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From: alderson@netcom.com (Richard M. Alderson III)
Subject: Re: Personal pronouns, antecedents and number agreement
In-Reply-To: bmoore@qualcomm.com's message of Tue, 18 Oct 1994 11:50:11 -0700
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References: <1994Oct5.181937.33867@waikato.ac.nz> <Cx9L8u.C7y@acsu.buffalo.edu>
	<37squl$m94@tardis.trl.OZ.AU> <1994Oct17.162809.1@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov>
	<bmoore-181094115012@bmoore.qualcomm.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 21:13:50 GMT
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In article <bmoore-181094115012@bmoore.qualcomm.com> bmoore@qualcomm.com
(Holoholona) writes:

>In article <1994Oct17.162809.1@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov>,
>s25@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov wrote:

>>Many dialects of English do in fact have a singular/plural distinction in the
>>second person. And they are not disappearing; if anything their use is
>>becoming more widespread. The ones I've heard are y'all, you'uns -- yes,
>>you'uns, which is very popular in Appalachia -- and my favorite, yous. Walk
>>into any working class bar on the south side of Chicago and you will hear
>>things like "So, yous guys wanna go somewheres else or what?"

>i'll bet y'all didn't know that there is a plural form of "y'all" too, didja?

>"all y'all."

>yep.

Except that "all a y'all" (the preferred form in my dialect) is not marked for
*plurality*, but for "inclusiveness":

	Y'all are all my friends.  Summa y'all are Democrats, and summa y'all
	are Republicans, but alla y'all are my friends anyway.

If your data indicate otherwise, please provide fully contectualized examples.
-- 
Rich Alderson   You know the sort of thing that you can find in any dictionary
                of a strange language, and which so excites the amateur philo-
                logists, itching to derive one tongue from another that they
                know better: a word that is nearly the same in form and meaning
                as the corresponding word in English, or Latin, or Hebrew, or
                what not.
                                                --J. R. R. Tolkien,
alderson@netcom.com                               _The Notion Club Papers_
