Yola Language Song

Yola was spoken in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, south County Wexford, from mediaeval times up to the early 19th century.
First two verses sung:-
Yerstey w'had a baree, gist ing oor hoane,
Aar gentrize ware bibbern, aamzil cou no stoane.
Yith Muzleare had ba hole, t'was mee Tommeen,
At by mizluck was ee-pit t'drive in.
Joud an moud vrem earchee ete was ee Lough.
Zitch vaperreen, an shimmereen, fan ee-daff ee aar scoth!
Zitch blakeen, an blayeen, fan ee ball was ee-drowe!
Chote well aar aim was t'yie ouz n'eer a blowe.
(Yesterday we had a goal just in our hand.
Their gentry were quaking, themselves could not stand.
If Good-for-little had been buried, it had been my Tommy,
Who by misluck was placed to drive in.
Throngs and crowds from each quarter were at the Lough;
Such vapouring and glittering when stript in their shirts!
Such bawling and shouting, when the ball was thrown!
I saw their intent was to give us ne'er a stroke.)
From RTÉ's "Come West Along the Road"
The singer, Paddy Berry, performs the same song 30+ years later here:
• An Tuath Nua - Yola

[@yolarabe9912]

All is not lost!. My name is Yola. I've spent decades wondering how I got my name since my mother's people have lived in the South Pacific, (Fiji) for over two hundred years and yet my father is Irish (County Cork). I've just spent two fascinating days reading and learning about the language of Yola, where its original people came from to settle in the counties of Forth & Bargy, County Wexford. The name means "old".

[@maryhatch9225]

Here's someone speaking Yola: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHucXqVtpNyBqKs

[@raymomull2258]

Forth and bargy are not counties. They are baronies in the southern part of the county of Wexford. The yolese people were mainly from down that end of the county. They mainly kept to themselves & were very proficient seafarers. Lots of Wexford surnames are from the yolese people such as Turner etc.

[@TheBrofessor]

You should learn Yola! At least some basic language.

[@liammurphy2725]

@@raymomull2258 Don't forget the Roche's of Ballyhack. And yes they were fishermen and also were ceded the rights to operate the river crossing from Ballyhack to Passage East. My Uncle 'Danno' RIP was a river pilot and he used take the ships up the river to Waterford.

[@boringbastard4920]

Sure its not yola in yolaleidihoou?

[@Watcher1301]

I live in a brazilian city called Pelotas, and in the middle of 19th century a colony of irish immigrants (about 30 families) settled here. They were from Wexford and the locals here said they were "gingers whose spoke a language nobody understands (probably Yola)". The colony was not successful and the majority of them gone to Uruguay and Argentina. But they founded a "country club" (now Clube Campestre de Pelotas) in the former colony. Some families remained here: Sinnott, Yates, Ennes, Bryan and others...

[@worzel1]

I'm an Ennes or 'Ennis' from the area that was known as Forth. If you happen to know any of the families you mentioned tell them those names you are still very common there. The 1901 & 1911 Irish Census (free access) might hold some great info for them so pass it on. Very interesting. Thanks for that!

[@Watcher1301]

Paul Ennis Hi Paul! You can check out in the facebook the people from the Ennes family here. Just search Ennes + Pelotas. If you want to know more about the irish colony I mentioned search for "Colonia Dom Pedro II em Pelotas". I know the irish immigrants wanted to build a church to Saint Patrick here, but the catholic church did not allowed that. I own a house nearby the country club founded by them, it's a very beautiful place. There's a university campus nearby too. I just wonder how brave those people were in those days, crossing the entire planet was a hard experience compared to our days.

[@IshibashiPandora]

That's so wicked you guys!

[@valentinewhitty3639]

Any Whitty's there?

[@Stevies_Precog_Gym_n_Spa420]

@@worzel1 There are Ennis family all over Tasmania also.

[@Lenguanuat]

wish it still existed.

[@liammurphy7140]

A conversation in which my mothers maiden name of Roche came up sparked a post in which I was told about the Yola peoples. You could have knocked me down with a feather. This is a completely brand new and unknown to me part of Irish history. Thank you to all of you who preserve such knowledge.

