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The Spanish island that communicates by whistle

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50 Reasons to Love the World | Language

The Spanish island that communicates by whistle

(Image credit: Richard Franks)

By Richard Franks21st July 2021

On the small Canary Island of La Gomera, an ancient whistling language that once almost died out is now undergoing an exciting revival.

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In the rugged crags of Barranco de Ávalo, a ravine on the small Canary Island of La Gomera, two local 12-year-olds were practicing their Silbo Gomero, the local whistling language. For an entrancing few minutes, Irún Castillo Perdomo and Angel Manuel Garcia Herrera’s lilting warbles reverberated around the barren gorge and soared proudly into the air like eagles in flight.

50 Reasons to Love the World – 2021

Why do you love the world?

“Because the whistle is an inheritance from our ancestors and maintaining it identifies us as Gomeros. ” – Eugenio Darias, teacher

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They were accompanied by 70-year-old retired Silbo Gomero teacher Eugenio Darias, whose grandfather used to own and work on this very same land. He told me that the boys’ whistled conversation was similar to any they would have over text message or in the playground, but the focus was instead on the six differentiating sounds that make up La Gomera’s protected whistle language.

While it’s true that most children their age would sooner pick up their phone and tap away, this small Canary Island invites them to think differently. Thanks to Darias, their threatened tongue has been a compulsory school subject since 1999 – and almost all 22,000 residents can understand it alongside their mother tongue of Canarian Spanish.

“It’s important to give students the idea that they can really use it if they need to, like other languages, but also that it’s not necessary for everyday use,” said Darias, who pioneered the Silbo Gomero learning programme. “Our aim is to give the whistle more importance so that the children can be confident using it together. Importantly, having the whistle protected within our compulsory curriculum prevents extinction altogether.”

Whistle languages, in varying guises, exist in as many as “70 places”, according to local broadcast journalist Francisca Gonzalez Santana. “In Turkey, for example, the whistle began 500 years ago during the Ottoman Empire,” she said. “It then spread to all regions of the Black Sea; and in Mexico, we can still find whistled communication in Spanish – Chinantec.”

Silbo Gomero, which is one of the most studied whistling languages and was officially declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by Unesco in 2009, uses six condensed sounds to communicate. Two differentiating whistles replace the five spoken vowels in Spanish, while just four replace the 22 consonants. Whistlers elongate or shorten the sounds to mimic the words.

Silbo Gomero is perfectly suited to this landscape of deep valleys and steep ravines (Credit: Richard Franks)

Several whistling methods exist on the island, though perhaps the most traditional is demonstrated by local sculptor José Darías. His Whistling Tree sculpture at Mirador de Igualero, a viewpoint in Vallehermoso overlooking a ravine where Silbo Gomero was most active, shows how the index finger should be bent and placed inside the mouth while whistling with an open palm beside it to amplify the sound.

Experienced whistlers use different finger methods and can often tell who is calling by the whistle’s “accent” alone – but most whistlers will introduce themselves and call the recipient’s name. When the message is understood, they whistle back “bueno bueno“. Short and simple indeed.

What isn’t quite as short and simple is the language’s origin. History books suggest the whistle dates back to at least 1402 during the initial Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands, but Silbo Gomero’s earlier heritage is often up for debate.

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DNA-based research published in 2019 by Tenerife’s La Laguna University has matched La Gomera’s early inhabitants, the Guanches, with Berbers (now known locally as Amazigh). These indigenous people roamed North African regions more than 3,000 years ago and communicated by whistle; it’s therefore widely believed that the Spanish settlers on the island adapted the whistling language of La Gomera’s early inhabitants to suit their native tongue.

La Gomera’s specific whistle found its way to other Canary Islands during the three-year Spanish conquest – it even later followed emigrating Gomeros to South America – but it only survived in one other island in the Canaries: El Hierro, where, according to Santana, the whistle is still occasionally used among elderly residents.

Eugenio Darias pioneered the Silbo Gomero school learning programme in 1999 (Credit: Richard Franks)

Silbo Gomero lent itself to La Gomera’s demanding terrain – namely its deep ravines – allowing the locals to communicate with a drifting, piercing sound that could travel for several kilometres. From atop the ravines, the locals would announce events, request livestock be brought over, warn of impending danger, or even announce the death of a family member. “It saved a lot of climbing,” said Darias.

In the 1950s, Silbo Gomero was used so frequently that there was often a scattered queue of farmers waiting to send instructions across the valleys. “It was difficult terrain to work on – nobody wanted to climb up and down the ravines to pass on a message. Because of this, so many whistling conversations were happening at the same time, and we would have to wait our turn,” Darias said.

“It was like traffic!” he continued. “However – during the 1960 and ’70s, most agricultural land was abandoned and many of the workers had left the island. As Silbo Gomero was mostly used between local livestock holders, when they left the island, the whistling left with them too.”

BBC Travel · Eugenio Darias demonstrates how to whistle Silbo Gomero

Silbo Gomero was first in decline by the 1960s, when growing economic conditions forced many of the island’s workers to emigrate to more prosperous countries like Cuba and Venezuela, as well as the neighbouring Canary Island of Tenerife. Soon after, phones became commonplace and threatened the language altogether.

By the 1990s, modern technology ascendancy and the introduction of new roads and paths on La Gomera removed the necessity and practicality of Silbo Gomero, dangling it near extinction. This is where Darias stepped in to protect its future by ensuring future generations not only understood the whistle but were able to use it too.

The Whistling Tree sculpture at Mirador de Igualero demonstrates the whistling technique (Credit: Richard Franks)

“The whistle has been defended with greater care in the Canary Islands,” Santana noted, “because it is an essential part of our culture: the orography of the islands, with mountain areas and canyons, and our economy that has been linked to agriculture and livestock.”

While the whistle is now rarely heard outside of school or other official programmes, however, it is occasionally used in the few parts of the island with no telephone connection. “I know of two goat herders who still whistle to each other,” Darias said. “They are nephews who live on the south side of the island. Their livestock moves around in an area with no mobile network, and that’s why it’s necessary for them to use it.”

“Would you use Silbo Gomero today if your phone ran out of battery?” I asked.

“Of course!” he said. “After all, we’d still communicate that way if phones didn’t exist.”

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‘Special and Beautiful’ Whistled Language Echoes Around This Island

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Canary Islands Dispatch

On a jagged island in the Canary archipelago, a whistling language known as “Silbo Gomero” is still in use thanks to mandatory classes for schoolchildren.

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Antonio Marquéz Navarro, 71, whistling: “Come over here, we’re going to slaughter the pig.”CreditCredit…Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York Times

Feb. 18, 2021

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LA GOMERA, Spain — Sitting atop a cliff in the Canary Islands, Antonio Márquez Navarro issued an invitation — “Come over here, we’re going to slaughter the pig” — without speaking a word: He whistled it.

In the distance, three visiting hikers stopped dead in their tracks at the piercing sound and its echo bouncing off the walls of the ravine that separated them.

Mr. Márquez, 71, said that in his youth, when local shepherds rather than tourists walked the steep and rugged footpaths of his island, his news would have been greeted right away by a responding whistle, loud and clear.

But his message was lost on these hikers, and they soon resumed their trek on La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the Atlantic that is part of Spain.

Mr. Márquez is a proud guardian of La Gomera’s whistling language, which he called “the poetry of my island.” And, he added, “like poetry, whistling does not need to be useful in order to be special and beautiful.”

The whistling of the Indigenous people of La Gomera is mentioned in the 15th-century accounts of the explorers who paved the way for the Spanish conquest of the island. Over the centuries, the practice was adapted to communicating in Castilian Spanish.

The language, officially known as Silbo Gomero, substitutes whistled sounds that vary by pitch and length for written letters. Unfortunately, there are fewer whistles than there are letters in the Spanish alphabet, so a sound can have multiple meanings, causing misunderstandings.

The sounds made for a few Spanish words are the same — like “sí” (yes) or “ti” (you) — as are those for some longer words that sound similar in spoken Spanish, like “gallina” or “ballena” (hen or whale).

“As part of a sentence, this animal reference is clear, but not if whistled on its own,” said Estefanía Mendoza, a teacher of the language.

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Students at a class on the island, where they are taught the language of Silbo Gomero.Credit…Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York Times

In 2009, the island’s language was added by UNESCO to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; the United Nations agency described it as “the only whistled language in the world that is fully developed and practiced by a large community,” in reference to La Gomera’s 22,000 inhabitants.

But with whistling no longer essential for communication, Silbo’s survival mostly relies on a 1999 law that made teaching it an obligatory part of La Gomera’s school curriculum.

On a recent morning at a school in the port town of Santiago, a classroom of 6-year-olds had little difficulty identifying the whistling sounds corresponding to different colors, or the days of the week.

Things got trickier when the words were incorporated into full sentences, like “What is the name of the child with the blue shoes?” A couple of the children argued that they had instead heard the whistling sound for “yellow. ”

If interpreting a whistle isn’t always easy, making the correct sounds can be even harder. Most whistlers insert one bent knuckle into the mouth, but some use instead the tip of one or two fingers, while a few use a finger from each hand.

“The only rule is to find whichever finger makes it easier to whistle, and sometimes unfortunately nothing works at all,” said Francisco Correa, the coordinator of La Gomera’s school whistling program. “There are even some older people who have understood Silbo perfectly since childhood, but never got any clear sound to come out of their mouth.”

The whistled language is traditionally used to communicate across the deep ravines and narrow valleys that radiate across La Gomera.Credit…Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York Times

Two whistlers might struggle to understand each other, particularly during their first encounters — and need to ask each other to repeat sentences — like strangers who speak the same language with different accents. But “after whistling together for a while, their communication becomes as easy as if speaking Spanish,” Mr. Correa said.

As is the case in many languages, whether whistled or not, there is a generation gap on La Gomera.

