The Smitty Chronicles

[greymule]

Being from New Jersey, I can speak authoritatively regarding the pronunciation of youse (plural of you).

Unfortunately, the font that contains diacritical marks isn't available on this site, but it's yooz, if you imagine the o's connected like a pair of glasses and a "short vowel" sign above them. The "oo" is the sound of look or put.

An exception is that at the beginning of a clause, formal north Jersey pronunciation is identical to the English verb use, as in "Use are a buncha bums."

In both north and central Jersey, it's always the former (short vowel oo) pronunciation in the middle of a clause: "Me and him will stand youse all."

It's easy to tell when someone is affecting New Jersey speech when he uses youse in the singular. Just like y'all in the south, youse is never singular. Such a flub is sure to raise eyebrows in any bar in Hoboken.

Source: The Dictionary of New Jersey Speech and Diction, by Francis "Frankie the Pronunciator" Ferrara.