Re: Old Norse (was Re: New to the list)

BP Jonsson wrote:

> At 02:14 17.6.2000 -0500, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
>
> >.  "y'all" has no class connotations, and would only not be used in highly
> >formal situations, such as official ceremonies, (most) government
> >speeches, and on (most) television programs.
>
> What about introducing the spelling _youl_?  The apostrophe makes it look
> colloquial, somehow.
<youl>, to me, suggest the wrong vowel.  It's most definitely [a] (or [A]
depending on where you are in the South).  If I were to change the usual
spelling, I'd go with <yall>.

(Interestingly, I first realized that "y'all" was a fully grammaticalized pronoun
when I noticed that a lot of people don't know where to put the apostrophe;
other contractions, like <I'm>, <you're>, etc. seem obvious to them.)

> What is the possessive, BTW?
That depends on dialect.  In Texas, in my experience it's usually <y'all's>,
but some people make the distinction in the nominative between <you>
and <y'all>, but keep <your> for both in the possessive.  I don't really
know if this is confined to regional dialects within the South;  the possessive
with <'s> might have (somewhat) lower class overtones.

Nik, others that use it, what do y'all think?

> >The 'thou'/'you' distinction is current in some rural areas of England as
> >well.
>
> The problem is using the correct verb form...
True!

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: trwier
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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