Yola dialect

Yola, more commonly and historically the Forth and Bargy dialect, is an extinct dialect of the Middle English language once spoken in the baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford, Ireland. As such, it was probably similar to the Fingallian dialect of the Fingal area. Both became functionally extinct in the 19th century when they were replaced by modern Hiberno-English. The word means Template:Gloss in the dialect. In modern times, there have been efforts to revive the dialect.

File:Yola hut -Tagoat Co. Wexford.JPG

Yola hut refurbished in Tagoat, County Wexford, Ireland

History

Origins

The dialect was spoken in County Wexford, particularly in the baronies of Forth and Bargy. This was the first area English speakers came to in the Norman invasion of Ireland, supporting the theory that it evolved from the Middle English introduced in that period. As such it is thought to have been similar to Fingallian, which was spoken in the Fingal region north of Dublin. Middle English, the mother tongue of the "Old English" community, was widespread throughout southeastern Ireland until the 14th century; as the Old English were increasingly assimilated into Irish culture, their original language was gradually displaced through Gaelicisation. After this point, Yola and Fingallian were the only attested relicts of this original form of English.

Modern English was widely introduced by British colonists during and after the 17th century, forming the basis for the modern Hiberno-English of Ireland. The new varieties were notably distinct from the surviving relict dialects. As English continued to spread, both Yola and Fingallian died out in the 19th century, though Yola continued to be used as a liturgical language by the churches of Wexford well into the 20th century. To this day the Kilmore Choir sings what were once Yola tunes, now adapted to Standard English.

The speech of Forth and Bargy was the only kind in Ireland included in Alexander John Ellis's work On Early English Pronunciation Volume V, which was the earliest survey of dialects of English. The phonetics of the dialect were taken from a local reverend.

Use after the mid-19th century

Though the Forth and Bargy dialect ceased to be used as a means of daily communication after the mid-19th century, it continued to see significant usage as a liturgical language, and some personal usage within the linguist community of Ireland, such as Kathleen Browne's letter to Ireland dated to 10 April 1893. Browne was a fluent Yola speaker and wrote a number of articles including "The Ancient Dialect of the Baronies of Forth and Bargy" in 1927. In 1952 N.A. Hudlestone observed that inhabitants of the area still continued to use some of Yola vocabulary and phrases

County Wexford native Paddy Berry is noted for his condensed performances of the piece "A Yola Zong", which he has performed for various recordings, the latest of which was in 2017. Various Yola rhymes, passed down from generation to generation, can be heard spoken by a Wexford woman in a documentary recorded in 1969 on the present usage and rememberers of Yola in the former baronies of Forth and Bargy.

Yola Farmstead, a community-operated reenactment of a Forth and Bargy village as it would have been during the 18th century, delivered a speech and performance of a song in Yola at their opening ceremony, featured Yola phrases in their advertisements, and hosted events where participants could learn some of the dialect from linguists and other experts on it. The Yola Farmstead also hosted a memorial event dedicated to Jack Devereux of the Kilmore Choir, which once used Yola extensively in their Christmas services. Devereux was a preservationist of, and well-versed in, Yola; locals considered him to be an expert on the dialect, and a rendition of the Lord's Prayer translated into Yola was read at his memorial.

The Yola Farm has since closed down but since 2021 there have been efforts to reopen it. Wikitongues also has a section dedicated to Yola on its website which hosts language documentation and revitalization resources.

Phonology

As in the Dutch language, in southwestern varieties of English and (to a lesser extent) in German, most voiceless fricatives in Yola became voiced. The Middle English vowels are well-preserved, having only partially and sporadically undergone the changes associated with the Great Vowel Shift.

One striking characteristic of Yola was that stress shifted to the second syllable of words in many instances: "morsel", "hatchet", "dinner", "reader", "wedding", etc.

Orthography

An exact spelling system for Yola has never been codified, beyond general trends listed in Jacob Poole's writings. Most of the spellings are meant as comparisons to standard English ones of his day and the pronunciations are largely reconstructed. The following are listed here:

