In the United States, “you guys” is one of the most commonly used second-person pronoun references, but “y’all” is all the rage. While “y’all” is still heard primarily in the Southern United States and nationwide in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), its usage has been on a dramatic rise since the late 20th century.

The increasing popularity of “y’all” can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the mainstream use of AAVE in media, as well as the fact that “y’all” is a preferable gender-neutral alternative to “you guys.” “Y’all” also rolls off the tongue in a softer, warmer way than “you guys” or even “you all.” For instance, “You guys come back tomorrow” sounds clunky and even vaguely threatening, while “Y’all come back tomorrow” may be perceived as both friendlier and more inviting.

The correct spelling places an apostrophe between the “y” and the “a,” as it’s a contraction of “you” and “all.” The pronoun got a nod from Dictionary.com in the summer of 2021 when it gave “y’all” its own entry, separate from “you-all.” The entry notes the word “now communicates an informal tone more than a regional identity, and one that has become popular among younger demographics for its inclusivity.”

As far as American Southernisms go, the second-person pronoun “y’all” is probably among the most familiar. The use of “y’all” in a movie or TV show is a quick signifier of a character’s place of origin. How and when this contraction for “you all” came to the Southern U.S. is a little murky, however. Once believed to be a fairly recent neologism native to Southern American English, “y’all” has actually been around quite a bit longer than lexicographers previously realized. The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary dated the term to 1909, but in fact it was first used in the 1631 poem “The Faire Aethiopian” by English poet William Lisle:

The captiue men of strength I gaue to you,
The weaker sold; and this y’all know is true,
The free-borne women ransom’d, or set free
For pittie sake, the seruile sort had yee.

Thanks to digitized databases, we now know “y’all” existed outside of the United States prior to its first appearance there in the early 19th century. Its usage in the Southern United States has been linked to Scots-Irish immigrants and their use of the second-person plural pronoun “ye aw.” Other linguists believe “y’all” is rooted in early African American vernaculars or African English Creole. It’s likely a combination, as both Scots-Irish immigrants and enslaved African Americans were living and interacting in the same regions at the same time. In any case, there’s no doubt that “y’all” has since become the most identifiable feature of the Southern American English dialect.

There was a time when early Standard English had both a singular and plural set of second-person pronouns. “Thou” and “thee” were singular, while “ye” and, maybe confusingly, “you” were plural. Over time, however, “ye” and “you” began serving as formal singular pronouns when speaking to someone of high prestige or importance, such as the clergy or aristocracy. As people shifted between “ye” and “you” and “thou” and “thee” based on whom they were speaking to, “you” and “ye” eventually merged into just “you,” while “thou” and “thee” vanished from conversation entirely.

“You” can still be used as a singular or plural pronoun, but other terms have slipped into various regional dialects, including “you guys,” “you lot,” “you ones,” “you’uns,” “yinz,” “yous,” “youse,” “you all,” and “y’all.” In England, “you lot” is the American version of “you guys.” The Scottish say “you ones,” which found its way into Appalachia as “you’uns.” Travel north of Appalachia into Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania, and you’re likely to hear a shorter version of “you’uns” in “yinz.” In New York City, you might hear “yous” (also spelled “youse”) or “youse guys.”

Interestingly, none of these second-person pronouns — including “y’all” — is considered Standard English. Why? Linguists point to the stigmatization of the people who tend to use these pronouns: people from the South, people of color, and people from poor rural and poor urban areas.

There’s some debate about whether “y’all” can be used as a singular second-person pronoun (to refer to a single person, rather than a group), but linguists have already documented “y’all” being used that way. So, if “y’all” can refer to a single person OR a group of people, is there a need to pluralize it further? Some people say yes — and “all y’all” is the answer. So, while “y’all” may refer to an indeterminate number of people, “all y’all” refers to everyone who is being addressed.

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While many countries have geographical differences in accents (for example, a posh London accent versus the rough-and-tumble Cockney accent), America’s various accents are particularly pronounced. A person from Boston speaks differently than a person from New York City, despite their relative geographic closeness, to say nothing of the difference between Midwestern and Southern accents. While all of these are American, the roots of the Southern drawl have a unique colonial history. Let’s examine what makes this distinctive accent so quintessentially American. 