Ciro Mesa Niebla, a 46-year-old farmer, said he struggled to whistle with a younger generation trained at school because, he said, “I’m a mountain guy who learned at home to whistle the words our family used to farm, but I don’t have the vocabulary of these kids who learn salon whistling, which is a bit too fancy for me.”

Some older residents have also stopped whistling because of tooth problems. Mr. Márquez continues to whistle with his dentures, “but it’s not as easy and as loud as when I could press my finger onto my real teeth,” he said.

With its distinct geography, it’s easy to see why whistling came into use on the Canaries; on most of the islands, deep ravines run from high peaks and plateaus down to the ocean, and plenty of time and effort are required to travel even a short distance overland. Whistling developed as a good alternative way to deliver a message, with its sound carrying farther than shouting — as much as two miles across some canyons and with favorable wind conditions.

Older residents on La Gomera recall how Silbo was used as a warning language, particularly when a police patrol was spotted searching for contraband. In a recent fictional movie, “The Whistlers,” Silbo is used by gangsters as their secret code language.

Some other islands in the archipelago have their own whistling languages, but their use has faded, though another island, El Hierro, recently began teaching its version. “Silbo was not invented on La Gomera, but it is the island where it was best preserved,” said David Díaz Reyes, an ethnomusicologist.

Nowadays, La Gomera relies heavily on tourism, which has created an opportunity for some young whistlers like Lucía Darias Herrera, 16, who has a weekly whistling show at an island hotel. While she normally whistles Castilian Spanish, Ms. Darias can also adapt her Silbo to other languages spoken by her audience, on an island that is particularly popular with Germans.

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A whistled conversation between Lucía Darias Herrera, 16, pictured, and a fellow student, Laura Daris, 16.CreditCredit…Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York Times

Since last spring, however, the coronavirus has not only canceled such shows, but also forced schools to limit their whistling instruction. At a time of compulsory face masks, a teacher cannot help a student reposition a finger inside her mouth in order to whistle better.

Younger children also “make huge efforts to blow out a lot of air, which means some are spitting rather than whistling,” said Mr. Correa, the school coordinator. So as a precaution against spreading the virus, the children now spend their weekly whistling lesson listening to recordings of Silbo, rather than whistling themselves.

An added difficulty for the students is that they don’t always have much opportunity to practice Silbo outside of school. In the class of 6-year-olds, only five of 17 raised their hands when asked if they had a chance to whistle at home.

“My brother actually can whistle really loudly, but he won’t show me, because he is either on his PlayStation or out with friends,” complained one of the youngsters, Laura Mesa Mendoza.

Still, some teenagers enjoy whistling greetings to each other when they meet in town and welcome the chance to chat without many of the adults around them understanding. Some had parents who went to school before learning Silbo became mandatory, or who settled on the island as adults.

Arantxa Cifuentes Gutiérrez, 15, demonstrating how to use Silbo.Credit…Finbarr O’Reilly for The New York Times

However much she is attached to her cellphone, Erin Gerhards, 15, sounded keen to improve her whistling and help safeguard the traditions of her island.

“It is a way to honor the people that lived here in the past,” she said. “And to remember where everything came from, that we didn’t start with technology, but from simple beginnings. ”

The Unique Whistled Language of La Gomera

La Gomera’s historic whistled language has been declared by UNESCO as an example of intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

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The whistled language of La Gomera moves like magic. A whistler can soar like a bird, overcome the height of a mountain, cross a dizzying gorge, scramble down a valley and traverse through a thick laurel forest. A whistler can reach out into the deep blue Atlantic Ocean. A whistler can arrive anywhere as fresh as the wind. 

 The whistle, whose speech sounds have a structure which is unique in the world, dates back to before the time more than five centuries ago when Chrisopher Colombus used La Gomera as his final stopping off point before setting sail for America. “At home me and my sister whistle,” says 16-year-old Zaida Correa. “At a party we can use it to tell a friend to go on a mission to get something from across the square. Also, if I go on a trip…[Correa pauses and points to the mountains which surround the hermitage of San Juan in the municipality of Vallehermoso] you can see that in nature it is very useful,” he adds. Correa is right. The whistled language of La Gomera can travel distances of up to three or four thousand metres. 

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There is no other language in the world other than the La Gomera whistled which has such a fully developed structure and which is used by so many people.

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Even if at first they stand no chance of actually understanding the content of what is being said by the whistlers, outside observers of the La Gomera whistle long to understand the meaning. The ebb and flow of the pinched sounds seem to prove the profundity, originality and tremendous variety of human communication. Visitors to the island have been known to remark that their senses are shaken so much by the sounds of the whistle it is as if the language is stored in their emotional memory forever. No wonder that in 2009 UNESCO declared the whistled language an example of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

“It is a long-distance communication system, a bit like WhatsApp that we have today,” says master whistler Diego Chinea. “But there is no technology connected to it, so there are no issues of network coverage however high or remote the whistler might be.” At the age of 19, Chinea is part of the Organisation of the La Gomera Whistle created in 2018 in collaboration with the University of La Laguna (Tenerife) to help promote La Gomera’s cultural heritage.  Although the history of the safeguarding of the La Gomera whistle began earlier, the first legal steps to protect the whistle began in 1999 when the the Canary Islands Parliament enshrined in law the protection of the La Gomera whistle in all centres of education. The importance of this conservation strategy was given global recognition with the UNESCO decision of 2009.  “Before the fifteenth century the indigenous population used to put watch whistlers on the highest points of the island in case of attack by pirates. Whistlers were also used to transmit messages in case of death, illness or other newsworthy event. The entire island used the whistle to communicate,” Correa says. Because of the extent to which knowledge of the language had spread the peculiar sound of the whistle could travel the entire island from the mountains to the coast as men and women picked up messages and passed them on using the air, throat, tongue and fingers. “It was important that messages [in this historical period] were transmitted because people’s lives were at stake,” Correa adds. Considering the usefulness of being able to communicate over a rugged island territory it is unsurprising that the Spanish let the population continue their custom of whistling after their occupation of the island in 1402. 

From the spoken to the whistled word

Today more than 20,000 people in La Gomera know how to use the whistled language. Uptake of whistling has been boosted by the La Gomera Whistled Language School, La Aula Insular del Silbo Gomero, which takes students from all ages. While Judian Hernández is giving a demonstration of the whistled language at the school, through an adjacent window a woman leans out of her window. “Listen to that bird,” the neighbour says. “She whistles very well.” The intrigued neighbour remains in her post as a ten-year-old boy, Miguel García Herrera, whistles together with the teacher. Then Miguel’s brother Ángel joins the conversation. Vibrations bounce from building to building, as the whistling trio chat about going to the beach that afternoon. Sometimes it is noticeable that whistled sounds have to be repeated several times to clarify what has been said. “Our language doesn’t have all the vowels and consonants, so the receiver must make sure that he or she has heard the content of the whistle correctly. The context is very important in a whistled conversation. A whistled word can have up to thirty different meanings in spoken communication,” says Judian Hernández.

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Got Talent television show and the Cannes Film Festival fall for the allure of the La Gomera whistle

Ten-year-old Miguel García Herrera appeared in the 2019 version of the Got Talent television show to demonstrate to the world the extraordinary whistled language of his island.  Back at the language school he explains what it was like in front of the cameras on set: “I whistled to my partner Irún Castilla, but at first he didn’t understand me. We had to whistle for a while to sort out the words…I was nervous, but my family was there which helped a lot.”

The Got Talent show of 2019 hasn’t been the only show that has recognised the value of the whistled language of La Gomera. “In the last decade many film crews have come to the island with the express purpose of shooting footage of the La Gomera whistle,” says Kiko Correa, co-ordinator of the regional project Teach the La Gomera Whistle. Among the national and international films and documentaries, the Franco-Romanian feature film “La Gomera” (or “The Whistlers” as it was originally titled) stands out. It was directed by Corneliu Porumboiu and wowed crowds at the Cannes Festival. Master whistler Kiko Correa was in charge of teaching La Gomera’s whistled language to the actors in the film. “They whistled in Romanian,” Correa says. Before the actors landed on La Gomera they were prepared over Skype. Once on the island they took intensive seven hours per day classes with Correa. “You learn quickly if you practice a lot,” says Correa. “Once you know how to put your fingers in your mouth properly and arrange your tongue, it’s just a matter of practice.” 

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Whistle in any language

The La Gomera whistle is a long-distance communication system which takes units of speech from a spoken language and transfers it to the whistle. Though the La Gomera whistle is a simple system, any word spoken on the planet – however complex – can be converted into a whistled sound. Today La Gomera’s whistled language is integrated into the curriculum of primary and secondary schools on the island. It can be expected therefore that this unusual means of communication will be preserved and remain a part of the Gomeran culture for visitors of the island to enjoy for many years to come.  

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More Than 80 Cultures Still Speak in Whistles | Science

A man in Laruns, southwestern France, whistling as a form of speech. Like others in the Canary Islands and elsewhere, local people have learned to whistle their language to communicate across long distances. Linguists are studying whistled speech to help understand which sound elements are essential to comprehension.
Iroz Gaizka / AFP Via Getty Images

Tourists visiting La Gomera and El Hierro in the Canary Islands can often hear locals communicating over long distances by whistling — not a tune, but the Spanish language. “Good whistlers can understand all the messages,” says David Díaz Reyes, an independent ethnomusicologist and whistled-language researcher and teacher who lives in the islands. “We can say, ‘And now I am making an interview with a Canadian guy.’”

The locals are communicating in Silbo, one of the last vestiges of a much more widespread use of whistled languages. In at least 80 cultures worldwide, people have developed whistled versions of the local language when the circumstances call for it. To linguists, such adaptations are more than just a curiosity: By studying whistled languages, they hope to learn more about how our brains extract meaning from the complex sound patterns of speech. Whistling may even provide a glimpse of one of the most dramatic leaps forward in human evolution: the origin of language itself.

