Free Republic

Are yous up for a few more words on the subject of Appalachian English? The words for today being "yous" and "you'ns," along with variant spellings like "youse," "yooz," "you-uns," and "youens," and their Scotch-Irish roots. The traditional speech of the Backcountry is not a "corrupt" dialect, as is often assumed by those from "yonder" and “away,” and its roots can be traced to the places from whence the Backcountry settlers originated. "Yous" or "youse" as the plural form of "you" is of ancient origin and came to America with Scotch-Irish settlers in early colonial times.

The unenlightened assume that Appalachian accents and usages are a “hillbilly” corruption of the flatlands Southern drawl. This is not so; the accents and usages of the Backcountry developed contemporaneously with the versions of English spoken in the other areas of European settlement. The society and culture of the Backcountry were dominated by the large numbers of Scotch-Irish immigrants, blended with the influence of German, Dutch, Welsh, Scottish, and yeoman English settlers. Appalachian speech developed from the versions of English introduced by these settlers, independently of the development of the Southern drawl and the Yankee accent of New England. The...