December 31, 2009
singular y’all
Andrew on vacation sends this (not the quote, but a link to the article):
I am writing you because I encountered the perplexing singular y’all while watching trailers for Disney’s newest film, The Princess and the Frog. Now, not being a Southerner I can’t attest to my own usage of “y’all,” but my linguistic intuition is in accord with your Language Log posting “Out of the y’all zone”, namely that y’all is generally not used to address singular individuals, but plural and occasionally implied plurals. […] In the cited trailer, Tiana uses singular y’all three times. Addressing the frog with evident dismay, she says “So what now? I reckon y’all want a kiss.” at 0:32. And then again, at 2:14, when the frog is dismayed that she will not kiss him after her apparent offer, she retorts “I didn’t expect y’all to answer!” In the intervening time, she does refer to him (using apparently less careless or emotionally influenced wording) as standard second person singular “you.” Finally, “Y’all don’t look that much different… but how’d you get way up there?” 3:13. This last example is perhaps the most perplexing of all, as it contains both forms.
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I wonder. Is this possibly a function of her knowing that there are two iterations of being? A frog and a prince? Or is that too much to think about? If I were to try to solve the situation, I would think in that way, and that the last example is actually her addressing the frog’s personage (prince) and his appearance/physical state (frog.) And that only the frog’s physicality (singular) can move from place to place because personhood is not tied to location. Spitballing. On New Year’s Eve.
I think also there is occasion to use singular y’all when talking about an impersonal subject — something thought slightly less than — an invalid or an animal; something cute or diminished. it doesn’t necessarily have to be condescending, but it denotes objectification in some way. perhaps.
Y’all’re messin with Texas. Everone knows y’all can mean any damn thing you wont it to mean.
I think that’s been resolved.
Uncle reports that northern women are given to saying “you can”, while Southern women are more likely to say “ya’ll can”. That might not resolve the question, though.
[...] = 'TreyPeden';I haven’t seen the new Princess and the Frog movie, but I am disgusted to see a post over at Clusterflock asserting the following: I am writing you because I encountered the perplexing singular y’all [...]