Genitive marking on second person plural pronouns you all, y’all, yall

Abstract

This paper explores the use of possessive second person plural forms you all(’)s, y’all(’)s and yall(’)s in World Englishes. A corpus-based analysis provides information about the frequencies of occurrence and geographical location, the context of occurrence, the connotation and semantic preference of possessive you all, y’all and yall. The analysis also highlights the differences between you all(’)s, y’all(’)s and yall(’)s and standard your.