Call it a drawl or a twang, but one of the primary hallmarks of Southern American English (SAE) is a melodic, relaxing quality. A marketing firm conducted a survey of global English accents, and the Southern accent was voted the most pleasant. (New York and Boston accents were voted the least pleasant — sorry, New Englanders.) 

Some may attribute this laid-back melody to the slower, more relaxed pace of life the South is supposed to have compared to northern regions, but there’s more at play. The specific qualities of the Southern accent (and all accents) developed through the intersection of cultural exchange, geography, and evolving linguistics.

Importantly, there is more than one type of accent within SAE — Texans sound different than Virginians, who sound different than Louisianans. But they all share an origin story in the mingling of British colonists and enslaved Africans. 

The final “r” sound in words such as “four” and “here” is very important to linguists. If speakers drop the final “r,” that’s called “non-rhotic” as opposed to “rhotic,” wherein the “r” is pronounced. In the mid-1700s in the plantation system, using non-rhotic speech to match upper-class British accents was considered “prestigious” speech (“prestigious” being a way linguists classify certain accents as culturally preferred over others). 

As accents have changed over time, it’s more common now for white Southerners to pronounce the final “r” and use rhotic speech and for Black Americans everywhere to use non-rhotic speech. In Southern states outside of the former plantation system, it’s more common to use rhotic patterns. 

The so-called “Southern drawl” can also be explained in linguistic terms. The stretched-out sounds come from vowels — a diphthong is when a vowel shifts from one sound to another. For example, in the word “boy,” the “o” sound shifts into an “i.” The Southern accent prominently features monopthongization, which is when a diphthong, or two-part vowel sound, is flattened into a single vowel sound. 

In a recorded example from a University of Georgia linguist, you can hear how the word “five” changes from a standard diphthong (with an “i” transitioning to an “ee,” as in “me”) to a monophthong in SAE. “Five” is flattened into an elongated “ah” vowel sound. 

Finally, the Southern accent is marked by unique lexical choices and grammatical variations — a Southerner might say “I reckon” or “I might could” instead of “I might be able to.” (For further examples of this, we recommend Instagram personality Landon Bryant, who makes learning Southern slang and lexicon as easy as drinking a glass of sweet tea.)

The Tidewater accent, which sounds particularly gentle and rhythmic, is rooted in early British settlers, and can be found in pockets of Virginia and North Carolina. It has non-rhoticity and a glide in long “i” sounds (“ride” sounds like “royd”). 

The Piedmont accent is found in more urban areas than coastal regions. For example, the North Carolina cities of Charlotte, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem are known for Piedmont accents. It’s somewhat of a stereotypical Southern accent, differentiated by a subtle drawl, rhotic pronunciation of the letter “r,” and elongated vowel pronunciation (“cat” sounds more like “caat”).  

The Appalachian accent is characterized by a Scotch Irish influence. It preserves certain aspects of Elizabethan English through distinctive pronunciations — for example, “like” sounds like “lack.” A musical quality comes from initial syllable stress, which is when the emphasis is shifted to the first syllable of a word.

The areas around the Gulf of Mexico (in particular, Louisiana) have French and Spanish influences, but we’re not talking about the distinct dialects of Louisiana French or Gullah. The SAE accent found in this region is distinctive for a specific vowel shift that linguists call the “PEN/PIN merger.” With this accent, both “pen” and “pin” are pronounced the same, with an “ih” vowel. Another example of this is how the word “feel” might be pronounced like “fill.”

The Texas accent, meanwhile, combines elements of Southern and Western English. A unique characteristic of the Texan accent is the “caught-cot merger,” which displays elements of nasality and sharpness. As with “pen” and “pin,” this linguistic merger makes “caught” and “cot” sound alike (along with other words with these vowel sounds). 

This is just a brief overview of what makes SAE (and its many variations of Southern accents) so special, but any of the linguistic topics mentioned here have layers of nuance and study behind them. We reckon that’ll do it for now. 