Whistled speech has arisen in at least 80 languages around the world, especially in rugged, mountainous terrain or dense forest, where ordinary speech doesn’t carry far enough.

Adapted From J. Meyer / AR Linguistics 2021

Whistled languages are almost always developed by traditional cultures that live in rugged, mountainous terrain or in dense forest. That’s because whistled speech carries much farther than ordinary speech or shouting, says Julien Meyer, a linguist and bioacoustician at CNRS, the French national research center, who explores the topic of whistled languages in the 2021 Annual Review of Linguistics. Skilled whistlers can reach 120 decibels — louder than a car horn — and their whistles pack most of this power into a frequency range of 1 to 4 kHz, which is above the pitch of most ambient noise.

As a result, whistled speech can be understood up to 10 times as far away as ordinary shouting can, Meyer and others have found. That lets people communicate even when they cannot easily approach close enough to shout. On La Gomera, for example, a few traditional shepherds still whistle to one another across mountain valleys that could take hours to cross.

Whistled languages work because many of the key elements of speech can be mimicked in a whistle, says Meyer. We distinguish one speech sound, or phoneme, from another by subtle differences in their sound frequency patterns. A vowel such as a long e, for example, is formed higher in the mouth than a long o, giving it a higher sound. “It’s not pitch, exactly,” says Meyer. Instead, it’s a more complex change in sound quality, or timbre, which is easily conveyed in a whistle.

Consonants, too, can be whistled. A t, for example, is richer in high frequencies than k, which gives the two sounds a different timbre, and there are also subtle differences that arise from movements of the tongue. Whistlers can capture all of these distinctions by varying the pitch and articulation of their whistle, says Meyer. And the skill can be adapted to any language, even those that have no tradition of whistling. To demonstrate, Meyer whistles English phrases such as “Nice to meet you,” and “Do you understand the whistle?”

Learning to whistle a language you already speak is relatively straightforward. Díaz Reyes’s Spanish-language whistling students spend the first two or three months of the course learning to make a loud whistle with different pitches. “In the fourth or fifth month, they can make some words,” he says. “After eight months, they can speak it properly and understand every message.”

This articulation of speech within a whistle only works for nontonal languages, where the pitch of speech sounds isn’t crucial to the meaning of the word. (English, Spanish and most other European languages are nontonal.) For tonal languages, in contrast, the meaning of a sound depends on its pitch relative to the rest of the sentence. In Chinese, for example, the syllable “ma” said with a steady high pitch means “mother,” but said with a pitch that dips and rises again, it means “horse.”

In ordinary tonal speech, the vocal cords make the pitch modulations that form the tones while the front of the mouth forms much of the vowel and consonant sounds. But not so for whistling, which doesn’t use the vocal cords. Whistlers of tonal languages thus face a dilemma: Should they whistle the tones, or the vowels and consonants? “In whistling, you can produce only one of the two. They have to choose,” says Meyer.

In practice, almost every whistled tonal language chooses to use pitch to encode the tones. For languages with a complex set of tones — such as Chinantec, a language in southern Mexico with seven tones (high, mid, low, falling high-low, falling mid-low, rising low-mid and rising mid-high), or the equally complex Hmong language — pitch still gives enough information to carry meaning. But for simpler tonal languages — such as Gavião, an Amazonian language Meyer has studied, which has just two tones, low and high — whistlers must confine their conversations to a few stereotyped sentences that are easily recognized.

Even for nontonal languages, the whistled version of speech doesn’t contain as much frequency information as ordinary spoken language, but it does carry enough to recognize words. When researchers tested people’s comprehension of whistled Turkish, they found that experienced listeners correctly identified isolated words about 70 percent of the time; for words in common whistled sentences, the context helps to resolve ambiguities and the accuracy rose to approximately 80 to 90 percent.

In essence, people listening to whistled speech are piecing together its meaning from fragments of the full speech signal, just as all of us do when listening to someone at a crowded cocktail party. “Regular speech is so complex — there is so much redundant information,” says Fanny Meunier, a psycholinguist at CNRS who studies speech in noisy environments. “If we have noise, then we can choose different types of information that are present in different places in the signal.”

Linguists know surprisingly few details about how the brain does this. “We still don’t know what parts of the signal are useful to understand the message,” Meunier says. Most researchers who study this topic do so by deliberately degrading normal speech to see when listeners can no longer understand. But Meunier feels that whistling offers a less artificial approach. “With whistling, it was more like, let’s see what people did naturally to simplify the signal. What did they keep?” she says. The information crucial for understanding speech, she assumes, must lie somewhere within that whistled signal.

Meunier and her colleagues are just beginning this work, so she has few results to share yet. So far, they have shown that even people who have never heard whistled speech before can recognize both vowels and consonants with an accuracy well better than chance. Moreover, trained musicians do better than nonmusicians at recognizing consonants, with flute players better than pianists or violinists, Anaïs Tran Ngoc, a linguistics graduate student at the University of the Cote d’Azur, has found. Tran Ngoc, herself a musician, speculates that this is because flutists are trained to use sounds like t and k to help articulate notes crisply. “So there’s this link with language that might not be present for other instruments,” she says.

Whistled languages excite linguists for another reason, too: They share many features with what linguists think the first protolanguages must have been like, when speech and language first began to emerge during the dawn of modern humans. One of the big challenges of language is the need to control the vocal cords to make the full range of speech sounds. None of our closest relatives, the great apes, have developed such control — but whistling may be an easier first step. Indeed, a few orangutans in zoos have been observed to imitate zoo employees whistling as they work. When scientists tested one ape under controlled conditions, the animal was indeed able to mimic sequences of several whistles.

The context of whistled language use also matches that likely for protolanguage. Today’s whistled languages are used for long-distance communication, often during hunting, Meyer notes. And the formulaic sentences used by whistlers of simple tonal languages are a close parallel to the way our ancestors may have used protolanguage to communicate a few simple ideas to their hunting partners — “Go that way,” for example, or “The antelope is over here.”

That doesn’t mean that modern whistled speech is a vestigial remnant of those protolanguages, Meyer cautions. If whistling preceded voiced speech, those earliest whistles wouldn’t have needed to encode sounds produced by the vocal cords. But today’s whistled languages do, which means they arose later, as add-ons to conventional languages, not forerunners of them, Meyer says.

Despite their interest to both linguists and casual observers, whistled languages are disappearing rapidly all over the world, and some — such as the whistled form of the Tepehua language in Mexico — have already vanished. Modernization is largely to blame, says Meyer, who points to roads as the biggest factor. “That’s why you still find whistled speech only in places that are very, very remote, that have had less contact with modernity, less access to roads,” he says.

Among the Gavião of Brazil, for example, Meyer has observed that encroaching deforestation has largely eliminated whistling among those living close to the frontier, because they no longer hunt for subsistence. But in an undisturbed village near the center of their traditional territory, whistling still thrives.

Fortunately, there are a few glimmers of hope. UNESCO, the UN cultural organization, has designated two whistled languages — Silbo in the Canary Islands, and a whistled Turkish among mountain shepherds — as elements of the world’s intangible cultural heritage. Such attention can lead to conservation efforts. In the Canary Islands, for example, a strong preservation movement has sprung up, and Silbo is now taught in schools and demonstrated at tourist hotels. “If people don’t make that effort, probably Silbo would have vanished,” says Díaz Reyes. There, at least, the future of whistled language looks bright.

Editor’s note: This article was modified on August 17, 2021 to clarify that the whistled Spanish language used in the Canary Islands is found on multiple islands, including El Hierro, and not restricted to the island of La Gomera. In addition, the common name for the language is Silbo, not Silbo Gomero.

Knowable Magazine is an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews.

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Meet the Spanish islanders who use whistling as a way to communicate

by Mauricio Ruiz

Mauricio Ruiz is a writer and journalist who has lived in the US, Belgium, Mexico and Norway.  His work has appeared in Words Without Borders, Catapult, The Common, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, JMWW, River Teeth, Literal Magazine, among others. He’s been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and Myriad Editions Competition in the UK, as well as the Fish Short Story Prize in Ireland. He has received fellowships from OMI writers (NY), Société des auteurs (Belgium), Jakob Sande (Norway), Can Serrat (Spain), and the Three Seas’ Council (Rhodes). His second book, Silencios al sur, was published in early 2017, and his work has partially been translated into Dutch and French. Mauricio Ruiz can be followed on Twitter and Instagram.

The Silbo Gomero is an idiomatic whistled language characteristic of the island of La Gomera and representative of the culture from the Canaries. It is a whistled language that has been used since time immemorial on the island of La Gomera to communicate over long distances.

The Silbo is not a series of pre-established codes that serve to express limited contents, but an articulated, reductive, non-conventional language that allows the exchange of an unlimited range of messages by reproducing the sonorous characteristics of a spoken language through whistles. At present, it reproduces the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands but it could, in theory, do the same with any other language.

The Silbo is one of the most studied whistling languages and was officially declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2009. It uses six condensed sounds to communicate: two differentiating whistles replace the five spoken vowels in Spanish, while just four replace the 22 consonants. Whistlers elongate or shorten the sounds to mimic the words.

The whistled language of La Gomera is one of the most original and representative manifestations of the Canary Archipelago and the most vivid tradition that has come down to us from the pre-Hispanic past of these islands. For centuries it has constituted a cohesive element of the inhabitants of the island of Gomera and its integration in the community has been such that, in spite of the different historical events and the numerous sociological transformations, the Silbo Gomero has shown an exceptional capacity of adaptation to all kinds of changes. It has survived as an essential component of the insular culture.