Yola orthography

Yola spelling	Phoneme (IPA)	Example	Notes
a	, (unstressed)	"angered", "below"
aa		"any"
ai, aai, ay, aay		"barrel"
au, aau, aw, aaw		"care"
b		"brain"
c	, (before Template:Vr)	"comfort", "lace"	soft c used mainly in analogies to English words
ch		"chough"	also used for
d		"dead"
dh		"thunder"
e	, (unstressed)	"ass, donkey", "else"	silent at the end of a word, but not in unstressed syllables
ea		"eel"
ee		"iron"
ei, eei, ey, eey		"just now"
eou, eow		"cow"
eu, ew		"few"
f	, (word-initial)	"fleece"
g	, (before Template:Vr)	"grace", "bridge"	soft g used mainly in analogies to English words
gh	, (word-initial)	"faith", "pranks"	never silent possibly also
h		"horn"	silent in consonant clusters not listed here
i		"in"
ie	, (word-final)	"eyes", "where"
j		"judge"
k		"cover"
kh		"to teach"	also used for
l		"lace"
m		"meadow"
n		"next"
o		"of"	rarely used alone
oa, o...e		"one"
oee		"joy"
oo		"our"
ou, oou		"gun"
ow		"hoe (gardening tool)"
p		"pray"
ph		"when"	used mainly as an analogy to English words spelt with Template:Vr or Template:Vr
q		"quern"	used mainly as an analogy to English words spelt with Template:Vr
r		"rouse"
s	, (word-initial)	"scald"
sh		"she"
t		"tape"
th		"trust"	also used for
u		"understand"
ui, uy		"boy"
v		"fear"
w		"waste"
x		"fox"	used mainly as an analogy to English words spelt with Template:Vr
y	, (consonant)	"idler", "gate"
y...e, -ye		"grain"
z		"sister"
zh		"sheep"

Note that the spellings can be somewhat inconsistent, due to many words attempting to draw comparison to English cognates and variation within the dialect. Not too much of the above, particularly regarding the vowels, is exactly certain.

Grammar

Personal pronouns

Yola pronouns were similar to Middle English pronouns.

Yola personal pronouns

	1st Person		2nd Person		3rd Person
	Singular	Plural	Singular Informal	Plural/ Singular Formal	Singular			Plural
					Feminine	Masculine	Inanimate
Nominative
Oblique
Genitive
Reflexive

Articles

The definite article was at first or , which was later replaced by .

Verbs

Yola verbs had some conservative characteristics. The second and third person plural endings were sometimes or as in Chaucerian English. The past participle retained the Middle English "y" prefix as .

Nouns

Some nouns retained the plural of ME children, such as 'bees' and 'trees'.

Vocabulary

The glossary compiled by Jacob Poole provides most of what is known about the Forth and Bargy vocabulary. Poole was a farmer and member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) from Growtown in the Parish of Taghmon on the border between the baronies of Bargy and Shelmalier. He collected words and phrases from his tenants and farm labourers between 1800 and his death in 1827.

Although most of its vocabulary is Old English in origin, Yola contains many borrowings from Irish and French.

All the Yola etymons are Middle English unless stated otherwise. Yola words derived from a non-standard Middle English form list the variant first, followed by the variant in parentheses.

Interrogative words

Yola interrogative words

English	Yola	Yola etymon	West Riding Yorkshire	Scots	West Frisian	Low Saxon
how		wou how	haa	(Doric Scots)
what		whad (what)	what	(Doric Scots)
when		whanne	when	(Doric Scots)
where		whider	wheer
which		whilch	which
who		hwā (Old English)	who/whoa	(Doric Scots)
why		wherto (why)	why	(Doric Scots)

Prepositions

Yola prepositions

English	Yola	Yola etymon	Yorkshire West Riding	Scots	West Frisian	Low Saxon
about		abouten	abaat
above		abuven	aboon
against		ayens	agean/agen
among		amang	amang
around		around	araand
at		ed (at)	at
before		avore (afore)	afoor, befoor
below/beneath/under		alow	below/beneeath/under
beside		beside	beside/aside
between/betwixt		betwix	between/atween/betwixt/atwixt
by		by	by/bi
for		vor (for)	for
from		vram (fram)	fra/thra/throo
next, next to		next	next
in		in	in/i
out		out	aat
over		over	ovver/ower/o'er
through		thrugh	through/thrugh
upon		upon	upon/upo'
with		with	wi

Determiners

Yola determiners

English	Yola	Yola etymon	West Riding Yorkshire	Scots	West Frisian	Low Saxon
all		all	all
any		any aught	ony
each, every		everich	eeach, ivvery
few		few	few, a two-or-thry
neither		nóhwæþer (Old English)	nawther
none, nothing		naught, nothing	noan, nowt
other		another	other
some		sum	some
that			that
this			this

Other words

other Yola words

English	Yola	Yola etymon	Yorkshire West Riding	Scots	West Frisian	Low Saxon	Irish
day		day	day
fear		fǽr (Old English) feerd	fear
friend		frind (frend)	friend
land		lond (land)	land
old		eold (Old English )	owd
sun		synne (sunne)	sun
thing		thing	thing
go		goan	go/goa				(go), (go away), (go along)
Wexford		(Old Norse)	Wexford

Cardinal numbers

Yola cardinal numbers

#	Yola	Yola etymon	West Frisian
1		oane
2		tweyne
3		thre
4		vour (four)
5		vyve (five)
6		siex (Old English six)
7		seven
8		eahta (Old English)
9		nine
10		ten
20		twonty (twenty)
30		thirty
100		hundred

Modern South Wexford English

Diarmaid Ó Muirithe travelled to South Wexford in 1978 to study the English spoken there. His informants ranged in age between 40 and 90. Among the long list of words still known or in use at that time are the following:

• : 'going on amain' = getting on well
• : an unfriendly person
• : a little
• : threadbare
• : confusion, in a fash
• : to peep
• : to sunbathe, to relax in front of the fire
• : very, extremely
• : seaweed

Amain is a Norman word which means 'of easy use'.

