LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.02 (10) [E]

Thu Nov 3 01:22:18 UTC 2005

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02 November 2005 * Volume 10
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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.02 (02) [E]

Hi, Luc,

> ..._Genius-on-Duty_? *s*).

you mean our '_really friendly herder_'??? *s*

> I'm quite sure however, that most (if not all) of
> our
> northern Dutch and Saxon friends will have a hard time understanding the
> conversations (would that even apply to our _Genius-on-Duty_? *s*).
You mean our '_relative friendly herder_'??? *s*

I nearly don't understand one single word, I have to confess.
The same could happen here, but only with people over the 70s and without
too much spoiling education and, as you mentioned, disturbing teeth or too
well made denture... ;-). But it's even hard to talk in Standard German with
them.
Speaking amongst their own circles they use a very small vocabulary, because
there's just a handful of themes they are interested in. So there isn't any
necessity to pronounce any word clearly- everything these people say they
have said in the past for some hundred times to the same small audience. But
though it's very charming to listen to them.

It reminds me to my first days on a farm in Eastern Frisia; we alltogether
had to try our very best to understand each other.

Greutens/Regards

Johannes "Jonny" Meibohm

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From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Language Varieties

Dear all,

During the course of my daily research I came by surprise across more 
information about Yola, the Early Middle English dialect spoken in the 
baronies of Forth and Bargy in the extreme south east of Wexford here in 
Ireland from the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169 until the 
nineeteenth century. The information can be found in:

Whelan, Kevin (ed.). Wexford: History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays 
on the History of an Irish County. Dublin: Geography Publications (1987).

For our interests here, most importantly in the book there is also a further 
(to my knowledge hitherto mostly unknown) excerpt in Yola, reputedly the 
last document written in the language, a personal letter 'to Ireland' by 
Kathleen Browne, which I reproduce here (with author's translation, p. 489):

"Burstheoune, Avril 10, 1893
Vourneen Joan,

'Cham goan hend a sparkeen wough theezil, ing oure yola talk o' Baronie 
Forthe. Fan yartha goane t'yie ons hyme zwae? Gee o gooude riesph to ee ball 
an Vreedie nyeght an zend up ee score ower varty an than drink a heall ing 
yooure usquebaugh to ercha vriend o' livertie. Fan thyme yurae be coome w' 
oul maake a teaoune yn Ballygeary an hoave oure Parliament houze thaare. 
'Cham glaude t'zee ee Redmondites epealtheen aan-anooree yn Dublin. Thommeen 
Healy beeth a quiel-laaune, mot av hea goe maake gaaume o' thee Chaungher ee 
lugges an hollybulkaane 'em. 'Cham youreen baarich an dicke arraugh curthere 
be zo thyne. Ich well no leiangh aany valler. Zo heoll, grien an kin apaa 
thee.

"An chan, yer vriende, Kealeen Browne."

Translation:
"Bridgetown, April 10 1893
Dear Joan [female personification of Ireland],

I am going to speak with you in our old Barony Forth dialect. When are you 
going to come home to us? Give a good stroke to the ball on Friday night and 
send up the score [of pro-nationalist MPs] over forty and then drink a 
health in your own whiskey to every friend of liberty. When that time will 
come, we'll make a town in Ballygeary and have our Parliament House there. I 
am glad to see the Redmondites fighting with one another in Dublin. Tim 
Healy is a smart lad, asking if they are going to make a laugh of you, 
pulling their ears and ridiculing themselves. I am sowing barley this spring 
season: as it is fine, I will not idle any further, so health, good weather 
and regards to you.

"I am, your friend, Kathleen Browne."

Several things immediately jump out at me, apart from the free translation. 
Ms Browne seemed to have some knowledge of the origin of certain facets of 
Yola - for instance, she writes _'cham_ with apostrophe for spoken _cham_ 
("I am"), a contraction of _ich am_ (also found in Devon). Nevertheless she 
seems to make a mistake at the end by writing _an chan_ for _an cham_ ("and 
I am"). This in itself is a calque from Irish _is mise_ ("I am"), the 
equivalent of "yours sincerely". There are other influences from Irish, 
notably _vourneen_ from Ir. _mo mhuirnin_ ("my dear one") and the form _apaa 
thee_ ("upon you") seems to be a calque on Ir. _ort_ ("upon you"). _Arraugh_ 
is a borrowing of Ir. _Earrach_, "spring".

Some of the language seems self-conscious, such as the use of _Thommeen_ for 
"Tim". The two names are not the same, and the use of _Thommeen_ can be 
considered an affectation based on knowledge of another Yola excerpt, a tale 
of a hurling legend named Thommeen. ("-een", of course, is borrowed from 
Irish.) Likewise _usquebaugh_ for "whiskey" is probably also a 
self-conscious, almost stage Irish antiquarianism. Furthermore, the writing 
of "liberty" as _livertie_ is interesting, mainly as an aid to how Yola 
pronounced [b] word-medially. Note also that Browne writes _ing_ for "in" 
but later on uses _yn Dublin_.

I have no idea how Yola vowels were pronounced, but the torturously long 
sequences ("teaoune" springs to mind) remind me of the accents of Somerset 
and Devon which, by all accounts, Yola had the greatest phonemic affinity 
with. (Although "teaoune" may indicate palatisation, i.e., perhaps [tjau:n])

What are the impression of the rest of the list?

Heoll apaa thee!

Criostóir. 

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