Y'all Vs. Ya'll: Here's How To Spell It

The South is known for its laundry list of unique, quirky, cultural sayings, like "Bless your heart," "Too big for his britches," and "Well, I s'wanee," to name a few. But the best-known word in the Southern vernacular is probably our most-loved pronoun: y'all. A contraction of "you" and "all" is what forms "y'all" when addressing or referencing two or more people. Here's everything you need to know about this Southern phrase.

Southern Living Y'all or Ya'll
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How To Spell Y'all
This familiar pronoun is even included in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which is a trusted, go-to source for Southern Living copy editors. Merriam-Webster describes this phrase as a variant of "you-all," used to address two or more people, and the origin as chiefly Southern U.S.1 It also states there is a correct—and incorrect—way to spell this fond colloquialism. The only proper way to spell the contraction of "you" and "all" is "y'all."

"Ya'll" is incorrect and a misspelling of the word, so don't use it. When you think about it, "y'all" makes the most sense as the spelling when using it similarly to basic contractions.

Put together "you-all," and you get "y'all," just as "cannot" becomes "can't" and "do not" becomes "don't." In contractions, the apostrophe takes place of the missing letters, in this case o and u. Think about the term in this sense, and you'll be less likely to misspell it.

Where Did Y'all Originate?
Usage of the colloquial pronoun dates back to 1856 in a writing from A.W. Arrington.2 It's credited with having Southern origins, but there are other theories as well. One is that it derived from the Scots-Irish term ye aw and was brought to the U.S. by immigrants. Another theory is that the word is borrowed from Gullah and Caribbean creole dialects.3 The most common theory is that the word evolved naturally from original changes in grammar.

How Y'all Is Growing Beyond The South
According to language learning software Babbel, the use of "y'all" beyond a geographically specific dialect is increasing in popular culture because it solves an English language problem. Unlike French, German, and Spanish languages, the English language does not have a designated second-person plural pronoun.4

Using "y'all" also adds a gender-neutral variation to the familiar phrase "you guys." The phrase "you guys" often refers to a group of two or more people, regardless of gender, and is commonly used throughout the U.S.

Variations Of Y'all
Though "y'all" is inherently plural, in addressing a larger group of people, "all y'all" is an occasionally used casual phrase. Like all soda is called Coke and all tea is sweet unless otherwise noted, "y'all" is a crucial piece of Southern verbiage deeply ingrained in our culture.

As in the South, different parts of the U.S. and the world have their own versions of "y'all," according to Babbel. Some of these include "yinz" in the Ozarks, Appalachians, and western Pennsylvania, and "you lot" in the United Kingdom and Australia.4

So there you have it, y'all. Think you're a pro at Southern sayings? Test your knowledge with our list of lesser-known Southern phrases, and let us know how many you use in daily conversation. We reckon it's more than you think.

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