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Think back to early school days when you were perhaps learning longer vocabulary words and a teacher guided you in clapping out individual sounds within the word. Those individual sounds are called syllables. A syllable is a unit of spoken language with at least one vowel sound, and these units are the building blocks of words. The concept of syllables is straightforward, but mastering the art of stressing the correct syllables and how meanings of words can change based on their stressed syllables is where it can get tricky. This is true for native and non-native English speakers alike.

Except for in one-syllable words, there’s always a stressed syllable, or one that is pronounced higher or louder and with more emphasis than other syllables. Longer words may have a primary and secondary stress. This video shows some tips from a linguist on how to identify the primary stress in any word. Start by paying attention to the pitch of your voice when saying a word aloud. The stressed syllable will have a higher pitch and often takes longer to articulate. It’s louder and more drawn out, while the unstressed syllables are shorter and softer.

Consider, for example, the four syllables of the word “universal” (u-ni-ver-sal). Try saying “universal” a few times. Do you hear where the primary stress hits? It may be helpful to say the word in a sentence, since context is often important. Try the sentence, “This is a universal practice.” Practice the word with emphasis on different syllables (U-niversal, u-NI-versal, univer-SAL, uni-VER-sal). For a native speaker, it’s clear where the stress belongs. It’s the third syllable, “ver,” and the pronunciation with the correct emphasis is “u-ni-VER-sal.” 

Non-native speakers may have a trickier time with emphasizing the correct syllables in the natural rhythm of English. Their original language might have a similarly spelled word that places an emphasis on a different syllable, or their accent might have a different intonation. It’s common for non-native English speakers to mispronounce words by placing the emphasis on a different syllable, but it’s not always a mistake to change pronunciation. It’s an accepted poetry technique to change the stress of syllables to create metered verse and adapt words to fit a certain rhythm.    

When someone, either a native or non-native English speaker, is unclear about the proper emphasis or pronunciation of a word, the best resource is a dictionary. Along with the definition and word origin will be a pronunciation guide. Sometimes dictionaries use an accepted phonetic pronunciation guide, or their own version of a pronunciation guide. Any dictionary will have a section where it explains how to use its particular pronunciation guide. Syllables are usually defined by spaces in between each part, which makes it easier to sound out each particular syllable. Hyphens or another divider might be used, but the pronunciation guide will explain that. The guide will also designate how stresses are indicated, but the most common ways are through capitalized, bolded, or italicized text, or with a (‘) mark. 

For example, the pronunciation of the word “universal” could be shown in a variety of ways, depending on the pronunciation guide: “u ni VER sal,” “u-ni-VER-sal,” or “u ni ‘ver sal.”

While it may seem like the emphasis placement in English words is random, there are a few guidelines. 

In general, prefixes and suffixes are not stressed: RUNN-ing, WANT-ed, ir-REG-u-lar, ex-CEL.

In the case of homonyms (words that are spelled the same, but have different pronunciations), the part of speech changes the pronunciation. Verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable, and nouns and adjectives on the first. For example, the word “present” has a different stressed syllable when it is a noun versus a verb. 

Tina brought a PRE-sent for the baby.

Tom is going to pre-SENT to the group.

It’s worth noting that syllable stresses vary across English-speaking dialects. While the above mentioned stresses are based on typical American English pronunciations, distinctions emerge in other countries or regions. Compare American and British English. With the word “advertisement,” Americans say “ad-ver-TISE-ment,” while British folks usually say “ad-VER-tise-ment,” with stress on different syllables.

Though both versions are understood, the pronunciation is distinct. For non-native speakers striving for fluency, it’s helpful to understand syllable stress in the country or area where you are speaking. This will help boost your ability to communicate and be understood by others.

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When people use the word “semantics,” they’re usually referring to, well, words (at least if they understand what they’re saying). Phrases such as “it’s just semantics” and “you’re arguing semantics” are usually invoked when a debate is becoming unproductive, often when at least one side’s position has become muddled. But the actual definitions of “semantics” and the phrase “it’s just semantics” go deeper than a choice of words and have to do with meaning. Semantics is, in fact, the study of meaning in a linguistic context: how words get their meaning, how we use words to understand the meaning of complex concepts, and what meaning itself actually is. Which is to say, calling something “just” semantics is a bit like saying Socrates was “just” a philosopher.