The main function of this language is to allow communication between people who are at a great distance from each other. This requires great power to emit the sound. The most remarkable aspect of the whistling technique is the difficulty involved in reproducing a complete language, which uses all the phonatory resources of the oral cavity and its corresponding sub-cavities, by means of a mechanism -the whistle- that allows frequency variations of the same fundamental tone. This implies a practice that has been developed for centuries; its effectiveness and subtlety are impressive.

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On the other hand, the Silbo Gomero is characterized for being, mainly, a social language, suitable for the collective sphere to a much greater extent than for the private one. Although on some occasions it has been used as a secret language -during the conquest, in wars, for smuggling-, the messages emitted by means of the silbo are public because the very nature of this language demands it.

What is transmitted with the whistled language can be heard by people who are not the addressees. In this aspect, the knowledge or ignorance of the Silbo Gomero has contributed to create a greater or lesser sense of belonging to the community, although no one has ever been prevented from learning and practicing it.

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The social changes that took place during the last half of the 20th century placed the Silbo Gomero on the verge of extinction, with only a few dozen older people able to practice it. The initiatives of various social agents of the island of La Gomera and of parliamentarians have appealed to the Parliament and the Government of the Canary Islands for concrete legislation to safeguard and revitalize the Silbo Gomero.

These laws – unique in the world in terms of the protection of intangible oral heritage – include the teaching of the whistled language of La Gomera in the Primary and Compulsory Secondary Education plans of all schools on the island. This innovative measure has ensured the survival of the Silbo among the new generations.

Who needs words? The language made up entirely of whistles

11 Dec, 17

11 Dec, 17

Silbo Gomero is a language ‘spoken’ on La Gomera in the Canary Islands in Spain and is made up entirely of whistling sounds.

By

By Emily Upton

In Spanish, “Silbo Gomero” means “Gomeran whistling.” It is a language “spoken” on La Gomera in the Canary Islands (which incidentally may have been named after dogs, and certainly wasn’t named after birds) and is made up entirely of whistling sounds.

The language was used by the Guanches—the aboriginal people of the Canary Islands—long before Spanish settlement. It is a whistled form of the original Guanche language, which died out around the 17^th century. Not much is known about that spoken language of those people save for a few words recorded in the journals of travelers and a few others that were integrated into the Spanish spoken on the Canary Islands. It is believed that spoken Guanche had a simple phonetic pattern that made it easily adaptable to whistling. The language was whistled across the Canary Islands, popular on Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and El Hiero as well as La Gomera.

It’s likely that the first Guanches were from North Africa and brought the idea of a whistled language with them, as there are several different whistling languages that have been recorded there.  From the time of Guanche settlement, the language evolved into Guanche whistling, and then to silbo.

Today, silbo is a whistled form of Spanish. It was adopted in the 16^th century after the last of the Guanches adapted their whistled language to Spanish. The language works by replicating timbre variations in speech. One study showed that silbo is recognized in the “language center” of the brain by silbo whistlers, though regular Spanish speakers who were not silbo whistlers simply recognized it as whistling.

As to why such a version of a language would originally be developed at all, it’s thought that silbo was developed as a form of long-distance communication. The island of La Gomera is awash with hills, valleys, and ravines. A whistle can travel up to two miles across such a landscape, and the whistler doesn’t have to expend as much energy as he would by hiking or shouting and, in the latter case, the whistled message is heard further away besides. When La Gomera was largely an agricultural island, crops and herds of animals like sheep would be spread out across the hills, and herders would use the language to communicate with one another across these large distances.

Speaking via whistling still saw widespread use as late as the 1940s and 50s, when another purpose was discovered. If a fire started, the Guardia Civil would make civilians drop what they were doing to help, but the locals wouldn’t get paid for their work, despite the Guardia receiving a payment. So, locals passed a message along by whistling, telling others to hide when the Guardia Civil approached. Because the Guardia Civil didn’t “speak” silbo, it was a sort of “secret” language among the locals and messages could be easily heard from great distances.

Unfortunately, economic hardship around the 1950s put silbo-speaking in the decline, as most of the whistlers were forced to move to find better opportunities. The introduction of roads and the invention of the mobile phone also contributed to the decline, as they made silbo largely unnecessary. By the end of the twentieth century, the whistled language was dying out.

However, as it is an integral part of the island’s history, there was interest in reviving the language to preserve the culture. The call for revival was met with mixed emotions because many people thought of it as a “peasant” language of little use to them. Despite the protests, every primary school child in La Gomera today is required to learn the whistling language, with it being taught in the island’s schools.

The revival of silbo has other benefits, too. Silbo is one of the few whistling languages that has been studied in-depth, and researchers believe that its simplicity (with only 2-4 vowels and 4 consonants) holds the key to discovering how other languages developed, despite not knowing the exact origin of silbo itself.

Bonus Facts

1. Silbo Gomero isn’t the only whistled language still in existence today. There is a town in France, a Greek island, and a town in Turkey that all practice their own whistling languages, among others. The whistle-like language of droids in Star Wars is also worth a mention.

2. Shepherds whistling to their animals is a much more wide-spread practice that can be seen all over the world. While this isn’t an official language, it is a type of whistling communication with animals, even if it isn’t used between people.

3. Most whistling languages exist in places that are mountainous or remote— again, thought to have been originally developed to communicate across large distances, like on La Gomera, without having to do a bunch of hiking.

The article was originally published on Today I Found Out.

Featured Image: Pixabay

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Silbo Gomero

Silbo Gomero the language used by the inhabitants of La Gomera in the Canary Islands to communicate through the deep ravines and narrow valleys that radiate across the island. It allows you to exchange messages at a distance of up to 5 kilometers. ^[1] Due to its loud nature, Silbo Gomero is commonly used in public places. Messages conveyed can range from event invitations to public information messages. ^[2] The Silbo-speaking Gomero is sometimes referred to in Spanish as Silbador (“the whistler”). Silbo Gomero is a replacement for Spanish from speech to whistle. This sibilant oral phoneme mimics Spanish phonology through a shortened set of sibilant phonemes. ^[3] It was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2009. ^[4]

Contents

• 1 History
• 2 Computer speakers ^[5] Used by the island’s original inhabitants, the Guanches, the whistling language existed before the arrival of the Spanish settlers, and was also spoken in El Hierro, Tenerife, and Gran Canaria. Silbo was adapted to Spanish during the Spanish settlement in the 16th century and was widely spoken throughout the period until the next 17th century. ^{[ citation needed ]} In 1976, Silbo barely stayed on El Hierro, where he flourished in the late 19th century. ^[6]

  V 19In the 1950s, the use of the language declined, one factor being the economic downturn which forced many speakers to leave in search of better jobs to cope financially. ^[7] Technological developments such as the telephone have played a role in reducing the practicality and usefulness of the language. The earlier survival of the language has been due to its role in bridging distance and terrain, and the ease with which it is learned by native speakers. ^[6] Most importantly, between 19In the 60s to 1980s many people turned away from agriculture and so many middle class families didn’t want their children to speak the language because it was negatively associated with rural peasants.

  Late 1990s revitalization of the language began efforts and began initiatives within the community. By 1999, the revival of Silbo Gomero was aided by educational policies and other legislative measures. It now has official protection as an example of intangible cultural heritage.

  Computer speakers

  Many people in La Gomera speak Silbo Gomero, but their expression of the language differs slightly, indicating a different origin of the speaker. As reported in 2009 by UNESCO, all people living on La Gomera are reported to understand the language, but only those born before 1950 and younger generations who have been in school since 1999 can speak the language . ^[8] People born before 1950 were taught the language by their older homes, and those who attended or have been attending school since 1999 years old, officially taught this language at school. Those born between 1950 and 1980 understand this language, but cannot speak it, as this language was hardly used and was poorly perceived during language acquisition. ^[8]

  Revitalization

  When this means of communication was threatened in the late 20th century, revitalization efforts were made both at the community level and at the government level. The combination of the initiatives of the La Gomera community and the policy pursued by the authorities contributed to the revival of Silbo Gomero and its preservation as a cultural asset. These revitalization efforts have been well documented by UNESCO through the 2009 selection procedured. Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. ^[8]

  Community initiatives

  In an effort to preserve Silbo Gomero for the youth of the island, the whistlers sought a permit that allowed them to teach the language on a free and voluntary basis in a specialized center. This initiative by high school students has received an encouraging response: parent-teacher associations have extended it to all schools. Thus, the first of many revitalization measures was taken at the grassroots level, and not by public or private organizations, reflecting the linguistic attitude of the locals towards Silbo Gomero. The education policy that was implemented later was inspired as such – the revival started at the grassroots level and moved to the highest government bodies.

  Public policy

  June 26, 1997 ^[8] The Parliament of the Canary Islands has approved a proposal calling on the government to include Silbo Gomero in the school curriculum. Since July 1999, Silbo Gomero has become a compulsory subject in primary and secondary education. The provincial government supported the educational policy as well as the creation of a formalized curriculum for Silbo Gomero by publishing El Silbo Gomero, Materiales didácticos (Silbo Gomero Study Materials).

  In addition to the compulsory study of Silbo Gomero at the elementary and high school levels, the Silbo Gomero Island School has been opened for higher education students who wish to continue their studies at Silbo Gomero until they become accredited professional instructors. Island School students are working to teach Silbo Gomero not only to their fellow citizens, but also to tourists visiting La Gomera. This contributes to the sustainability of the update and also contributes to the maintenance of the language.

  Following this, the Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Canary Islands developed a staff training plan to ensure that the elderly whistlers could be replaced in the near future by qualified professional teachers with appropriate diplomas. These included training courses to study and teach Silbo Gomero. The training plan was launched in 2007 with 18 teachers participating. ^[8]

  In addition to implementing an educational policy, the authorities also sought to strengthen Silbo Gomero’s corpus by developing a project to digitize all recorded audio material. Documentaries about Silbo Gomero were also distributed locally, nationally and internationally. The government also upgraded Silbo Gomero’s status by selecting the La Gomera whistling language through the National Historic Heritage Council to represent Spain in nominations for inclusion on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity 2009of the year.

