Well, I grew up 10 mi. south of the Mason-Dixon line, so technically I suppose I could be called a Southerner. However, the first four years of my life were spent in Massachusetts; Dad's whole side of the family is originally from western New York/Ontario and I'd say Mom's forebears have a lot more in common with the Pennsylvania Dutch than "them there Southern folks" (be they Baptists or Episcopalians). So my accent can possibly float across in the northeast quadrant of the U.S.A. if I'm not careful.
However, the first time I heard "all y'all" used by someone else, I knew *exactly* where it fell linguistically and fully accepted it as part of the Southern dialect. :) And yes, if I'm mentally immersed in that dialect -- say if I've been in Tennessee, or even just listening to too much Dolly Parton -- it'll pop right on out of my mouth given the appropriate context. :)
Ooh, and I just realized how I could really mess up some people's heads by delivering the following simple sentence without thinking about it: "I reckn all y'all could come up to Bahstn with me?"
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Well, I grew up 10 mi. south of the Mason-Dixon line, so technically I suppose I could be called a Southerner. However, the first four years of my life were spent in Massachusetts; Dad's whole side of the family is originally from western New York/Ontario and I'd say Mom's forebears have a lot more in common with the Pennsylvania Dutch than "them there Southern folks" (be they Baptists or Episcopalians). So my accent can possibly float across in the northeast quadrant of the U.S.A. if I'm not careful.
However, the first time I heard "all y'all" used by someone else, I knew *exactly* where it fell linguistically and fully accepted it as part of the Southern dialect. :) And yes, if I'm mentally immersed in that dialect -- say if I've been in Tennessee, or even just listening to too much Dolly Parton -- it'll pop right on out of my mouth given the appropriate context. :)
Ooh, and I just realized how I could really mess up some people's heads by delivering the following simple sentence without thinking about it: "I reckn all y'all could come up to Bahstn with me?"