The word itself comes from the Greek verb sēmainō, “to mean” or “to signify,” and the noun sēmantikos, “significant.” Consider, for instance, the famous Romeo and Juliet observation that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” While that’s true, Shakespeare deliberately chose the example of a rose rather than, say, a lily, because different flowers — and, indeed, different words — have different connotations. Roses evoke elegance, romance, and a fanciful air in a way that other flowers don’t, at least not to the same extent. Saying that “a skunk cabbage by any other name would smell as rotten” would be accurate, but it would convey an entirely different meaning. Shakespeare’s choice of the rose was semantics at play.

If you believe that there’s a nice (or at least diplomatic) way to say pretty much anything, you’re a believer in the inherent power of semantics. The next time someone says “that’s just semantics,” use that as a springboard for a deeper dive, instead of an ending point to the conversation. What is the meaning of the words at play? What is being signified by those particular choices? Words shape our understanding of the world, which is why choosing the right ones is so important.

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Learning the English language is a lot like the Greek myth of Sisyphus pushing a rock up a mountain — just when you think you’ve accomplished it, you realize you need to learn an entirely new grammatical concept from square one. Take silent letters, which make it especially difficult for non-native speakers to learn English. Even if you’re a lifelong English speaker, you might find silent letters to be unnecessary and confusing. They make it harder to both spell and pronounce certain words. This begs the question: What’s the purpose of silent letters and why not just get rid of them?

Grammatically, silent letters are known as “empty” letters. Some examples include the “k” in “knife” and the “w” in “answer.” But you may be surprised to learn that these letters weren’t always silent. Old English speakers pronounced the “k” in “knife” and “knight.” Then around 1400, English underwent what’s known as the Great Vowel Shift. During this period, the pronunciation of many words changed dramatically, though the spelling of those very same words often stayed the same. This confounding schism resulted in many of the silent letters that still exist today.

So why don’t we just eliminate silent letters? First off, silent letters help differentiate between homophones such as “hours” and “ours.” Etymologists also use some silent letters to learn about word origins. This doesn’t affect the average English speaker, but it can be essential in studying the evolution of language. Lastly — and this may be the most frustrating reason — people have just come to accept the fact that these silent letters exist. The 1.5 billion English speakers across the world probably wouldn’t be too keen to learn parts of the language all over again.

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For many iPhone users, Siri is the closest thing imaginable to a personal assistant. It can schedule appointments, order more dish soap, and even recommend restaurants for your big night out. But it isn’t really a person; it’s a virtual assistant built into Apple devices. Other virtual assistants such as Alexa and Cortana perform similar tasks, which begs the question: How do these technologies understand and communicate with us as if we’re having a conversation? It all has to do with natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, two important subfields of artificial intelligence (AI). 

The basic fundamentals of NLP are as follows: Our devices begin by parsing individual words rather than the full sentence. For example, if you ask Siri to “show me pictures of a dog,” it’ll try to determine what the words “picture” and “dog” mean prior to fulfilling the request. This is where machine learning comes into play — smart devices analyze copious amounts of data to produce an accurate result, but doing so requires trial and error. An untrained device may wrongly assume that anything with four legs and fur is a dog, and show you pictures of a cat. But over time, these devices are given feedback to improve their accuracy and become more reliable.

Once Siri defines each word, it can figure out how to answer what you’re asking. Here, context is important, especially for words with multiple meanings. Voice assistants often analyze a user’s past behavior to make an educated determination. For instance, if you search for a lot of music, Siri is more likely to assume you’re asking for info about Chicago the band, rather than facts about Chicago, Illinois, when you say, “Tell me about Chicago.” If you ask Siri a question that it doesn’t understand, or it gets a request wrong, try rephrasing with a few more context clues to help the algorithm figure it out.

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