[@hollyhigginswilcher9149]

My friend's maiden name is Roche. Interesting. I've never heard it before.

[@talesnevertold]

A small piece of the vast, vast amount of languages, learning, etc. that has been lost from the past. This great singing video will help save this jewel of a fragment. And hooray, Yola Rabe lives on!

[@nickolasmisling7627]

I'd imagine this is what english would sound like to someone who couldn't speak it

[@shrooom1979]

Nickolas Misling Yes PS: I am from Czechia🇨🇿

[@TheDemigreg]

Well no because I can understand much of the words being used.

[@prestonjones1653]

@@TheDemigreg I can understand a few German and Latin words too. Doesn't mean I have a clue what the rest of the language is doing.

[@TheDemigreg]

@@prestonjones1653 I can understand more than a few I should have said.

[@AZURNERUB]

Not really. The phonetics is all different.

[@Sk8rGamer]

everybody talking about the language, but nobodies praising his singing abilities.

[@Xandermorph]

How awesome to actually hear someone speaking this dead English dialect, even if it is only an approximation, I have a feeling that it's not too far off the mark at all. It's possible to extrapolate what this dialect may have sounded like by way of good comparative analysis. It's known that Yola descended from a form of Late Middle English spoken somewhere in the West Countries (Jacob Poole's treatise lists Devon as a probable cognate), as evidenced by its presence of /v/ where there'd otherwise be /f/. The tendency toward stressing the final syllables of words is straight out of Gaelic, and the persistence of using words like "ich" for "I", which would've been considered archaic even in the 1400s, is a testament to just how conservative this dialect was, likely a result of being surrounded by Gaelic speakers, thus lacking any similar dialects spoken nearby to "level out" more of those features. I'm endlessly fascinated by this dialect and how it only really died out during the latter half of the 19th century!

[@elsakristina2689]

Xandermorph Yeah... I hope there may be revival projects for Yola someday. Even though this is just a reconstruction of how it may have sounded, it's a beautiful language.

[@CairnsG]

It is t a dialect it’s a language

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

It's considered its own distinct language. It's completely unintelligible with English or Irish or any other form of Germanic language. It's a Indegenous language to Ireland just like Cajun French is to Louisiana

[@truelingoism]

@@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344 not completely, but mostly, yes

[@movinon1242]

Hard to call it a reconstruction of the language. While conversations no longer took place in Yola by 1969, the old songs and their pronunciations survived, passed down to family members. There had never been a point, at least at the time this was filmed, that the Yola songs were lost, no longer sung, but then revived out of whole cloth and somebody's notes from a century prior. This was not "reconstructed": it was a recitation in the original language.

[@flamebird2218]

It sounds like Middle English mixed with Welsh and Irish, but oddly enough I can understand it to some extent.

[@michaelharris679]

This is how I feel listening to esoteric romance languages

[@somedude151]

It doesn’t sound like Middle English at all

[@somedude151]

It had way more sound shifts compared to contemporary English

[@ZDKzap]

@@somedude151 early middle english was before many of the vowel shifts

[@zeitxgeist]

that's more or less what it is

[@FromaTwistedMind]

Olde Dorset, country English with smatterings of Frisian, tiny bit of Saxon with an Irish pronunciation and accent on double vowel sounds, preserved by an enclave of the descendents of Vikings then Norman/Flemish settlers preserved in the Wexford areas of Forth & Bargy - Awesome to hear. My ancestors are from that area. Rossiters.

[@MrResearcher122]

Ancestors*

[@FromaTwistedMind]

@@MrResearcher122 cheers! I'd been on the sauce!

[@PatsyConnaughton]

My mother was from Wexford. The only yola words I ever heard her use were golshog for earwig , baldoon for tomcat , spawgs for hands.

[@fandomguy8025]

Shows how completely languages transform.

[@adamender9092]

I had no idea about this language till today, Wexford should try revive it

[@liammurphy2725]

They don't even speak Gaelic there so good luck with that.