  Cultural heritage

  Members of the Gomera community consider Silbo Gomero part of the island’s identity and use the whistle language in traditional rituals and festivals on the island. One of them includes “bajads”, which are processions dedicated to the Virgin or patron saints of the community. March 15, 1999 ^[8] Silbo Gomero was declared part of the historical and ethnographic heritage of the Canary Islands. The annual celebration “School meetings with Silbo Gomero” was also opened on the island of Gomera. In 2005, a monument to Silbo Gomero was introduced to the Garajonay National Park.

  Tourism

  Demonstration of Silbo Gomero in a restaurant on the island of Gomera.

  Silbo Homero is used not only between Homerans; Visitors to the island also have the opportunity to learn the language of the whistle at restaurants that provide whistle demonstrations to tourists. La Gomera Tourism Minister Fernando Méndez said whistling is important to La Gomera’s tourism industry. ^[9]

  Functions

  	Dialogue in Silbo Gomero
  Problems playing this file? See the help of the media.

  According to various studies, Silbo Homero has 2, ^[8] and 4 ^{[10] [11] [12]} vowels and between 4 ^[8] and 10 ^{[10] [13]} Consonants. The language is the sibilant form of a dialect of Spanish. ^[14] Silbo replaces every vowel or consonant with a whistling sound. Whistles vary in pitch and duration. As with other whistled forms of non-tonal languages, Silbo works by roughly preserving the articulation of normal speech, so “the timbre variations of speech appear as pitch variations” (Busnel and Classe: v).

  Silbo Gomero is a difficult language to learn, his whistling techniques require physical precision and strength of the body parts used in the mechanism of the language, which can only be mastered with practice. Silbo Gomero uses the tongue, lips, and hands of the users, which is very different from regular language, which uses the oral cavity to mix and contrast multiple acoustic frequencies. The whistling mechanism, in contrast, is limited to only emitting a single fundamental tone between 1000 and 3000 Hz. Physical precision is achieved by the ability to whistle, which is able to change frequencies at different speeds, as well as start and stop sound playback. sound waves. This technique is passed down in the community of La Gomera, with unchanged teaching methods that date back to the end of the nineteenth century. ^[8] The same pitch can represent many sounds, so it has far fewer phonemes than Spanish. This means that communication in Silbo can sometimes be ambiguous. Thus, context and the right choice of words are important for effective communication. ^[15]

  Vowels

  The vowels in Silbo Gomero are roughly described as stable lines of high and low frequency that differ from each other.

  Vowels

  Submission	General representation	vowels in colloquial speech are presented
  High frequency	/ I /	/ I / and / E /
  /, / and /

  The high frequency /i/ vowel represents /i/, /e/ the vowels of the spoken language whistle, and the low frequency dark whistle /a/ vowel represents the vowels /a/, /o/, / and /. It is said that it is not possible to produce intermediate vowels as the whistling mechanism does not have the same functions as the vocal mechanism. ^[8] The theory that Silbo Gomero has only two vowels was advanced by Ramon Trujillo of the University of La Laguna in his published book “ EL SILBO GOMERO análisis lingüístico ” in 1978. His work, containing nearly a hundred spectrograms, culminates in the theory that Silbo Gomero’s language has only two vowels and four consonants. ^{[16] [17]} In Trujillo’s work, Silbo’s vowels are given one quality – the pitch – high or low. However, in a more recent study, the work of Julien Meyer (2005 – French only (p. 100), 2008) gives a statistical analysis of Silbo vowels showing that there are 4 vowels that are statistically different in production, and that they are also perceived as such. ^{[10] [11]} Also in 2005, Annie Ryalland of the University of Paris III: New Sorbonne published an acoustic and phonological analysis of Silbo based on new material showing that not only sliding tones but also intensity modulation play a role in discrimination various whistling sounds. ^[13]

  Trujillo’s 2005 collaboration with Homeran whistle Isidro Ortiz and others (“ EL SILBO GOMERO Materiales didácticos ” – q.v. pdf link below) revisits his earlier statements to state that 4 vowels are indeed perceived ( q.v. pg 63 ref. cit.), ^[12] and details areas of discrepancy between his empirical data and Class’s phonetic hypotheses. Although Trujillo acknowledged the existence of 4 vowels in his 2005 work, his 2006 bilingual work (“ El Silbo Gomero. Nuevo estudio fonológico “) inexplicably repeats his 1978 two-vowel theory. Trujillo’s 2006 paper directly addresses many of Ryalland’s findings, but it seems that he was unaware of Meyer’s work at the time of this writing.

  Meyer suggests that there are 4 classes of vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /u, o/. However, Meyer continues that there are 5 perceived vowels with significant overlap. Rialland (2005) and Trujillo (1978) agree that the harmonic whistle corresponds to the second formant of the pronounced vowels. Spoken /a/f2 and whistled /a/h2 coincide in their frequency (1480 Hz). However, there is a discontinuity of harmonics and formants near the frequency base. Conversational speech has a wide frequency range F2 (from 790 Hz to 2300 Hz), whistles are limited to 1200 Hz to 2400 Hz. The vowels therefore shift upward at the low end (keeping 1480 Hz as /a/) increasing confusion between /o/ (voice frequency F2 890 Hz, whistle

  Consonants

  The consonants in Silbo Gomero are modifications of the vowel-based “melodic line” or “vocal line” They may rise or fall, and may also be altered by break, continuity, or occlusion. The four basic consonants in a now largely refuted and refuted analysis 1978 years were incorrectly listed as follows: ^[8]

  Consistent

  SUBM	General representation	Consistent spoken language
  /ʎ/, /n/, /ɲ/, /ɾ/, /p/, /d/ and /j/
  broken high tone	⟨Ch⟩	/t͡ʃ/, /t/, / c /
  continuous low tone	⟨gram⟩	/ɡ/, /b/, /m/, /j/ and /h/
  broken low tone	⟨k⟩	/k/ and /p/

  The documentation on the official Silbo Gomero page on the UNESCO website corresponds to Trujillo’s 1978 study. Trujillo (1978) suggested that consonants are either rises or falls in a “melodic line” that can be interrupted or continued. Further research by Meyer and Ryalland shows that vowels lack their inherent sound class, which is transmitted in a whistle. in these ways: voiced (/k/ vs /ɡ/) is conveyed by whistling [-continuity]. A quiet pause in a whistle reports [+voice] (/ɡ/), while a [+ continuous] consonant gives the quality [-voice] (/k/). The placement of the consonant (dental, palatal, fricative) is conveyed by whistling due to loci, harshness, or speed of formant transitions between vowels. The consonant classes are simplified to four classes. Superhigh loci (near the vertical formant loci) denote affricates and sharp, ascending loci denote alveolar, medial (loci just above the vowel formant) denote palatal, and falling (low loci) denote pharyngeal, labial, and fricative. This gives 8 whistling consonants, but including the gradual fading of tone (with falling intensity) as a feature of continuous and discontinuous sounds, gives 10 consonants. In these situations, a fade-out [+voice] is given and a continuous [+liquid] is given. ^{[10] [13]} _{diagram requested?}

  The performance /s/ is actually treated as a broken high tone when whistling in Silbo. However, in colloquial speech, /s/ is a high-pitched continuous consonant. This anomaly has two causes. First, functionally, /s/ is a very common consonant, so it’s extremely useful. Second, since Silbo’s continuous high consonant already represents many other consonants of the spoken language (/l/, /ʎ/, /n/, /ɲ/, /ɾ/, /p/, /d/ and /ʝ/), it would be very confusing to add to an extensive list. Thus, since the high stop does not fully represent /t͡ʃ/ and /t/, it can be used to represent the commonly used /s/ consonant. ^[8]

  Cognitive features

  Studies have shown that Silbo Gomero speakers process whistle register in the same way as standard spoken language. Research by Manuel Carreiras of the University of La Laguna and David Corina of the University of Washington published the Silbo study in 2004 and 2005. Their study involved two groups of participants: Spanish computer speakers. One group of Spanish speakers “spoke” to Silbo, while another group did not. Results from brain activity monitoring of participants on functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that while non-Silbo speakers simply processed Silbo as a whistle, Silbo speakers processed whistles in the same linguistic centers of the brain that processed Spanish sentences. ^[18]

  Others

  Filmmaker and photographer Francesca Phillips wrote and directed a documentary about the use of Silbo Gomero in La Gomera called Written in the Wind (2009), and this 26-minute film won Best Documentary Short in Anthropology at the World Mountain Documentary Film Festival held in Qinghai, China in 2010. ^[19]

  Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu directed the 2019 film Whistles 9 “Francesca Phillips painted in the wind”. Francesca Phillips. 2010. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.

external link

• “Silbo-Gomero.com”.
• Trujillo Carreno, Ramon; Morera Perez, Martial; and others. (June 2005). El Silbo Gomero: Materiales didácticos (PDF) (in Spanish). Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes del Gobierno de Canarias [es]. ISBN 978-84-689-2610-0 .
• “Homeran Whistle: A Linguistic Analysis”. English translation of “El Silbo Gomero: análisis lingüístico” by Trujillo 1978 (indexed)
• “Silbo Gomero – the language of the whistle”. CogNews . Archived from the original on 2005-02-13. Retrieved 2005-07-14.
• “BBC4 interview with Isidro Ortiz and J. Brent – 26.08.08”. Retrieved 2008-09-07.

Unsung Canary Islands Explore La Gomera / Canary Islands

When most people think of the Canary Islands, images of beach resorts and partygoers come to mind – but that’s because no one thinks of La Gomera. Surrounded by rocky cliffs and carpeted in ancient forests and palm-lined valleys, this volcanic island is reminiscent of Jurassic Park. piece in the Atlantic Ocean pretty much for yourself.

