Yola, also historically known as the Forth and Bargy dialect, is an extinct form of English that was spoken in the south of County Wexford. It was most commonly used in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, where geographical isolation allowed it to flourish and evolve. Yola was probably similar to the Fingallian dialect used in the Fingal area north of Dublin.
Yola, which means “old,” evolved from Middle English. The language was brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion of 1169.
A surviving Yola composition is a song about a hurling match from the 1600s, which can be heard in the video below. It contains words and phrases similar to those still in use today.
Translations
Examples of English-to-Yola translations include:
- “Who?” becomes “fho?”
- “What?” translates into “fade?”
- “When?” becomes “fan?”
- “Why?” is “farthoo?”
- The word “about” translates into “abut,” which is very similar.
- “Among” becomes “amang.”
- “Between” translates into “Betweesk.”
- The word “all” becomes “aul.”
- “Wexford” becomes “Weisforthe.”
- In Yola, the word “go” becomes “goe.”
Quare!
The slang word “quare” is one of the few remaining Yola words still in use. In Yola, “quare” translates to “very” or “extremely.” Modern examples include:
- It’s quare hot out!
- That’s quare bad!
- That’s quare good!
- You’re quare lucky!
Pronunciation
According to historical records, Yola was spoken slowly, and the word “a” was pronounced as “ah” (as in the word “father”).
The letters “ee” were pronounced like the “e” in the word “me.” In many instances, Yola placed extra emphasis on the second syllable. For example, the Yola word for “wedding” is “weddeen,” meaning the “deen” would have received a larger emphasis, reflected in the pronunciation wedeen. Further examples of words with second-syllable stress include “morsaale” (morsel), “hatcheat” (hatchet), “dineare” (dinner), and “readeare” (reader).
Yola’s Middle English vowels were well preserved, having only partially and sporadically undergone the changes associated with the Great Vowel Shift that transformed other English varieties.
Extinction
The dialect faced the same challenges as the Irish language, with societal change, administrative policies, and economic pressures favouring English over the traditional vernacular. These pressures intensified during a period of widespread economic hardship and emigration, driving Yola into decline. Yola had largely ceased to be a daily spoken language by the mid-19th century, and it was effectively extinct by the mid-1880s. However, it continued as a liturgical language into the 20th century. Its last speaker, Jack Devereux, a fisherman from Kilmore Quay, died in 1998.