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

There's a revival going on at the moment

[@Sk8rGamer]

@@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344 think thats scots

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

@@Sk8rGamer Scots is not extinct. Yola is. There's currently 142 L2 speakers in Wexford

[@Sk8rGamer]

@@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344 i know i mean that scots used to be discouraged to use in schools and work and such, so many stopped speaking it, and as the numbers started to go down in speakers, they are now teaching it in schools and such to keep it from going extinct, because most speakers are older.

[@EdLuhrs]

This is awesome - the preservation of language history in song.

[@karansinnott3585]

Check out book Yola and the Yoles by Aidan Sullivan - their language, customs, culture and history. Very interesting

[@oro7114]

thanks for the recommendation! @@karansinnott3585

[@9873459872134234]

Damn, that tenor is a fine singer.

[@elizabethflynn8455]

Still wowing it today. 2021.

[@horsemumbler1]

1:30 Yersday with a baree gist ing oor hoane argen trees were bibrin amzeel cou no stoneh 1:37 Yith muzleare had ba hole t'was by wee Tamin that by mizluk was ee-pit t'drive in 1:44 Joud an mount ram marcheta was eylock zit fabrin an shimreen fanee doth for airscott 1:50 Zit blankin and blayin fanee ball was edro shot while our aim was to use n'ere a blow 1:59 Mot while our boost, hight soon was eetide at hararun was var aming ar gasherhide 2:06 Sich vezin tarvizeen tell the one airyay nor zich il nerewell now nor n'ere may 2:14 Many a bradroth by Tamin was eemayed He culdyman foosteen tell the one airyayd 2:21 Yet war an ee locur cargun 2:29 Than came a shulareen etep and cockeyed highkink and killt 2:35 evuom twodesnide 2:37 Zim delen harno 2:44 2:52

[@ZDKzap]

these lyrics are very inaccurate

[@horsemumbler1]

@@ZDKzap Of course. I was just trying to sus out the phonetics. It's hard to find lyrics in dead languages.

[@ZDKzap]

@@horsemumbler1 its in the description, also you can go to Poole’s glossary from 1857

[@valmarsiglia]

Fascinating and beautiful.

[@joalexsg9741]

Thank you so much for this! I´m sharing this precious vid on my educational blogs!

[@25pappy]

I know a lad from Wexford and I can't for the life of me understand a word he's saying. So it's quite possible he's speaking Forth and Bargy.

[@darraghdeane285]

Yeah, tanks to yola we have worlds like "craic"

[@liammurphy2725]

If you can't understand him... drink some more stout.

[@pinkietastic9430]

Honestly, maybe it’s just because he’s singing, but this is one of the most beautiful languages I’ve ever heard.

[@cokboy4586]

A Yola Zong "An Old Song" (numbers indicate verse count, according to original song. See footer for source.) In Yola 3 Yerstey w'had a baree, gist ing oor hoane, Aar gentrize ware bibbern, aamzil cou no stoane. Yith Muzleare had ba hole, t'was mee Tommeen, At by mizluck was ee-pit t'drive in. 4 Joud an moud vrem earchee ete was ee Lough. Zitch vaperreen, an shimmereen, fan ee-daff ee aarscoth! Zitch blakeen, an blayeen, fan ee ball was ee-drowe! Chote well aar aim was t'yie ouz ne'er a blowe. 5 Mot w'all aar boust, hi soon was ee-teight At aar errone was var ameing 'ar 'ngish. ee-height. Zitch vezzeen, tarvizzeen, 'tell than w'ne'er zey. Nore zichel ne'er well, nowe, nore ne'er mey. 6 Many a bra draught by Tommeen was ee-maate; Th' cowlee-man, fausteen, zey well 'twas ee-naate. Yith w'had any lhuck, oor naame wode b' zung, Vrem ee Choure here aloghe up to Cargun 8 Than caame ee shullereen, ee teap an corkite; Hi kinket an keilt, ee vewe aam 'twode snite. Zim dellen harnothes w'aar nize ee reed cley: More trolleen, an yalpeen, an moulteen away. 10 T' brek up ee bathes h' bad na poustee; Tommeen was lous, an zo was ee baree. Oore hart cam' t' core mouth, an zo w' all ee green; Th' hap, an ee ferde, an ee crie, was Tommeen. In English 3 Yesterday we had a goal just in our hand. Their gentry were quaking, themselves could not stand. If Good-for-little had been buried, it had been my Tommy, Who by misluck was placed to drive in. 4 Throngs and crowds from each quarter were at the Lough; Such vapouring and glittering when stript in their shirts! Such bawling and shouting, when the ball was thrown! I saw their intent was to give us ne'er a stroke. 5 But with all their bravado they were soon taught That their errand was aiming to bring anguish upon them Such driving and struggling, till then we ne'er saw Nor such never will, no, nor never may. 6 Many a brave stroke by Tommy was made; The goal-keeper, trembling, said well 'twas intended them If we had any luck, our name would have been sung From the Choure here below up to Cargun. 8 Then came the shouldering, tossing and tumbling; They kicked and rolled, the few that appeared. Some digging earth-nute with their noses in red clay: More rolling, and spewing, and pining away. 10 To break up the goal they had not power; Tommy was open, and so was the goal. Our hearts came to our mouth, and so with all in the green, The chance, and the fear, and the cry, was Tommeen. Source: archive.org/details/aglossarywithso00poolgoog/page/n96/mode/2up

