Two linguistics professors at the University of Texas are researching the nuances of what they call Texas English, before the rascals go changing it.
The husband and wife team of Guy Bailey and Jan Tillery hope to have the research done by the summer, and then might publish a translation guide.
One of their concerns is based on some of their early observations that Texans are slowly and subtly changing Lone Star language as more "outsiders" adopt it, the Chicago Tribune said.
The traditional "Y'all," originally was Texan for "you all," meaning more than one person. But as its use spread into other southern states and even the dreaded north, the researchers have noticed Texans are now using the expression to mean just one person.
"If the rest of the country says you can't use y'all except for more than one person, then of course we're going to take it and say, no, you can use it for one person," said Tillery.
For their research, the couple has divided the state into 116 geographic grids and will try to interview four representative Texans in each one.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
