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Ashley Bunting
Professor Patch
College Writing
1 March 2011
What’s the Problem, Y’all?
As a Southern belle born and bred, the term y’all has embedded itself into my
vocabulary. For as long as I can remember, I have used this term in my daily
conversation (such as greeting someone “Hey y’all”) and informal writing (such as letters
and e-mails). As I matured and became more equipped to read body language, I began to
notice the concerned stares and odd looks from teachers and classmates evoked by my
use of the term. Based upon the responses I received, I might as well have used a curse
word. Whether or not someone was simply unaccustomed to the term and responded by
wrinkling up his or her nose, or he or she was just downright appalled, the reactions were
unpleasant and created an awkward situation for all involved.
My question is, what is the problem with y’all? I have had past experiences when,
engaged in a conversation, I have used the term and received a puzzled face in return.
Subsequent to using the term, the reaction I typically receive is subtly disturbed. These
puzzled faces do not only look uneasy, but also concerned as to why I would have chosen
that word. After years of encountering the same baffled faces, I started to wonder why the
term is so unaccepted. There seem to be two main reasons why the term y’all is frowned
upon. The majority of the people who are addressed as y’all question whether the speaker
is being too informal with them by using a slang term. With its Southern roots, the
receivers may believe that they are being demoted to the status of unintelligent Southern
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folk by being addressed in such a way. They may also think the speaker is an
“unintelligent Southerner.” Secondly, many scholars and professionals believe that y’all
is not acceptable in writing or conversation is because it is a contraction. According to the
Oxford Guide to Plain English, it is improper to use contractions in formal writing (201).
Just as don’t is not accepted in an essay as a way to express do not, y’all is an improper
way to convey you all. The widely known definition of y’all is that it is a contraction
associated with Southern dialect. Diana Hacker’s, A Writer’s Reference, also discredits
the use of slang terms and regionalisms in formal writing because they have limitations,
which therefore classify them as inappropriate (158). Although y’all is an unaccepted
term because of its informality and regional roots, the term should be reconsidered as
nothing more than a contraction.
In the Fall of 2010, I entered my first semester at Elon University in Elon, North
Carolina. Although it may appear that Elon University would be composed mainly of
Southerners due to its location, there is an overwhelming amount of out-of-state students.
Befriending many students from New England, I have subtly passed off some of my
Southern dialect to my friends, including the term y’all. A native of Garrison, New York,
Marion Copeland says the term is easy and convenient; however, y’all should never be
used in formal writing because it is not “intellectual.” While it seems that many people
are quick to adopt the slang, the word continues to be frowned upon because it comes off
as a term indicating lesser intelligence.
Although there are many regional forms of conveying the second-person-pluralpronoun, it is clear that y’all is the most popular and well known. In the late 1990s,
dialectologists Jan Tillery, Tom Wikle, and Guy Bailey published a poll in the Journal of
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English Linguistics, which yielded results that indicated that people who use the word
y’all have either grown up in the South or have a Southern accent (sic)(Ernard). With its
regional roots in the South, y’all has had a difficult time prevailing over the negative
stereotypes about Southerners. It is understood that with the immense diversity in the
United States, it is expected that people talk, act and dress differently. Because a
Southerner is easy to distinguish, one may be quick to judge that an individual is not
intelligent because he or she appears Southern. This reinforces the saying that one should
get to know an individual before making quick judgments. This also indicates that
because someone uses regionalisms in his or her vocabulary, he or she is not any more or
any less intelligent than someone else.
The two foremost reasons why people use the word y’all is because it is an
automatic part of their vocabulary or they want to appear as a Southerner (Johnstone
203). According to the studies of linguist Dennis Preston of Michigan State University, it
is surprising that an individual would want to appear as Southern. In the late 1980s,
Preston conducted statewide research in regards to attitudes of different regional dialects.
The results unanimously declared that the majority of Michigan citizens regard Southern
dialect and Southernisms as the most flawed version of the English language (Ernard).
As a frequent user of the word y’all, I have always used the pronoun to address
both second-person singular and second-person plural. Y’all seems to be not only be
criticized for its “redneck” roots, but the improper grammar used in forming the term.