Examples

A Yola song

The following is a song in Yola with a rough translation into English. Template:Verse translation

Address to Lord Lieutenant in 1836

Congratulatory address in the dialect of Forth and Bargy, presented to the Earl of Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, on his visit to Wexford in 1836. Taken from the Wexford Independent newspaper of 15 February 1860. The paper's editor Edmund Hore wrote:

The most remarkable fact, in reality, in connexion with the address is this. In all probability it was the first time regal or vice-regal ears were required to listen to words of such a dialect; and it is even still more probable that a like event will never happen again; for if the use of this old tongue dies out as fast for the next five-and-twenty years as it has for the same bygone period, it will be utterly extinct and forgotten before the present century shall have closed.

In order for a person not acquainted with the pronunciation of the dialect to form anything like an idea of it, it is first necessary to speak slowly, and remember that the letter a has invariably the same sound, like a in 'father.' Double ee sounds as e in 'me,' and most words of two syllables the long accent is placed on the last. To follow the English pronunciation completely deprives the dialect of its peculiarities.

English Translation

To his Excellency, Constantine Henry Phipps, Earl of Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant-General, and General Governor of Ireland. The humble Address of the Inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, Wexford.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY – We, the subjects of his Most Gracious Majesty, William IV., and, as we truly believe, both faithful and loyal inhabitants of the Barony of Forth, beg leave at this favourable opportunity to approach your Excellency, and in the simple dress of our old dialect to pour forth from the strength (or fulness) of our hearts, our sense (or admiration) of the qualities which characterise your name, and for which we have no words but of 'Governor,' 'Statesman,' &c. In each and every condition it is with joy of heart that our eyes rest upon the representative of that Sovereign, William IV., under whose paternal rule our days are spent; for before your foot pressed the soil, your name was known to us as the friend of liberty, and he who broke the fetters of the slave. Unto ourselves – for we look on Ireland to be our common country – you have with impartial hand ministered the laws made for every subject, without regard to this party or that. We behold in you one whose days are devoted to the welfare of the land you govern, to promote peace and liberty – the uncompromising guardian of the common right and public virtue. The peace – yes, we may say the profound peace – which overspreads the land since your arrival, proves that we alone stood in need of the enjoyment of common privileges, as is demonstrated by the results of your government. The condition, this day, of the country, in which is neither tumult nor disorder, but that constitutional agitation, the consequence of disappointed hopes, confirms your rule to be rare and enlightened. Your fame for such came before you even into this retired spot, to which neither the waters of the sea below nor the mountains above caused any impediment. In our valleys, where we were digging with the spade, or as we whistled to our horses in the plough, we heard the distant sonnd of the wings of the dove of peace, in the word Mulgrave. With Irishmen our common hopes are inseparably bound up – as Irishmen, and as inhabitants, faithful and loyal, of the Barony Forth, we will daily and every day, our wives and our children, implore long and happy days, free from melancholy and full of blessings, for yourself and our good Sovereign, until the sun of our lives be gone down the dark valley (of death).

"The maiden of Rosslare"

This following is a Yola poem from an original document containing accents to aid pronunciation;

"A song of Barony Forth"

This following is a Yola poem taken from Kathleen Brownes glossary of Forth and Bargy

"Three old maidens"

This following is a Yola poem taken from Kathleen Brownes glossary of Forth and Bargy

References

• Poole's Glossary (1867) – Ed. Rev. William Barnes (Editorial 'Observations')
• Poole's Glossary (1979) – Ed. Dr. D. O'Muirithe & T.P. Dolan (Corrected Etymologies)

External links

• Yola Wikisource on Multilingual Wikisource
• A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland. Formerly collected By Jacob Poole, of Growtown, Taghmon, County of Wexford: And now edited, with some Introductory Observations, Additions from various sources, and Notes, By William Barnes, B. D. Author of a Grammar of the Dorsetshire Dialect. London, 1867: Internet Archive, Google Books
• from RTÉ:
  • Songs sung in the Yola language on RTE, i.e. archives (under Kilmore Christmas carols)
  • Yola – Lost for Words – an RTE documentary by Shane Dunphy
  • A People Apart In Wexford 1969 – an RTE television documentary
• Jacob Poole of Growtown – And the Yola Dialect
• Yola on An Tuath Noa from TG4