[@JHamList]

Its so melodic and sweet sounding, yall cant tell me ireland isnt an island of elves and ancient folk.

[@liammurphy2725]

Ireland isn't a land of elves and ancient folk.

[@nebulicdisaster3351]

@@liammurphy2725 no your right, Ireland is full of drunk elves and ancient folk

[@MassachusettsTrainVideos1136]

@@liammurphy2725 I seriously hate how people actually say that Ireland is like a fantasy land it's so stupid and unoriginal

[@idonotliveinparaguay.2361]

You should listen to songs in gaelge(Irish).

[@brianboru7684]

@@idonotliveinparaguay.2361 No such language. It's called Gaelainn. Peig Sayers spoke it.

[@patchesdf]

This sounds like someone who doesn't speak English trying to imitate what old English sounded like.

[@stover14]

+patchesdf Well it isn't.

[@bfguy12345]

It's more like a mix of Irish and Middle English.

[@Condobius]

Someone trying to imitate Middle English maybe, Old English is an entirely different species

[@dj3us]

An Irishman is trying to imitate Middle English… It actually is kinda…

[@hazesystem2213]

The other four verses (not exactly the same as the song, but is an original): Mot w’all aar boust, hi soon was ee-teight At aar errone was var ameing ’ar ’ngish ee-height. Zitch vezzeen, tarvizzeen, ’tell than w’ne’er zey. Note zichel ne’er well, nowe, nore ne’er mey. Many a bra draught by Tommeen was ee-maate; Ee cowlee-man, fausteen, zey well ’twas ee-naate. Yith w’had any lhuck, oor naame wode b’ zung, Vrem Choure here aloghe up to Cargun. Than caame ee shullereen, ee teap an corkite; Hi kinket an kilt, ee vewe aam ’twode snite. Zim dellen harnothès w’aar nize ee reed cley: More trolleen, an yalpeen, an moulteen away. T' brek up ee bathès h’ had na poustee; Tommeen was lous, an zo was a baree. Oore hart cam’ t' oore mouth, an zo w’ all ee green Th’ hap, an ee ferde, an ee crie, was Tommeen.

[@seronymus]

Dude, is it really so hard to find a wife who's into nerdy linguistic guys? The top women in the world want to shag a goblin like Larry David because he know show to be confidently and uniquely himself even in his neediness.

[@hazesystem2213]

@@seronymus what

[@jeffreywickens3379]

Imagine a modern, English speaker, trying o communicate with someone who spoke only Yola.

[@jc.9]

It's like a Dutch person listening to Afrikaans - Sounds like dutch but different words.

[@MrResearcher122]

Sounds like a cockney listening to a Scouser: but I got most of what the Yola said. Song's got a Barry, Bill in it, and I'd never believe a Barry Green would be the talk of a 13th Century Wexford Village. Now there's some continuity for you:)

[@halfdome4158]

😃❤

[@applezen104]

My birth name is Yola. Yep. And I just discovered it means old, ironic cuz my sister and mum always describe me as an old lady. It all makes sense now.