The allegation is that Southerners are utilizing the contraction of you all to refer to a
single person. To an individual who does not use the term, this observation reinforces the
fact that y’all originates from unintelligent Southerners with no recognition of the rules of
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grammar (Ernard). However, this observation also points out that the flaw in y’all could
be that it is a contraction.
Imagine an individual entering a formal business party. Whether or not there is
one person in the room or a large group, the arriving guest sends out a “Good Evening,
Y’all” as his or her initial greeting. To the receiving parties, this salutation is could be
offensive because in the setting of a professional business party, the greeter has used
informal language with them, specifically a contraction.
Contractions in formal writing have long been a taboo subject. Both the teacher
and the handbook denounce contractions in formal writing and limit them to textual
dialogue because contractions do not properly articulate an idea (Cannon 43). Y’all, a
unique contraction distinct from all others in the English language, contracts a stressed
syllable with an unstressed syllable. Many people would be able to easily mistake the
contraction of you all written and pronounced as you’ll. Due to the differentiation in the
contraction of y’all, many people are not clear on the usage of the term (Montgomery
274). In addition to the opaque understanding of the term, many scholars and experts
seem to differ on how they believe the term is spelt based on where the apostrophe is
placed.
When considering the rules of formal writing, y’all is not unlike other
contractions such as don’t and can’t. Many of our conceptions, or common-sense
understandings, of writing are actually misconceptions that do not hold up under close
scrutiny. The Oxford Guide to Plain English states that contractions are blunders in
formal writing, and it does not say that certain contractions are acceptable to use while
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others are not (201). Under these circumstances, one can assume that the only problem
with the term y’all is that it is a contraction.
In today’s society, writing is tending to blend more with speech because it is a
representation of language. Contractions are making headway in society because they are
not only what is spoken, but they are convenient. Students must be aware of the changes
in language and should be conscious of using speech in formal writing (Cannon 46). It is
easy to conclude that y’all is a skeptical term not because of its historical roots, but its
grammatical composition.
Contrary to the term ya’ll being criticized, it has made its mark in language. A
part of the Oxford English Dictionary, y’all has officially made a name for itself as a
contraction of you and all. Y’all has also gradually expanded as a common term into other
regions of the United States, such as the Midwest. Northerners have even adapted the
second-personal-plural pronoun of you all as their own version of the Southernism
(Montgomery 274).
Although y’all has made great progress in expanding to other regions, the term is
not thought to be socially acceptable. In order to increase the acceptability of y’all, it
needs to inundate the media. For instance, David Letterman has contributed to this inroad
by coining the phrase, “Y’all don’t go away.” Because of the influence that the media has
on our lives, it is expected that the American population will be more apt to accept and
use the term y’all if newscasters, media icons, and radio hosts use it (Montgomery 274).
Through this process, y’all will begin to disassociate with Southernisms and grow
acceptance as a contraction that addresses the second person. While I agree that y’all
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should not be used in a formal written document, the term should be reconsidered as a
contraction that is adequate to use in casual writing as well as conversation.
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Works Cited
Cannon, Garland H. “The ‘Colloquial’ in Freshman Writing.” College Composition and
Communication 10:1 (1959): 43-46. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.
Copeland, Marion. Personal Interview. 19 Feb. 2011.
Cutts, Martin. Oxford Guide to Plain English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Print.
Ernard, Michael. “Welcome to the Y’all House.” Lingua Franca: The Review of
Academic Life 11.1 (2001): 8. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web.
20 Feb. 2011.
Hacker, Diana, Nancy I. Sommers, Thomas Robert. Jehn, Jane Rosenzweig, and Van
Horn, Marcy. Carbajal. "MLA Papers." A Writer's Reference With Exercises.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 157. Print.
Johnstone, Barbara. "Features and Uses of Southern Style." English in the Southern
United States. Ed. Stephen J. Nagle and Sara L. Sanders. Cambridge, U.K.:
Cambridge UP, 2003. 203. Print.
Montgomery, Michael. “A Note on Ya’ll.” American Speech: 64:3 (1989): 274. Web.
20 Feb. 2011.