Quick question about "you"

Danalynn · Apr 28, 2008

This is probably a dumb question, but I wasn't 100% sure, so I thought I should ask. . . .

One of my characters in my novel is from Alabama, and she uses the word "ya" instead of "you" whenever she's talking.

My question is, if she is writing a letter, would she spell the word out as "you", or would she spell the word "ya"? (She's an educated person, btw.)

Okay, that is probably a REALLY dumb question. She'd spell out the word you.

Right?

:e2paperba

Have at me. . . .
:e2poke:

nybx4life · Apr 28, 2008

Depends on how "educated" she is.
If her slang goes just beyond her speaking that way, then yeah, she would write "ya" instead of "you".

But I'm guessing she's pretty decent in her grade school ELA.
So it's "you".

Danalynn · Apr 28, 2008

WOW! That was quick. She's very educated.

Thanks for the info.

nybx4life · Apr 28, 2008

no prob.
You did help me before

Danalynn · Apr 28, 2008

That's what we're all here for.

*wink and smile!*

:snoopy:

KAP · Apr 28, 2008

Probably would use "you." Something like y'all would be written as y'all in letters since it's a word (that I still use 20 years after leaving the Texas panhandle), but pronunciation of words a certain way doesn't necessarly lead to writing them that way. I never wrote yella for yellow, for instance. I spelled my hometown Amarillo, not the way I said it--Amarilla. I never wrote fer or for, fer that matter (kidding, and note I didn't write kiddin', even though I never used to pronounce ending g's).

She might write "see ya" to a friend, but I'd have her normally use you.

Wishin' ya good luck,
kap

Danalynn · Apr 28, 2008

THANK YA, Kap!

That's what I was thinking too, but needed to be shur.

:flag:

I appreciate yer help.

nybx4life · Apr 28, 2008

Thinking about it again, it depends a bit.
If she's writing informally to a friend, she might use ya.
But if it's formal, it definitely has to be you.

Siddow · Apr 28, 2008

Isn't 'ya' more of a northern thing? I mean, thang? Down here, we use ya'll, mostly, even when speaking of a singular person. "Ya'll want some tea?" "Can I get ya'll a biscuit?"

"Ya" would become part of the preceeding word: "Can I getcha a biscuit?" "Fetchya some tea?"

As a native New Yorker who become Southern at age ten, I can attest that the only time I use 'ya' is when I'm gonna ring ya neck, or ask wtf ya talkin' about.

Danalynn · Apr 28, 2008

I don't think it's a formal letter. It's from my MC's uncle's girlfriend, so she's practically family. And she has a thick Alabama accent, so it's a major southern drawl when she talks.

Okay, here is the letter. Let me know what you think it should be after reading it:

Jamie,

Sorry about yesterday, sugar! Please understand that I love you, and I only want to help.

Will you at least take some time to consider my offer before you make up your mind?

I really think you should give your uncle and me a chance . . . I know this past year has been rough on you and that you’re feeling awful low right now. But all we have here is each other to try to make some kind of sense out of all this. We should make life better for each other instead of worse.

Don’t shut out the ones who love you. . . .

XOXO,

Flory

P.S. It doesn’t make much sense to put
the past in front of you. I know it hurts,
but we can try to help if you’ll let us.

maestrowork · Apr 28, 2008

We're both educated but we say "love ya" to each other all the time.

IceCreamEmpress · Apr 28, 2008

Dana-Lynn said:
Okay, here is the letter. Let me know what you think it should be after reading it

I would lose my mind if you replaced "you" with "ya" in that letter.

People write "ya" in greetings and closing salutations, and that's it. Someone might start a letter with "How ya doing?" or end with "See ya" or "Love ya", but they wouldn't write "I know this past year has been rough on ya."

Cthulhu · Apr 28, 2008

Definitely stick with "you" instead of "ya". If nothing else, it keeps you from opening that whole other can of worms of trying to figure out how to handle "your" and "you're" in order to have consistency with the "ya".

