''Y'all'' (pronounced ) is a contraction of '' you'' and ''all'', sometimes combined as ''you-all''. ''Y'all'' is the main second-person plural pronoun in

Southern American English Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, primarily by White Southerners and increasingly concentrated in more rural areas ...

, with which it is most frequently associated, though it also appears in some other English varieties, including African-American English, South African Indian English and Sri Lankan English. It is usually used as a plural second-person pronoun, but whether it is exclusively plural is a perennial subject of discussion.

History

''Y'all'' is a contraction of ''you all''. The spelling ''you-all'' in second-person plural pronoun usage was first recorded in 1824. The earliest two attestations with the actual spelling ''y'all'' are from 1856, and in the '' Southern Literary Messenger'' (published in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

) in 1858.Parker, David B. "Y'All: Two Early Examples." ''American Speech'' 81.1 (2006): 110-112. . Although it appeared in print sporadically in the second half of the nineteenth century in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

, its usage did not accelerate as a whole Southern regional phenomenon until the twentieth century.Devlin, Thomas Moore (2019).
The Rise Of Y'all And The Quest For A Second-Person Plural Pronoun
". ''Babbel''. Lesson Nine GmbH. It is not certain whether its use began specifically with Black or White residents of the South, both of whom use the term today;Crystal, David
''The Story of English in 100 Words''
. 2011. p. 190. one possibility is that the term was brought by Scots-Irish immigrants to the South, evolving from the earlier Ulster Scots term ''ye aw''.Montgomery, Michael
"British and Irish antecedents"
, from ''The Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol. 6'', John Algeo, ed. 1992. p.149. An alternative theory is that ''y'all'' is a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of Gullah and Caribbean creole via earlier dialects of African-American English.Schneider, Edgar W
"The English dialect heritage of the southern United States"
, from ''Legacies of Colonial English'', Raymond Hickey, ed. 2005. p.284. However, most linguists agree that ''y'all'' is likely an original form in the United States, deriving from gradual processes of grammar and morphological change, rather than being directly transferred from any other English dialects. ''Y'all'' appeared at different times in various dialects of English, including

and South African Indian English, suggesting parallel, independent development,Hickey, Raymond
''A Dictionary of Varieties of English''
. 2013. p.231. while emergence in Southern and

African-American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique grammatical, voc ...

closely correlates in time and place. The spelling ''y'all'' is the most prevalent in print, ten times that of ''ya'll'';Garner, Bryan
''Garner's Modern American Usage''
. 2009. p.873. much less common spelling variants include ''yall'', ''yawl'', and ''yo-all''.

Linguistic characteristics

Functionally, the emergence of ''y'all'' can be traced to the merging of singular ("

thou The word ''thou'' () is a second-person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word '' you'', although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (). ''Thou' ...

") and plural (" ye") second-person pronouns in

Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...

. ''Y'all'' thus fills in the gap created by the absence of a separate second-person plural pronoun in standard modern English. ''Y'all'' is unique in that the stressed form that it contracts (''you-all'') is converted to an unstressed form. The usage of ''y'all'' can satisfy several grammatical functions, including an associative plural, a collective pronoun, an institutional pronoun, and an indefinite pronoun. ''Y'all'' can in some instances serve as a "tone-setting device to express familiarity and solidarity."Hickey, Raymond
"Rectifying a standard deficiency"
, from ''Diachronic Perspectives on Address Term Systems''. Irma Taavitsainen, Andreas Juncker, eds. 2003. p.352. When used in the singular, ''y'all'' can be used to convey a feeling of warmth towards the addressee.Lerner, Laurence
''You Can't Say That! English Usage Today''
. 2010. p. 218. In this way, singular usage of ''y'all'' differs from French, Russian or German, where plural forms can be used for formal singular instances.

Singular usage

There is historic disagreement whether ''y'all'' is primarily or exclusively plural, with debate steming from the late nineteenth century to the present. While some Southerners hold ''y'all'' is only properly used as a plural pronoun, counter evidence suggests usage include singular references, particularly amongst non-Southerners. H. L. Mencken, in recognizing the typical plural reference of ''y'all'' or ''you-all'', acknowledged occasional observation of the singular reference, writing that the exclusive plural usage of ''y'all''

Possessive forms

The existence of the genitive (or possessive) form ''y'all's'' indicates that ''y'all'' functions as a pronoun as opposed to a phrasal element. The possessive form of ''y'all'' has not been standardized; numerous forms can be found, including ''y'alls'', ''y'all's'', ''y'alls's'', ''you all's'', ''your all's'', and ''all of y'all's''.

''All y'all''

''All y'all'', ''all of y'all'', and ''alls y'all'' are used by some speakers to indicate a larger group than is necessarily implied by simply ''y'all''. ''All y'all'' can also be used for emphasis; the existence of this etymologically pleonastic form is further evidence that speakers now perceive ''y'all'' as a grammatically indivisible unit.

Regional usage

United States

''Y'all'' has been called "perhaps the most distinctive of all grammatical characteristics" of

. Linguist Walt Wolfram and English professor Jeffrey Reaser wrote, "No word in the American English vocabulary probably carries as much regional capital." People who move to the South from other regions often adopt the usage, even when other regional usages are not adopted.Montgomery, Michael
"Y'all"
, from ''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 5: Language''. Michael Montgomery et al. eds. 2007. Outside the southern United States, ''y'all'' is most closely associated with

. African Americans took Southern usages with them during the twentieth-century exodus from the South to cities in the northeastern United States and other places within the nation. In urban African-American communities outside of the South, the usage of ''y'all'' is prominent. The use of ''y'all'' as the dominant second person-plural pronoun is not necessarily universal in the Southern United States. In some dialects of the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

and Great Smoky Mountains, for example, it is common to hear '' you'uns'' (a contraction of ''"you ones"'') used instead.Bernstein, Cynthia
"Grammatical features of southern speech"
, from ''English in the Southern United States'', Stephen J. Nagle, et al. eds. 2003. pp.107-109. In the Missouri Ozarks (and adjoining regions of the state), "you-all" is the preferred form, though “all y’all” may be indicated, depending upon context. Other forms have also been used increasingly in the South, including '' you guys''. A survey conducted in 1996 reported 49% of non-Southerners and 84% of Southerners used ''y'all'' or ''you-all'' in conversation, with a 1994 survey returning a 5% increase by both groups.

South Africa

In South Africa, ''y'all'' appears across all varieties of South African Indian English.Mesthrie, Rajend. "South African Indian English", from
Focus on South Africa
''. Vivian de Klerk, ed. 1996. pp.88-89. Its lexical similarity to the ''y'all'' of the United States may be coincidental.

Rest of the world

''Y'all'' appears in other dialects of English, including Maori English in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, Sri Lankan English and dialects of St. Helena,

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcano, volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is one of three constituent parts of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascensi ...

, and

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

.Clarke, Sandra
"Newfoundland and Labrador English"
, from ''The Lesser Known Varieties of English: An Introduction''. Daniel Schreier, et al. eds. 2010. p.85.

References

{{Modern English personal pronouns American English Second-person plural pronouns in English Slang of the Southern United States African-American slang