Lush green Valle Gran Rey © RossHelen / Shutterstock

Get your bearings La Gomera

Located off the west coast of Tenerife, La Gomera is the second largest Canary Island, stretching 36 km from east to west. But this tiny island should not be underestimated. Its emerald peak rises 1,487m above sea level, surrounded by vast banks of swirling mist and creating a microclimate that has allowed one of Europe’s last remaining cloud forests to thrive in spectacular fashion. The average temperature is 22 degrees all year round, but the southerly wind means that the southern shores are especially hot and sunny.

It may take only two hours to drive around the island, but these diverse natural pockets will expose you to a myriad of star-studded landscapes, from sun-drenched oceanscapes to dense lush green spaces, dry scrub and wide slopes. ravines. The lack of international flights has resulted in La Gomera holding back mass tourism; Here, instead of chain hotels and restaurants, you will find a slower, more authentic lifestyle. These traits have earned La Gomera the nickname “the island lost in time”.

San Sebastian de la Gomera rests beautifully on the hillside © Mikadun / Shutterstock

Culture, crafts and Columbus

San Sebastian is your introduction to La Gomera in many ways. As the capital and port city, all travelers come here. Here you will find many historical monuments and buildings that begin to create a tapestry from the island’s past: Torre del Conde (Count’s Tower), the remains of a 15th-century Gothic military fort that played a central role in the island’s defensive history; and Iglesia de la Virgen de la Asuncion, whose mixed Islamic, Gothic and Baroque architecture leans towards the island’s mixed heritage. San Sebastian played an important role in the history of one of the world’s most famous explorers: in 1492 year Christopher Columbus chose the capital of the island as his last port before setting off to discover the New World.

Each village and region offers its own slice of life on La Gomera. Head to El Sercado to see how local potters carefully craft pottery using techniques inherited from the island’s locals. Visit Agulo, a city of colorful houses and chocolate-box cobbled streets, for breathtaking ocean views and some of the best-preserved examples of traditional Gomeran architecture. Valle Gran Rey is a major tourist destination, but this hippie paradise is a million miles from the bustling resorts of the mainland. At the bottom of a lush valley, you’ll find quiet stretches of fine sandy beaches framed by jagged rock faces that glow gold as the sun goes down.

The Torre del Conde in San Sebastian dates back to 1447. © Louise Bastock / Lonely Planet

An island with a view

The natural landscapes of La Gomera are one of the main attractions of the island. And where better to look at this beauty than at one of the 40 designated viewpoints of La Gomera? That may seem like an overkill for an island this size, but with seemingly endless wide valleys, rocky gorges, patchwork palm plantations, Tetris-shaped banana tree terraces, and towering volcanic rocks (including La Gomera’s Table Mountain), you’ll wish there was twice that.

Roque de Agando Volcanic Plug © Stian Klo / Lonely Planet

Highlights include the Mirador de Abrante, a glass-bottomed platform jutting out of a 400m high gorge that overlooks the village of Agulo and Tenerife’s Teide volcano across the ocean. The Mirador Morro de Agando offers 360-degree views of the Garajonay National Park and the spectacular Roque de Agando, a volcanic monolith that suddenly bursts from greenery into the air. . Reached by a forest trail in the Garajonay National Park, the view of the valley and village below looks like an explosion of color from the trees.

View of Tenerife’s El Teide volcano from Mirador de Abrante © Louise Bastock / Lonely Planet

Fairytale forest and folk legend

Surrounded by low-lying fog and seemingly banished to the top of the island, Garajonay National Park has an almost dreamlike quality. Indeed, its name comes from an oral legend of two stars in love, Gara and Jonai, whose parents forbade their union. The altitude and humidity of this cloud forest means that the temperatures are cooler here and in the silence of the trees you will feel a world away from the rest of the island..

Around 20,000 years ago, these laurel forests dominated Europe and North Africa, and thanks to conservation efforts on La Gomera, Garajonay remains one of the best preserved subtropical rainforests in Europe. There are about 400 species of flora and fauna here, many of which are endemic to the island. The park is located in the heart of La Gomera’s 600 km network of hiking trails. With trails throughout the island, you can take your short circuit trails, half-day hikes and full-day hikes through the mountains and along the coast.

The path winds its way through the greenery of the Garajonay National Park © RossHelen / Shutterstock

A dialect with a difference

One of the most interesting elements of La Gomera’s cultural heritage is the island’s unique whistling language, Silbo Gomero. The Guanches, the earliest inhabitants of the island, used Silbo Gomero to communicate through the deep gorges and valleys of the island. The whistles could travel up to 5 km and were used to convey all sorts of messages, from public announcements and invitations to events to the location of a lost goat. Silbo Gomero is much more than just a set of phrases that existed as a fully articulated dialect, repeating the characteristic sounds of colloquial speech..

Although not widely used today, efforts are being made to preserve it. Language has been a compulsory school subject since 1999, and in 2009 it was given the status of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. You can check out the Silbo demonstration every Saturday at the Torre Del Conde Hotel in San Sebastian and every day at Restaurante Las Rosas and Mirador de Abrante Restaurant in Agulo.0022

Adventure at sea

Care has been taken to protect the ocean around La Gomera and as such it has become a hotbed for marine wildlife. Although these are typically migratory creatures, thanks to these conservation efforts, dolphins can be found here all year round. Take an ecological boat trip with Tina and you’ll likely spot local fauna, from bottlenose dolphins and spotted dolphins to pilot and sperm whales and bog turtles. Tina has been awarded the Yellow Flag environmental accreditation and their vessels do not use sonar, which negatively affects marine life.

Excursions to the rock of Los Formation Arganos can also be organized. Formed by ancient lava flows cooling and contracting, huge basalt columns rise from the ocean like the pipes of a church organ. The vertical columns can reach a height of 80 meters and a width of almost a meter.

Fish and papa arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes) are Homer’s staples © Andrey Bortnikov / Shutterstock

Traditional La Gomera Grub

In this fertile land with varied terrain, the local cuisine offers a variety of products grown or farmed on the island or caught from the surrounding seas . Traditional recipes are as simple and soulful as the island itself, with delicacies including watercress soup, almogrote (a crumbly goat cheese pâté flavored with herbs and butter), and miel de palma , a sweet palm syrup commonly used in Homeran cuisine.

Canary Islands

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Mojo Sauce Spread Canarian Wrinkled Potatoes

Mojo Canario

Mojo 0008 Molho [ˈMoʎu], meaning “sauce”) is the name or short name for several types of sauces, of various spices, consisting mainly of olive oil, local varieties of pepper (called pimienta in the Canary Islands), garlic, pepper (called pimentón in Spain), cumin or coriander, and other spices. Mojo originated in the Canary Islands where the main varieties are red mojo ( mojo rojo ) and green mojo ( Mojo Verde ). In other countries, there are recipes similar to mojo where acidic ingredients such as vinegar, lemon, orange, or lime juice can be used. Mojo de cilantro ) and parsley mojo ( Mojo de Perejil ). Because coriander and parsley contain some water, they should be refrigerated and consumed within two days of preparation.

Red mojo , made from small red peppers from La Palma (called Pimienta Picona ) and peppers, usually eaten with meat. Red and green mojo can be used interchangeably to spice up some dishes. papas arrugadas without salsa mojo or mojo potatoes . Mojo is also usually served with fresh buns at the start of a meal.

Preparation

Red mojo is prepared by drying the peppers. Once dried, peppers can be stored for a long time before cooking. Before making mojo, peppers are soaked in water to lose their pungency. The grains and fibers are then removed, but some of them will make the mojo tangy. In the case of green mojo, the spiciness will be adjusted by the amount of garlic, and can also be enhanced by the addition of ground coriander seeds.

Canarian variations

Local variations of mojo include recipes with cheese, such as mojo con queso from La Palma and El Hierro, and almogrote from La Gomera, where it is made into a spreadable spread for bread. Each Canarian family has its own recipe for mojo, so it can vary greatly in flavor, spices, and texture. There is also an almond mojo that pairs perfectly with a variety of stir-fried dishes. Mojo saffron, whose main ingredient is Canarian saffron, goes well with any grilled cheese. Mojo with garlic is perfect for pizza. Mojo herb is made from a blend of spices and is perfect for any salad.

International variations

Similar sauces, also known as mojo , are also popular in Cuba and all Caribbean islands, Hispanic or non-Hispanic, due to large Canarian emigration to the Caribbean, and have even influenced some barbecue sauces in The Deep South is a region of the United States, especially the states of Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. ^{[ citation needed ]} Aroma can be anything from tomato or pepper to avocado. ^{[ citation needed ]}

In Cuban cuisine mojo is applied to any sauce made with garlic, olive oil or lard, as well as citrus juice, traditionally bitter orange juice. It is commonly used to flavor the tuber’s cassava, and is also used to marinate roast pork. ^[1] Without oregano, the sauce is commonly referred to as “mojito” and is used for dipping psyllium chips and fried cassava (yuca). The pork marinade includes bitter orange juice, garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt.

