressing a singular person. In the instances I have come across “y’all” addressed to a singular person, it’s always felt to me like it has that sort of associative meaning.
But that’s just my interpretation and based on how I and my friends use the local dialect variation of “youse.”
Interesting, I have lived mostly in Chicago and Seattle with very little encounters with Italians or New Yorkers, I had no idea “youse” meant “you and yours” or more than just the individual, you learn something new every day!
It may also be up to the interpretation of the individual speaker. Note that in the “y’all” article, there’s some disagreement about it. That’s the way I hear it and that’s the way that seems to be used in my peer group. Others may take it as a simple synonym for “you.” I expect that there is not full agreement on this.
Here’s the thing about “y’all” (and I think where the confusion lies.)
Yes, it is always plural–never singular.
However, there have been instances in my life where I have met an individual I know, and I have asked “Well how are y’all doin’?”
What I MEAN (and what is understood by the other party) is “How are you, your mama, your daddy, your cousins, your aunts, uncles, and anyone else we mutually know?”
To an outsider, it would appear I used “y’all” in a singular sense with my friend/kinfolk, but I didn’t. It’s just that the “you all” aren’t physically present.
When I was a kid here in central Indiana, many of the other kids were from Appalachian places and the deep southeast. The Appalachian kids not only said pen as pin, but it was “ink-pin”, to distinguish it from a straight pin or safety pin. In some places a posey was a “flair”, and you dried your hands on a “tile.”
Some rural folks around here would “warsh” their clothes, then “wrench” them.
Sorry, but you’re simply wrong. What you say may apply to the way you use it, but it’s clearly used as a ‘formal singluar’ here in Durham NC. I was surprised to hear it used that way when I moved here.
I could be sitting alone at a table and the waitress would say, “Y’all want more coffee?”
If there were a number of us, she might ask “All y’all want more coffee?”
IDK where the distinction lies, but I’ve lived all over the south, and I’ll echo that “dinner” is the main meal of the day. During the week “dinner” and “supper” were synonyms, as we ate around 7 pm. On Sundays we had dinner after we got back from church just after noon.
You are misunderstanding them. They may be talking to you, but they are referencing your family. If I say to a single person “y’all ought to come over and watch the game with us” I am meaning that person and their SO/Family/etc. For a Southerner “Y’all” is NEVER singular.
There are lots of Southern accents. I hear at least three distinct accents just in Georgia. Here’s a guy from Columbus, GA (who probably sounds pretty close to the way I sound) explaining the way he hears Southern accents from the whole region. It’s a comedy bit, so it’s funny, but it also shows the way one Southerner hears things.
I think I’m confused of southern accent than say non broadcasters way of talking. Not sure if Bush or Obama have southern accent but they don’t sound like broadcaster on CNN .
Look at Mitt Romney he sounds nothing like the other US presidents and sounds more like the broadcaster on CNN .
It is hard to explain do to my lack of understanding accents but do broadcaster like on CNN go for flat high pitch? Also the way they speak and the pronunciation of words.
I’ll see if I can find some youtube videos that explain it. Is it broadcasters talking flat and fast that comes across less importance on pronunciation . And when non broadcasters talk Americans well talk slower, lower pitch and draw out words more so hat sounds more like haaat.
I also noticed that a lot Americans talk more at the front of the mouth where in movie Fried green tomato seem to well talk more at the back of the mouth and lower pitch.
When you watch the movie gone with the wind that is very old Southern accents and girls sound very high pitch or girly in way of talking where in the movie Fried green tomato the girls sound lower pitch and more back of the mouth.
It hard to explain with out understanding the different accents and how basic speech work .
If you’ve seen the movie Forrest Gump, the accent used by young Forrest is the child actor’s actual accent (with the talking speed exaggerated downwards, I’m sure), but off the top of my head I have no idea where he’s from.
I see what you’re getting at, you’re interested in the cadence of southern speach. But the instant giveaway is more often than not word choice than cadence. I think if you listen to enough southern dialogue compared to CNN you will figure out what it is, and especially since when we say “southern accent” we’re talking about a bunch of different accents with not that much in common, other than that they come from the south, and aren’t standard CNN speach. Good luck, especially if English is not your first language this stuff isn’t easy, I’m going through difficulty studying a language myself.
