Datapoint Bahamian Creole/Politeness distinctions in second-person pronouns

You may be used in both polite and intimate situations, for both singular and plural. As an alternative 2PL form, yinna appears to be excluded from polite use (and restricted to more basilectal speech). The same holds for you-all, which is considered the more "educated" equivalent of yinna (cf. Holm & Shilling 1981: 227). According to one of my Bahamian consultants, "yinna and you-all are for friends and brothers and sisters but not for older people like uncles and aunts, unless, of course, you wish to be boxed on the ear."

Values

Binary pronominal politeness distinction

Example 12-30:
I say, de Lord be wid yinna.
I
1sg.sbj
say,
say
de
art
Lord
Lord
be
cop
wid
with
yinna.
2pl.obj
I say the Lord be with you.
Example 12-31:
And then my sister holler out say, You see what I tell you-all, I tell you-all something was go happen through here.
And
and
then
then
my
1sg.poss
sister
sister
holler
cry[pfv]
out
out
say,
comp
You
2pl.sbj
see
see
what
what
I
1sg.sbj
tell
tell.pfv
you-all,
2pl.obj
I
1sg.sbj
tell
tell[pfv]
you-all
2pl.obj
something
something
was
cop.pst
go
fut
happen
happen
through
through
here.
here
And then my sister cried out, You see what I told you! I told you something was going to happen here.
Confidence:
Certain