[@mrcatman6374]

Lots of Flemish words recognizable in that text.

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

The Yola peoples ansestors were from Holland. They then mixed in with Irish people and became a distinct ethnic group

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

Yola is actually in a process of revival

[@adhamhmacconchobhair7565]

In the yola language you want to your age it's "Ich aam ___ yeerés yola" "I am ___ years yola"

[@KotrokoranaMavokely]

Yola should be restored in ireland and UK pretty idiom

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Great to here such an obscure unknown language get some recognition. Sounds good to.👍

[@snadhghus]

The singer, Paddy Berry, performs the same song 30+ years later here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6DPd4Cjj6x3mNU

[@danielthompson6207]

+snadhghus Thank you!!

[@joalexsg9741]

Thank you!

[@JfkJames]

Never knew this existed. Wow

[@joeb7640]

I'm really good with different dialects and accents of English, this is definitely a separate language didn't understand barely anything.

[@johnpardue-j5o]

This is very old language, little changed from very early middle English. It contains many sounds that have been lost to modern English: the 'ch' of the pronoun Ich; the gh sound of might; and so on. I am trying to work out whether it has, like modern English, taken part in the great vowel shift: I think not. Yola seems to have preserved both the masculine and feminine forms of the number two: Twa and Tu. Does it preserve gender forms of adjectives and nouns?

[@Osiris4441]

it sounds like someone sings in reverse hehe

[@heyho6840]

Alot of the song is pronounced incorrectly. Yola did not experience the great vowel shift due to its location so t, drive would not sound like drive as spoken in the song above but "dreeve". Many other mistakes too but its not too bad.

[@BlodOgJern]

Awesome comment, do you have a source on that? Why did Yola not experience the GVS?

[@BlodOgJern]

Fantastic answer, thanks for the detailed explanation. I definitely see the Frisian and Saxon connection, both in morphology and orthography. Yola looks more authentially West Germanic in both of those areas than modern English does imo. Interesting looking into the past and seeing one of the many colourful (yet unfortunately not as notable) languages of that family in action. What is the general consensus on when Yola became its own language independent of Middle English? (or dialect, I suppose, though imo I think there could be as much of a case made for Yola as for Scots) Also, it's interesting seeing the parallel it has with Scots in the Scottish Lowlands. It's a shame that it was not as well preserved. Talking of preservation, I was under the impression that Yola was extinct. How is it that you speak Yola? How old are you? Are you an academic?

[@MaestroRigale]

Hey Ho I’d be very interested in taking a look at what we know about Yola and coming up with a system of lyric diction for singers.

[@elsakristina2689]

@@BlodOgJern I think because of how isolated it was for most of its history.

[@joe56474]

This is awesome!

[@Swoost]

this is what non-english speakers hear when someone speaks english

[@heyho6840]

haail maree, vull of grace, th' loard is wi' thee, blessed y'arth amang meyen, an' blessed be ee fruit o' thou wamb jesus cresst, holy maree, moodher o' gud, pry var oore zenn-es, an pry var aam dhicka ee-zenn ayenst ouze, now an adh ee hour av oore deeth, Amain. hail mary in yola

[@Hold7heMayo]

Source please?

[@Hold7heMayo]

***** Is it foolish to ask for a source for something one is interested in? I wasn't being derogatory, I legitimately want a source; it's hard finding anything of value about Yola.

[@valentinewhitty3639]

Hold7heMayo en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_and_Bargy_dialect#Vocabulary

[@BigDMartial]

I can definitely see some Dutch influence in this.

[@TienShanKush]

I could understand bits of it. Scots is easier to understand!

[@EcoCrat]

Scots is pretty much a dialect of Modern English now.

[@eb.3764]

@@EcoCrat tru scots isn't a dialect. What you're thinking of as Scots is just scottish english. Granted the english language has influenced scots a lot but scots is still it's own stronghold

[@TheDemigreg]

@@eb.3764 Scots is just a dialect of English.

