Re: Old Norse (was Re: New to the list)
From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
Date: | Monday, June 19, 2000, 14:18 |
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_?
That would introduce a decidedly weird spelling for [Q] ~ [A], as if we
didn't have enough weirdness in the spelling system. The vowel is
definitely the vowel of "all", not that of "you".
> The apostrophe makes it look colloquial, somehow.
So it is colloquial, just like "isn't" and "aren't". But as Thomas says, it
has no class connotations.
> What is the possessive, BTW?
y'all's [jQlz] ~ [jAlz].
> The problem is using the correct verb form...
Yes, there are "thou art" dialects and "thee is" dialects.
--
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