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Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural? All the time
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If not, what is used by youse guys? N/A
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Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual? Never never never. I’ve lived all over the south and a person doing this would have his “southern pride” card revoked. Same as if he put milk and sugar on his grits. (The apparent singlular use meaning “you and your kind” described elsewhere in this thread is of course perfectly acceptable)
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If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise? N/A
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And finally, where are y’all from? **originally from ** Shreveport, LA
On a side note, you have my respect for spelling it correctly: “y’all” instead of “ya’ll.” I don’t know why people have trouble with that one.
RR
We have a winner. I like my wife’s family, but when some of her aunts feel the need to imitate my “accent”[1], I feel the need to apply rebar attitude readjustment.
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Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?
Yes. -
If not, what is used by youse guys?
n/a -
Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual?
Addressing? Occasionally. In reference to? Never. -
If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise?
If I am talking to someone who is an official or unofficial representative of a larger group. e.g. “Y’all have a good day.” Addressed to the receptionist at my sons’ daycare. Indicating that everyone there should have a good day. -
And finally, where are y’all from?
Raleigh, North Kackylacky
[1]THEY’re the ones with an accent.
- I used to use it all the time. I’ve all but removed it from my vocabulary since working at a help desk a few years back. I slip occasionally because it’s extremely common here.
- “you” or “you guys”
- Nope.
- Only when joking.
- Birmingham, AL
- Yes, I have been known to, but not usually.
- N/A
- No, that wouldn’t make any sense.
- No.
- West Virginia
To chime in on the West Virginia discussion, there are certainly a lot of regional differences within WV, as well. Someone from rural southern WV is going to sound a lot different from someone from northern WV. To me, the southern accent is more like a Kentucky accent, while the further north you go, th closer you get to a Pittsburgh accent. I have heard people from around here use “yens” for second person plural. I have lived both south and north.
Seconded…emphatically. I’m a native West Virginian, but don’t live there anymore. I get told by people from all over the country that I don’t sound like I’m from West Virginia, but I take that to mean that I don’t sound like what they expect a WV’n to sound like. As far as I can tell, I sound like everyone else from the area I grew up in (north central WV). I identify more with the greater Pittsburgh area than anything in the other end of WV.
There’s a common perception about the culture (especially speech) of West Virginians, and that’s largely true…for the southern half of the state. US 50 serves as a significant cutural border that is far more severe than any of the political borders with SW Virginia or Kentucky. When I would travel to Huntington, Beckley, or other similar places, I felt more out of place than I did traveling to Pennsylvania or Ohio. Meanwhile, the cultural gradient between, say, Bluefield and Blacksburg is pretty slight.
So true. My dad is from **Western ** Virginia and would get upset if someone made the mistake of calling it West. He was only a few miles from the border, as are all places out in the toe of Virginia, but that was the difference to him between living in hicksville and not. For the record, he didn’t say y’all. The accent was a strange mix of hillbilly, some sort of cockney like words and what he called “proper” English that he got from my grandfather.
- Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural? Of course.
- If not, what is used by youse guys? “You”
- Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual? A sure sign of someone (like a bad movie) trying to do a southern accent. I don’t speak much southern but I do know singular from plural.
- If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise? N/A
- And finally, where are y’all from? Virginia Beach originally, then Richmond, now Northen VA which is pronounced thus: “Washington DC”.
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Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?
Yes. -
If not, what is used by youse guys?
Also: “You” formal, “you guys” when not. -
Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual?
No. That grates on my nerves. That’s a sign that the speaker is trying to be funny but doesn’t really know how. -
If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise?
The only time I’ve heard it has been, as mentioned above, if someone is trying to make fun of a southern accent and failing. (Occasionally, I’ve heard it used when a southerner is making fun of someone who tried to use it like that.) It’s an easy difference to note, but IMHO using “y’all” incorrectly is a sign of lack of creativity and observation skills. Trust me, there’s plenty of material here–why pick something so lame? -
And finally, where are y’all from?
Kentucky
I lied. I just noticed Otaku’s comment about addressing an individal as part of a larger group. I do this as well, and I finally have an explanation for northerners’ confusion! Y’all still refers to the plural, but if someone were just overhearing the conversation, I could see how they would misunderstand.
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Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural? Sometimes..
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If not, what is used by youse guys? n/a
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Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual? Never.
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If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise? n/a
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And finally, where are y’all from? For the last 50+ years of my life, in or near Houston, Texas. Born in Yankeeland, though.
1. Do you ever use the word “y’all” for second person plural?
All the time, in spoken and written usage. I wouldn’t use it in a formal context.
2. If not, what is used by youse guys?
n/a
3. Do you ever use y’all when addressing (and in reference to) an individual?
Never in referencing an individual.
Addressed to an individual as part of a group, yes.
Used ironically as part of a quotation, rarely.
4. If so, is there some particular circumstance where this would arise?
Example 1: asking one spouse “what are y’all up to tonight?” means “do the two of you have any plans for this evening?”. If I were addressing the spouse as an individual, I’d say “what are you up to tonight?”.
Example 2: “Y’all ain’t from around here, are ya?”
5. And finally, where are y’all from?
Born and bred Okie.
I do not know anyone who uses y’all as a singular. What’s more, no one I know knows anyone who does this. Yes, I ask periodically. It’s very confusing and extremely grating on the nerves to see/hear “y’all” used as a singular.
For instance, your number-switching in the questions is rather off-putting. Questions (1) and (3) are addressed to individuals, but questions (2) and (4) are addressed to groups. If you don’t get this, try changing the pronouns to “he” and “they” (with appropriate modifications to the structure, of course). I realize your questions are a bit tongue-in-cheek, but still.
I do suspect that the “address the individual as part of a group” thing is what confuses the damn yankees. 
People who claim to be from a y’all-using region and say that they do this get a huge :dubious: from me. IME, it’s usually someone NOT from the region who is misusing it and doesn’t realize it (bless their little hearts) because no one is rude enough to point out their obvious lack of grammar. IME, even uneducated native speakers use this correctly. Somewhere, there may be some very localized regional dialects involved, but not that I’ve ever run across personally.
It’s definitely “y’all”, not “ya’ll”, the latter drives me nuts. It’s a contraction of “you all”, so the apostrophe replaces the “ou”.
“All-a-y’all” or “all y’all” is generally used as an intensifier to mean “each and every one of your group”, as opposed to “all of you as a group”. Example: “All y’all need to sign this sheet” means “each of you in the group needs to sign, not just a representative of the group as a whole”.