In Puerto Rico, mojo herbal sauce of finely chopped cilantro or parsley with salt, plenty of minced garlic and olive oil. Black pepper, butter, grated onion, you can also add vinegar and any citrus fruits. On the island, it is commonly used as a marinade for fried chicken and as a sauce for croutons , fried cassava, and sometimes mashed with mofongo . Puerto Rican Chef José Enrique Mojo, mixed with papaya and avocado, covered with fish, has become part of Puerto Rican gastronomy. 9 Steve Otto (October 24, 2007). “Cuban is ours, whatever one may say.” Tampa Tribune . Archived from the original on May 7, 2009

• Mojo Sauce Recipes

Whistle Tongue. How to whistle with your tongue. Who invented silbo homero

“Currently, there are few places left in the world where they speak the language of whistling – in the village of As, in the French Pyrenees, on the island of Gomera in the Canary Islands archipelago, in the valleys of Turkey and in Mexico, on the territory of the Mazatec Indians and Zapotec…


Whistle language on the island of Gomera


Gomera Island is one of the seven main islands of the Canary archipelago, and it is located some 115 kilometers west of the African coast. Homer’s shape resembles a huge wheel with the Garajonay peak, 1487 meters high, located in the middle of the island. Like the spokes of a wheel, numerous deep valleys, more like canyons, descend to the sheer shores that frame the island on all sides… staff “pertigu”, and once the language of whistling was born. As in Asa, communication by means of a whistle allows the inhabitants of the gorges not to suffer, climbing the steep slopes of the valleys back and forth to exchange news…
The Homerans whistle as piercingly as the Asses, with a force of 110 to 120 decibels, which is almost beyond the permissible limit for human hearing. That is why it is possible to communicate in both languages ​​over truly vast distances. For all that, however, the Asians can no longer make out their own whistle if they are two to two and a half kilometers apart, and the reason for this is the strong winds that often fall on the valley, while the Homerans perfectly hear each other at a distance of 7- 8 kilometers, and all thanks to the reflectivity of the rocks, from which the whistle echoes around the area. At one time, Homer even had a whistle range record – 10 kilometers. Mind unbelievable! …
As in Asa, Homeran whistlers even recognize each other by whistling: after all, whistling is individual for them, like speech…
At the same time, despite obvious similarities, there are certain differences between both whistling languages. Firstly, the Gomerans whistle very clearly and legibly, which means that the whistle is easy to remember. So, one of my acquaintances, who knew Spanish, quite easily learned to speak Homeran. Finally, the Homeran shepherds still whistle the way the Ases whistled before the First World War, and their vocabulary is still as rich, but it can be assumed that, like the Asian whistle, and for the same reasons, “silbo-homero” one ill-fated day will sink into oblivion due to complete uselessness as relics of the past. So, back in Christmas 1862, the mayor of San Sebastian, the capital of Gomera, ordered the church to be locked up so that local shepherds would not enter there, otherwise they would certainly not have resisted during the solemn service and began to sing psalms in their own – whistling – manners. It turns out that even then the locals were ashamed of this language.”

Ree Arrip,
Ass Whistlers

1985

Fortunately, Rhea Arrip was wrong about the sad fate of the Homeran language:
“Local authorities, concerned about the preservation of the unique language, even included in the list of cultural achievements of mankind at the end of the last century, introduced its teaching in schools. Today, the small island of Gomera is listed among the objects of ecological tourism, and, in addition to its unique nature, the whistling language that the Gomeran whistlers willingly demonstrate at separate sites, in cafes and restaurants, playing even small performances, serves as a lure for tourists here.”

This language does not seem to use any conventions for different concepts, the words are simply “whistle”, so it is understandable to those who know Spanish. Some other languages ​​are arranged in a similar way:
“In 1948 and 1952, the French linguist Georges Covan studied the “bird language” of the Mazatec Indians in the Sahaca province of the state of Veracruz in Mexico, which is spoken by more than 60 thousand (!) people. As established by J. Covan, a Mazatec Indian who speaks the language of whistling conveys any expression of thought, whole phrases and even turns of speech. When, following this discovery by J. Covan, whistle languages ​​were discovered among other Indian tribes of Mexico – Pueblo, Zapotec, Kikanu, Tepehuanu and others, it was found that the language of the Mazatec Indians belongs to the group of tonal languages, and it is relatively easy to learn to speak it , and other whistling languages, in particular the Tepehuana Indians, are not tonal and have many consonants that they have not learned to soften. At the request of Cowan, one of the Indians, who, in addition to his native language, also began to “whistle in Spanish,” while another Indian from another tribe, who also knew Spanish, but did not know the Mazatec language at all, understood the whistle “ in Spanish” of the first Indian and answered him “by whistling in Spanish”. So it turned out that by whistling you can translate and speak languages, both tonal and non-tonal.

So, dear friends, we arrived on the Fred Olsen ferry to one of the seven islands of the Canary archipelago – the island of La Gomera. I cannot explain why, but as I approached this wonderful island, tears involuntarily came out of my eyes. Perhaps this came from the embellishment of the pristine nature seen, or perhaps because of the excitement of meeting with an unknown, wonderful island. Landscapes amaze with the greenery of steep slopes, which are cut by parallel winding lines of terraces. Everything here is amazing. Especially for me – a tourist who began his journey abroad from the Canary Islands. Not a bad start, you say. Yes, the bar has been raised to an unrealistic height. (For me) And, right away. The first of them was, of course, the largest and most visited – Tenerife. La Gomera is located just 30 km from Tenerife. This is where most tourists come for a day trip around the island

The whistling language (El Silbo) is one of the unique cultural phenomena of La Gomera. The whistling language was created by the first locals for communication through gorges, mountain landscapes. In the XVI century. the inhabitants of La Gomera adapted the whistling language to Spanish, since the Guanche language eventually disappeared from the face of the Earth. Today, silbo is hardly used by the locals; You can hear it at various folklore performances. Silbo uses only six sounds, which can be used to express more than four thousand concepts. Silbo was used in mountainous areas, while it was heard at a distance of up to eight km. With the help of the whistle language, women could call their husbands and children for dinner, shepherds exchanged information about lost and found goats, etc. Also, with the help of a whistle, residents warned each other of danger – for example, when ships approached the shores in search of slaves. Not so long ago, a special school was opened on the island to teach this unique language. Silbo whistling language is one of the national treasures. After a tour of the island, we arrived at one of the local cafes. There we were seated at large long tables with other tourists. Opposite us were German women. When we said that we were from Moscow, they nodded their heads approvingly. After drinking a glass of Spanish wine, we ate Canarian potatoes and other food. Then the most important thing began, for which we came to this cafe. We heard the language of silbo whistling. The young guy whistled something to the girl, and she followed his commands. In particular, it was about where to take something and where to put it. Our Russian-speaking guide translated everything into Russian. All commands were executed correctly. For example, take a mobile phone from a young man in a red T-shirt and give it to a girl with long white hair, etc. If possible, I will upload a video for you where you yourself can hear this amazing whistling language – silbo.

Every nation has its own customs, traditions, and, most importantly, language. This is what distinguishes him from other peoples. There are a huge number of languages ​​\u200b\u200bin the world, but you are unlikely to have heard of this. It is called homero or whistling language.

youtube

Each of us at least once in our lives has heard the saying: “Don’t whistle, otherwise there will be no money.” But the inhabitants of Homero Island are absolutely not afraid of this, they whistle constantly and at the same time do not complain about their financial situation.

This is the greatest discovery for local residents, because thanks to this language they can communicate at a distance of up to 3 km. You no longer need to wind up kilometers in order to say something to a friend who is on the other side of the island, it is enough to “whistle” the words.

Homero’s tongue is not heavy. To learn it, you only need to be able to whistle. To do this, you need to place your index or middle finger in your mouth, whistle and cover your mouth with your palm on the side.

Just imagine, with just 5 vowels and 4 consonants, people can whistle as many as 4,000 words in Spanish. There are also disadvantages to such communication – the whistle is not always heard correctly, so a person is forced to repeat what was said several times, the rest can guess what is being said from the context.

There is an opinion that this language appeared in antiquity. Homer Island is a mountainous area with narrow valleys. Previously, there were no mobile phones and people had to shout or whistle to each other.

The whistle could be heard at a distance of several kilometers. Therefore, the locals decided to come up with a whistling language so as not to wind up the kilometers.

Watch an interesting and informative video! You will definitely like it! Would you like to learn Homero or whistle language? Leave your comments below the video!

Image caption

At a school on Gomera, whistling lessons are compulsory for everyone

One of the most unusual languages ​​in the world is now experiencing a revival in the Canary Islands.

This is the whistling language of Silbo Gomero, named after the islands of Gomera, belonging to the archipelago of the Canary Islands.

I am standing on the top of a hill overlooking the old peasant houses. To my right is a view of a forest burned last year when this Spanish island, off the coast of Morocco, was engulfed in forest fires.

I listen for the sounds of the whistle, which old-timers assure me are still used by the locals.

This ancient language, in which words in Spanish are replaced by four consonants and two vowels, is perfectly suited for communication between shepherds grazing sheep in rugged ravines. They say that it can be heard for more than three kilometers.

In a moment of danger

Nothing is known about its origin. The first European settlers who arrived on the island in the 15th century found the Guanches there, who already used the whistle to communicate over long distances.

Gradually, the locals switched to Spanish when whistling, although it is known that in North Africa, where the Guanches came from, whistling languages ​​were common among many nationalities.

The whistling language was especially widely used in the 40s and 50s of the last century.

“In the old days, when fires started in the mountains, which often happens on the island, we were all evacuated by the police,” says Lion Rodriguez, an old man with a hoarse voice of a smoker.

According to him, no one asked the people, but they were simply put on trucks and taken to the city while the fire was being extinguished.

And the shepherds whistled among themselves, warning about the danger – they say, the police left, we must hide. No one, except for the shepherds and some local residents, understood this language. The news of the danger spread throughout the island very quickly.

I love nature, I love animals and I love to whistle Isidoro the shepherd

The whistling language began to decline in the late 50s, when due to the economic crisis, many speakers – or silbadors, as they were called in Spanish – emigrated to Venezuela and nearby Tenerife.

But the rapid development, first of the road network, and then of mobile networks, led to the fact that the Silbo Homero language lost its practical value.

By the end of the 90s, interest in this language began to revive, although many islanders treated it with disdain, considering it the language of poor peasants.

Second wind

Image caption

The island is slowly emptying as its inhabitants move in search of work in Tenerife

However, it was then that it was decided to introduce the language of whistling into the curriculum of local primary schools.

