Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!cornellcs!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!portc01.blue.aol.com!news-e2a.gnn.com!howland.erols.net!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.bctel.net!news.mag-net.com!freenet.unbc.edu!news.scn.org!scn.org!lilandbr
From: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Subject: Re: "plural" you
Message-ID: <Dz3ACJ.A3q@scn.org>
Sender: news@scn.org
Reply-To: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Organization: Seattle Community Network
References: <keg-0910961614510001@kegg.hip.berkeley.edu> <52pmh8$t5@news.alaska.edu> <52re6q$ia3@halley.pi.net> <3251D86E.3063@csql.mv.com> <1996100222495768213@zetnet.co.uk> <petrichDyov0z.6vq@netcom.com> <01bbb356$a9674f60$40f331ca@IHUG.ihug.co.nz> <325
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 02:17:06 GMT
Lines: 58

860CF.7882@csql.mv.com> <325B70F4.54CD@tower.
Organization: Seattle Community Network

In a previous article, keg@violet.berkeley.edu (Keith GOERINGER) says:

>In article <325B70F4.54CD@tower.york.ac.uk>, Pete Simpson
><pjs103@tower.york.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> Kevin Daly wrote:
>> 
>> > Yep...the reason being that most people are unaware that "you" is a
>> > plural...
>> > What you _do_ see (especially among Australians) is a double plural: yous.
>> 
>> An interesting point. 
>> 
>> I am from Liverpool in the UK and have noticed that the strong
>dialect            > we have has evolved the artificial 
>> 'plural' plural "youse". This raises the question of whether we do
>have           > a real need to distinguish between the second person
>singular and plural. 
>
>I believe that in Philadelphia, PA (and probably other areas of the US)
>"youse" is heard.  In my own idiolect (Maryland-based) (and throughout
>most of the South and Southwest of the US), "y'all" is the most commonly
>heard plural of "you".  

Am I correct in assuming that Strine "yous" and Liverpudlian-Philly 
"youse" are homophonic with each other (at least when spoken slowly and 
with deliberation) and with the verb "use"?

In my (Seattleite) idiolect "you" is the only normal second-person 
pronoun.  I might on occasion use "youse" or "y'all" or "you-all", 
jocularly, but "youse" *sounds* "urban working class" and "y'all" 
*sounds* "Southron" or "Hillbilly".  The spelling "yous", on the other 
hand, I would only use in a context and sense such as 

	"In Gobbledygookian, one of the most pronoun-enriched language
	I've ever encountered, there are fifteen different yous, including
	one used only in addressing one's mother-in-law."

and even then I'd be inclined to write "you's" or ""yous"".

Some poster in this thread referred to "thou/thee" as "obsolete".  I 
don't know what church ree goes to, but if ree'd get around a bit more of 
a Sunday AM, ree would find there are still plenty of (mostly older, but 
neither dead nor necessarily dumb) folks out there who routinely and in 
some cases exclusively address their God as "Thou".  

I'm not sure if the Quaker innovation of nominative "thee" (with human as 
well as divine addressees) is still in use.  Anybody know?

(As in "Thee'll be wantin' to get up in time for breakfast, won't thee?")
--
Liland Brajant ROS'    		"Intla yajuanti quinitzquise cohuame o intla
P O Box 30091      		quiise se pajyo, ax quinchihuilis tleno."
Seattle, WA 98103 Usono		
Tel. (206) 633-2434  		(Aj aj aj!  Liland krokodiledas!)
