Y'all Nation, March 5: can y'all be used as a singular pronoun?

We had such an interesting array of comments on the proper use and meaning of "y'all" in the (Zach) Scruggs Nation post yesterday, I took some time last night to do a little independent research on the subject. The comments overwhelmingly favor "y'all" exclusively as a plural, although a few commenters thought it might be used as a singular pronoun on occasion. The private e-mails to me offline ran exclusively in favor of plural. So when I found a scholarly article online in the journal American Speech entitled Can Y'all Function As A Singular Pronoun In Southern Dialect, I had to read it.The article is from Spring 1984, and was written by Gina Richardson -- the article doesn't further identify her except to say she was affiliated with Georgetown