[@eb.3764]

@@TheDemigreg of OLD english. Now it's a language seperate from modern english. Modern english is a dialect of old english

[@chrisinnes2128]

Aye aye kin ye ondersond a word o whaet ah hive just wochten

[@davidkellett4794]

A bit of a long shot, but is anyone familiar with this melody? I'm just curious if it wound up in other Irish folk songs as mysterious ancient melodies are wont to do.

[@michaelroche6181]

Melodies are recycled a lot in the Irish tradition. Songs were written in a poetic form to one melody and if people werent happy with it they would substitute another melody.Melodies are often tweaked and changed in new songs and new melodies arise. Songs and ballads were sold and circulated on broadsheets and people put their own melodies to them at home.

[@jwbowen]

It sounds very much like sean-nós (and makes me want to listen to Darach Ó Catháin).

[@DeclanZapala]

"fan ee balls". Chyah!

[@wor53lg50]

LOL, i heard him talk that wiv me, id be "see you jimmi, up ya fukkin kilt"....

[@ivandinsmore6217]

Please someone revive this. Manx was dead and has been revived. Yola could be too if the people wanted to do it.

[@08bourquem]

he sounds like morrisey

[@fd10801]

Perhaps this will throw some light on the subject :: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_and_Bargy_dialect

[@gaylewayland9628]

Thank you!

[@xarrison8274]

If people still wind up finding about this language, does anyone here know any resources to learning it?

[@kenderrysgreenpastures3662]

Heard it a few years ago first, and heard a few words of it been used by my parents when growing up -eg- the soundings `` een`` were used at the end of a few words ,, like Tom or pat were Tomeen or Pateen,, and the Gaelic word Bothair (road) was Bohereen,, and a farm type fork would be ``Forkeen``., eg hand me out the forkeen there , want to dig a few spudeens,, (potatoes). The parents i believe have ancient Scottish and northern irish heritage ,, Anybody any ideas ?? ..`` Kenderry``

[@MrGeorocks]

"Een" is something you stick on the end of a word usually to indicate small size or as a term of endearment. Tomeen would be Little Tom. The fact that the item or person my not be little or that indicating size in the sentence might be confusing wouldn't really matter, it's just something you throw in. Hiberno English is not an accurate language and is full of word replacements so it can take people who get taught English as a second language and then come to Ireland a while to get used to it. I remember being told a story by a Scot. She had just moved to Ireland with her family and while she was going to school here was "given out to" by a German student because she didn't understand what "getting a cup from the press" ment. The German lad had come over a couple years before and assumed that all English speakers spoke like they did in Ireland.

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

Bohereen comes from Bóthairín meaning small road

[@michaelroche6181]

Ín is a diminutive male ending on Irish nouns also used as a term of endearment. Án is also a male diminutive ending but óg/eog is the female diminutive. Án and óg/eog are no longer used as terms of endearment.

[@AnnieGaming]

Sounds like an irishman trying to speak dutch

[@SuperRip7]

I was actually laughing.

[@MAGNETO-i1i]

Yolo

[@HaydenPK]

Blimey. Just after 2:30, something very strange happened: I understood every word, and every idea. Just based upon what the word sounds like, and the grammar encoded in the tone of the song- for example, bibbern, and blayin. Whereas; before, although I could pick out quite a few words of English, there were many words that I haven't heard in English, and I was struggling to follow the general idea. So; ignoring modern scots being taken as a different language (only when you listen to slurred Glaswegian on a night out, really- otherwise it is just English with a very thick scottish accent- though, of course, in older times, it was most certainly a language), I think this is the closest English speakers can get to hearing a dialect that is on the cusp of being a language in its own right; or the other way round. As one comment put it; like hearing the difference between Dutch and Afrikaans.

[@PhelanVelvel]

***** I had about the same reaction. For some reason after that point the words became almost intelligible. Highly fascinating.

[@elsakristina2689]

HaydenPK I actually recognise “bibbern” from Dutch and that’s not even my native language

[@chrisinnes2128]

Aye aye yes hink at scotis isnae another lied

[@redharemedia1034]

Hello - I'd like to use some of this singing for a radio show I'm working on. Can you let me know how I might get permission to do this? Many thanks - great video.

