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.
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==