Danalynn · Apr 28, 2008

THANK YOU!!!! That's what I thought. . . .

Thanks so much!

:e2flowers

Daehota · Apr 29, 2008

If she is an educated person she would write out the word, unless she was writing to someone she knew well, informally, and perhaps making a sort of "relaxed" remark.

kct webber · Apr 29, 2008

I think using ya in a letter would really distract me if I was the reader. Oddly, it wouldn't distract me in dialogue. Don't know why one and not the other, but there it is.

Danalynn · May 1, 2008

I tend to agree with that completely, kct.

Thanks!

AncientEagle · May 6, 2008

Siddow said:
Down here, we use ya'll, mostly, even when speaking of a singular person.

I don't mean to be argumentative, but I was born and grew up in the South, and the only time I've ever heard "y'all" used when speaking to only one person was in movies made by someone in Hollywood who learned the dialect from a British speech coach. Except when it's understood that the speaker is addressing one person and an unseen additional creature. For example, I might say to a married friend, "Will y'all be at church Sunday?" and he would know I meant him and his wife.

Mr.H. · May 7, 2008

I was under the impression that "y'all" was generally aimed at one person, or one and an unseen additional creature (as you put it), but when more than one person was addressed it was "all y'all". My sister was in Texas for a long time, and she told me that's how they say it. She is in Canada now, and I'm in MN (cripe, don'tcha know), so none of us can claim any expert status here. It's just what I heard. And what do I know?
We won the war, though!!

RLB · May 7, 2008

Mr.H. said:
I was under the impression that "y'all" was generally aimed at one person, or one and an unseen additional creature (as you put it), but when more than one person was addressed it was "all y'all". My sister was in Texas for a long time, and she told me that's how they say it. She is in Canada now, and I'm in MN (cripe, don'tcha know), so none of us can claim any expert status here. It's just what I heard. And what do I know?
We won the war, though!!

My whole family is from TN and GA and MS, and I've lived in the South off and on. I say "y'all."

Y'all is a contraction for "you all" and is always (in my experience) directed at a group of people. Kind of the Southern stand-in for "you guys" or even the more formal "you" when "you" is understood to be plural.

I've never heard "ya'll" meant to refer to only one person. That'd be weird (but I guess other posters have seen it happen). If it's one person, the Southerners I know just say "you."

Y'all take care.

Duncan J Macdonald · May 7, 2008

RLB said:
My whole family is from TN and GA and MS, and I've lived in the South off and on. I say "y'all."

Y'all is a contraction for "you all" and is always (in my experience) directed at a group of people. Kind of the Southern stand-in for "you guys" or even the more formal "you" when "you" is understood to be plural.

I've never heard "ya'll" meant to refer to only one person. That'd be weird (but I guess other posters have seen it happen). If it's one person, the Southerners I know just say "you."

Y'all take care.

Then there is the wonderfull construction of pain and agony (as applied to the readr's cognitive center) found in that tome of truthfullness Atlanta Nights, to wit: all y'all'll witch was used as a contracted form of "all of you will". Just try to pronounce that without swallowing your tongue.

IceCreamEmpress · May 7, 2008

Duncan J Macdonald said:
Then there is the wonderfull construction of pain and agony (as applied to the readr's cognitive center) found in that tome of truthfullness Atlanta Nights, to wit: all y'all'll witch was used as a contracted form of "all of you will". Just try to pronounce that without swallowing your tongue.

Now I want to use "all y'all'll've" (all of you will have) just to say I did.

"All y'all'll've been back for hours before this here chicken is done."

Siddow · May 7, 2008

IceCreamEmpress said:
Now I want to use "all y'all'll've" (all of you will have) just to say I did.

"All y'all'll've been back for hours before this here chicken is done."

Kalyke · May 11, 2008

Most people with accents don't hear them. I have something of a Southern/ Texas accent. You can't hear it here, can you?

IceCreamEmpress · May 11, 2008

Use Her Name said:
Most people with accents don't hear them. I have something of a Southern/ Texas accent. You can't hear it here, can you?

I might could.

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