[@Biscuit9891]

Yola = YoLo

[@dawicked2k8]

"YoLo" the song of my people, Kappa

[@patchesdf]

+Biscuit89 Quick poll! Who only came here because you typed in Yolo improperly?

[@salealjadidagottalent8694]

they only lived once hhhhhh

[@valentinewhitty3639]

Biscuit89 not me

[@vitrubio100]

This dude speaking cursive

[@fredoriagaming4466]

what?

[@Nerf_Jeez]

Sounds like I'm having a stroke

[@mr.potato6443]

If you listen to it backwards, its engrish

[@TinkerManMick]

This sounds amazing, why did it phase out?

[@xeuxixiliak8417]

Because English

[@liammurphy2725]

And because the last Yola colony/settlement which was situated somewhere near Dublin was washed away in a great storm surge with great loss of life. Yola design buildings are still extant and you could hear their weirdly beautiful hymns still sung in Wexford at Christmas mass.

[@heyho6840]

in yola that meant "good day to one and all" how are ye? do any of ye speak yola? or am i the last

[@dannymcintyre3819]

Question for Irish viewers. Did Yola speakers view their identity as Irish or something else? Did they see themselves as Irish in the same was as an Irish speake? Did the fact that they spoke Yola, a form of Old English, change their identity? Did other Irish people view them as Gall / foreign / Sassanachs English?

[@silverkitty2503]

Hi I can answer this. I am from Ireland. yola as a language is more like dutch or freisian ...its thought to be from holland. Yola people had a very different identity from what you call Irish people yes. In some ways this exists today. Wexford people see themselves as diff. But that goes for all counties too i guess. In ireland its all about your county and where you grow up. Firstly tbh the state invented this idea of 'Irish' people to achieve independence. No doubt the gaelic idenity was the majority though. But there were others such as travellers, yola people and others. Yes the Yola people saw themselves as VERY different from being 'Irish' and they were seen as different too. Not as sassanachs though. But not as traditional irish.They were accepted as different but as part of the country. They wore different clothes and the women in particular looked different. They also ate different foods. They had different cultural and music traditions other than the irish dance etc. They spoke yola. They also took a nap during the middle of the day known as a enteete ....even during winter. The men wore shorts and long socks and the women wore lots of ribbons. So they would be very different. They were known to be very straight laced people and less wild than the Irish. They were also very very honest and there was very little robbery in the area. They also do mumming ..which might be where this comes from in ireland. Im not sure. So yes they were very different and seen as different. But there was no tension between the two people. But the yola people saw themselves as different and tended not to marry the irish but other yola people until the late 1800s. In terms of irish people viewing them as foreign ..no not as foreign ...just as travellers are not foreign ...but a different sort of irish? However after independance the issue was politicians wanted to create this homogenous idea of ireland get rid of the travellers etc all other languages but irish....that has gone now and irish itself is now resented because of this force. yola isnt a form of old english btw its more like dutch or friesian with some old english words thrown in..the language itself is from holland linguists say not the uk. Wexford people today see themselves as irish and are seen as irish ...but counties in ireland are more important than country. For reasons like this history.

[@liammurphy2725]

Try not to bring your modern sensibilities to the subject. It pays off in the long run. Remember, the Yola arrived as slave/serfs so gaseous notions of identity would have been the last thing on their pre-liberal/neo-Marxist agenda.

[@FPSIreland2]

@@liammurphy2725 no... they arrived as settlers because Norman lords into the area establishing a region they could emigrate to.... christ this reads as though written by a deranged man... "pre liberal/neo Marxist agenda" you're like a mad priest Liam 😂😂

[@iceandale7621]

These are the same peoples that settled in Tenby in south east Wales and where they think the Welsh “traditional” dress hat came from, Dutch weavers

[@MixerRenegade95]

@@liammurphy2725 Wodman, mayhaps Thu nould tie thin own shy let alone give good answering.

