(yo͞oˈənz)
pron. Upper Southern U.S. You. Used in addressing two or more people. See Regional Note at
you-all.
Regional Note: 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.