[yuhnz, yoo-uh
nz] 
| you (used in direct address usually to two or more persons). |
| you-uns (yōō'ənz) pron. Upper Southern U.S. You. Used in addressing two or more people. See Regional Note at you-all. [you + dialectal uns, people, variant of ones, pl. of one.] The form uns, derived from ones, occurs in you-uns and also young-uns, "young ones, children." The use of young-uns is common in a number of varieties of English, particularly among older, more rural speakers in Appalachian states. Ones becomes uns through the deletion of an initial (w) sound that is pronounced but not represented in the spelling of ones. Initial (w) sounds may also be deleted in vernacular Southern varieties in the verb was, as in She's here last night for She was here last night. The loss of the initial (w) on ones and was is simply an extension of the process, common in informal Standard English, whereby the initial (w) is lost from the helping verbs will and would, as in He'll go tomorrow for He will go tomorrow and He'd go if I asked him for He would go if I asked him. |