[@swagmundfreud666]

The singer's vowels are likely quite off from what I can gather. Likely done to make the song sound better with his voice but still not a perfect approximation. Nevertheless it is still the best preservation of this language there is.

[@jc.9]

Is not a dead language is a dying language. Some people still speak it

[@bppmurphy]

Nah man. I'm from around that area and I can tell you it pretty much died out in the 19th century. Even really old people wouldn't know a word of it. In saying that there are a few words that have carried over into modern day use such as 'quare' meaning 'really or very'.

[@Dunkle0steus]

Anyone know where he got the tune? Is it original to the song or taken from something else?

[@adriank9]

Can German or Scandinavian native speakers understand this?

[@awlkdural5396]

No, but if you try hard enough, you yourself can.

[@forestofthoughts4223]

English came from a german like language close to Frisian. Not much like modern German. Scandinavian influenced English, French did as well, but they were never fundamentally similar. What would be interesting to know is if a person who speaks Frisian or Low German would understand parts of it. Knowing modern English is probably by far the best help for understanding Yola.

[@gandolfthorstefn1780]

Y-O-L-A, Yola La-la-la-la-la -Yola. Well I'm not the world's most physical guy But when she squeezed me tight she nearly twisted my tongue ...Oh my Y-O-L-A.

[@horsemumbler1]

1:30 Yerstay

[@sreng071]

Based

[@KastaLimpa]

Sounds like backwards Chinese

[@macgobhain]

I barely understood a word... lol.

[@picolete]

Oh, so you speak potato too?

[@ivandinsmore6217]

To me it sounds like Scots.

[@hp3sOoJ]

yolo 1969

[@christopheradams5902]

Anatolian dialect.

[@humblehombre9904]

Listening to this, then thinking about the relative barn muck that is being taught to the students in all ranges of the school system. It would seem the goal now is to destroy all that was good, and cause unending chaos. That is actually prophesied in the bible.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

English as the language of some Sean Nos track. Weird.

[@Lagolop]

As I said, and logically so, "Not dead or he wouldn't be using it ;)"

[@darraghdeane285]

I live in wexford and I'd mistake this for Arab so yeah, it's fairly dead

[@Lagolop]

@@silverkitty2503 They also said that Hebrew was dead and it is the main language in Israel AND it is spoken throughout the word now. People also said that about Yiddish. But I guarantee you it ain't dead. Blaybn gezunt, un shtark ;)

Lyrics?

[@kaywrennmemelord9218]

+Niall Ó Braonáin They're in the description.

[@frenzalrhomb109]

+Emily D you're not a very likable person.

[@horsemumbler1]

But only the first two verses =( Die anyone know where to find the rest?

[@janewinchester6247]

it is a language still used in Wexford

[@mikeoxsmal8022]

No it isn't

[@Lagolop]

Not dead or he wouldn't be using it ;)

[@harrykuntz878]

just because some fucking flute with an aran jumper sang a song in that jive 49 years ago don't mean its alive and anyway he could be getting it arse ways it sounds ok he not a bad singer at all but nobody speaks that . very few people speak fluent irish even.

[@bppmurphy]

I like to put it this way. It is a dormant language. Nobody uses it as a first language, or a second language for that matter. But as long as extensive texts survive recorded in that language (which they do) and contemporary books detailing the meaning of the language (which also do exist), there's always the possibility that one or two people might dedicate themselves to learning the language and passing it on. Highly unlikely, but you never know.

[@cesargomez376]

It sounds like english

[@gtc239]

Cos it descended from middle english.

[@NOLISTENTOME]

#YOLA

[@atolmasoff]

Yeah, I wouldn't call this english.

[@jimmyjam9014]

actually it is a dead language.

[@Tailsreturns2]

Tis a fine jumper he has on. And no wonder, hes a pure conman. Making up words and pretending it's an ancient English dialect. The man is fraud, but a genius none the less

[@yandan7010]

Please elaborate.

[@jackodonail1980]

We have good documentation of Yola. He did not fabricate anything.

[@MixerRenegade95]

Yola is 2 legit 2 quit now back at Me with something better.

[@blueringer3092]

Shut up