I must say that I did not manage to hear a whistle during many hours of travel around this volcanic island with its very diverse topography. It has become a tourist attraction and can only be heard in schools and during performances in hotels and restaurants.

Archaeologist Fernandez Marrero fears that the whistling language may become an exotic curiosity, like the flower necklaces worn around the necks of tourists in the Hawaiian Islands.

Whistle languages ​​around the world

• Whistle languages ​​used in Greece, Turkey, Mexico and some African countries
• The Shona language of Zimbabwe and Zambia contains whistling sounds
• Most often used by shepherds in mountainous and rough terrain
• Robot R2-D2 from the movie “Star Wars” was also explained in this language

Examples of other languages ​​of this type are known – for example, on the Greek island of Evia, in the city of Cuzkoy in Turkey, and also in the French Pyrenees.

But Silbo Gomero is the only language that is well studied and taught in school, and therefore used by hundreds of people. For some inhabitants of the island of Homer, language has become a source of income, others consider it an important element of national identity, but for the linguist Martial Morer, it is interesting in itself.

“Silbo is interesting from a linguistic point of view, because he is a very simple system and you can use his example to understand how other languages ​​were formed,” he says.

I met one of these silbadores in the town of Chipude, high in the mountains. 39-year-old Isidoro did not learn this language at school, but inherited it from his father. He herds goats in the local mountains and summons them with his whistle. According to him, goats respond only to his voice.

Shiro, as his friends call him, lives alone. All his relatives left for Tenerife, because there was no work for them on their native island.

“I myself lived there for eight years, but decided to return. I never got used to city life – I love nature, I love animals and I love to whistle. I will stay here because the island needs me,” says the shepherd.

Professor Andre Klass turns on the tape recorder. A strong, ear-piercing modulated whistle is heard in the phonetics laboratory of the Department of Modern Languages ​​at Glasgow University. One might think that this is the conversation of angry thrushes, but the whistle is too strong for this, and besides, it is known that people whistle. Professor Klass translates:

“What time does the bus leave for Saint Sebastian?” Or:

“Have you seen my goat?”

These are samples of the whistling language, common on one of the islands of the Canary archipelago – on the island of Gomera. Mountains of volcanic origin, with an endless number of peaks, no plains, no roads. Here, on the island of La Gomera, the shortest journey on foot becomes a job suitable only for mules. Therefore, the indigenous people communicate with each other with the help of a whistle, known among linguists as “silbo gomero”. This whistle can be compared in strength to locomotive whistles. The average “silbador” (the so-called people “speaking” silbo) can be heard for 8 kilometers, and the record hearing was 14 kilometers. This method of communication replaces the telephone on the island.

Understanding the silbo gomero principle was not so easy. Some travelers tried to view it from a musical point of view. One of them believed, for example, that high-pitched whistles correspond to certain vowel sounds and provide a phonetic skeleton of a phrase, according to which the silbadores understand each other more or less well. Another wrote down with the help of musical signs the melody of several phrases in silbo, but when he let the silbadors listen to this melody, they did not understand anything. This traveler even suggested that thought transmission at a distance plays a certain role here.

Nothing happened: silbo homero is a real language that can be understood without resorting to the services of either musicians or telepaths. It is nothing but whistled Spanish.

How can you whistle in Spanish or any other language, you ask. And, really, try to whistle some phrase – you will not succeed.

In ordinary language, speech sounds are formed with the participation of the entire speech apparatus: larynx, pharynx, nasal cavity, oral cavity (lips, tongue, teeth, palate). But a whistle is a simple sound. It can only differ in pitch, volume, and duration. How, then, can the whistle be modified so that it becomes possible to explain with its help?

It turns out that for this it is enough to change only the pitch. The strength of the sound in the silbo does not matter, since the silbador always whistles to the maximum of his abilities: otherwise he risks not being heard.

In order to vary the pitch, the silbadors use the natural resonator – the oral cavity. The silbadores whistle the way boys usually whistle; with fingers.

The whistle technique is very different. There are at least six different whistling techniques:

1) part of the hole formed by the lips is closed with the index finger;

2) a bent index finger is inserted between the lips and serves as a support for the tongue;

3) the little finger inserted into the corner of the mouth serves the same purpose;

4) two fingers are inserted deep enough into the corners of the mouth and connected to the tip of the tongue;

5) the index finger or bent little finger is inserted very deeply into the mouth.

And you can whistle without the help of your fingers, resting your tongue against the sky, but this requires some practice.

Can we talk about pronunciation in Silbo in the usual sense of the word? No, because when “talking” in Silbo, the tongue and lips remain almost motionless. So, for example, to pronounce the word “pa”, we close our lips, the glottis closes in the silbador, interrupting the sound, and a similar effect occurs. If you need to whistle the word “ata”, the tongue rests against the palate, the volume of the oral cavity changes, and a sound is born, which, after rising to pronounce the vowel “a”, quickly falls. In the word “ara” the vibration is different, since the tongue does not touch the palate and does not interfere with the flow of a long, slightly modulated whistle.

Of course, a literary language with a rich silbo vocabulary is unlikely. This is not without distortion, the combination of the same sounds can correspond to a variety of words. And you need a lot of intuition to correctly interpret the sounds. However, Professor Klass claims that he has never met a silbador who did not understand his brother.

The silbo technique and the nature of the sounds are different in different areas of the island.

Since when did the natives of the island of Gomera begin to explain themselves with such a sawn-off shotgun? Obviously a very long time ago. It is known that the first inhabitants of the island, the Guanches, used silbo, but its basis was the local, now extinct language. In the 14th century, when the Spaniards conquered the Canary Islands, the whistling language adapted to Spanish.

Differences in the Silbo language are not only local but also individual. Each silbador has his own style and register, which, however, are easily perceived by the interlocutor.

For the inhabitants of the island, this exotic language is quite natural. The class tells an interesting story. In 1882, the alcalde Saint Sebastian was forced to deprive the flock of the nightly Christmas service for a very unexpected reason: the parishioners stubbornly resisted his ban on whistling the words of psalms during mass. And one more rather picturesque detail; the piercing noise of Silbo conversation is sometimes joined by the hubbub of blackbirds, who have learned several layers of this language and shout desperately: “Federico, Pepito!”

Quite recently Silbo was thought to be the only language of its kind. But just recently a similar language was discovered in a small Turkish village near the Black Sea. His technique is similar to that of the silbo tongue.

Professor Klass thinks that such languages ​​should certainly exist elsewhere. At the beginning of the century, he says, shepherds in the Pyrenees used the language of whistling.

A similar language is said to exist in the highlands of northern India.

These languages ​​are on the way to extinction, but for now they serve as telephones for several thousand people.

Translated from French.


Natural Gas Communication

Square-Cube Law

In the distant land of Backeye, people have developed a secret language called Pasgas . Instead of speaking words or shaping them with gestures, speakers of Pashgas communicate using tailwinds. They control the pitch and duration of each beep, and one phoneme can convey as much meaning as an ideogram (such as Chinese characters or Japanese kanji characters) or even an entire sentence.

Pazgas is popular with spies, but serves other professions as well. Abroad, it can be used to convey messages to fellow captives, a conversation in which nothing is audible to all but the initiates. At Backeye, guards can use this as a shibboleth to easily identify foreigners. And in team sports such as volleyball, it can be used to coordinate strategy without the need to get together as a team.

I have a question: is this way of communication possible? If not, why not? If possible, what training would be required to speak Passgas?

Edit for clarity: The communication I mentioned above is acoustic, not scent based.

L. Dutch

a conversation that is silent for everyone except the initiates

I would argue about the silence. .. anyway…

It looks like a Silbo Gomero variant.

Silbo Gomero (Spanish: silbo gomero [ˈsilβo ɣoˈmeɾo], “Gomeran whistle”), also known as el silbo (“whistle”), is a whistling register of the Spanish language used by the inhabitants of La Gomera in the Canary Islands to communicate through deep ravines and narrow valleys that diverge throughout the island. It allows you to exchange messages at a distance of up to 5 kilometers. Due to its loud nature, Silbo Gomero is commonly used in public places.

The main problem with your approach is that the rectum lacks most of the structures that in the mouth allow the modulation of sound: on the one hand you have, among others, the throat, tongue, teeth, cheeks, which help to regulate the emission of sound, while on the other side are the sphincter and gluteal muscles. I find it possible to control the duration of the radiation and, to some extent, the pitch.

However, after some training, it should be possible to achieve some modulation abilities, as Le Pétoman did:

Le Pétomane (/ləˈpɛtəmeɪn/, French pronunciation: [ləpetɔˈman]) is the stage name of French flute (professional fart) and entertainer Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 – 1945). He was known for his remarkable control of his abdominal muscles, which allowed him to seem to fart at will. His stage name combines the French verb péter, “to fart”, with the suffix -mane, “-maniac”, which translates to “fartomaniac”. This profession is also called “flatulence”, “farter” or “farting”.

It is a common misconception that Joseph Pujol actually had intestinal gas while performing on stage. Rather, Puyol could “inhale” or move air into the rectum and then control the release of that air with the anal sphincter muscles. Evidence of his ability to control these muscles was seen in early reports of demonstrations of his abilities to fellow soldiers.

Some of the highlights of his stage performance included the sound effects of cannon fire and thunderstorms, and the performance of “O Sole Mio” and “La Marseillaise” on the ocarina through a rubber tube in his anus. He could also blow out a candle from several yards away.

However, such a message will be short, without the possibility of reaching the kilometer range of Silbo Gomero. Also, I doubt that an unprepared listener would find it normal to continue farting of the type that is necessary for some kind of communication, unless it was timed to look as “natural” as possible.

In summary:

• Can this ability be learned? Almost certainly yes.
• Can be used for communication?: yes for short distances and for short messages.
• Can it be stealthy?: Only if used at low fart, ahem, baud rate. Prolonged and prolonged vocalization would attract attention.

cybernard

I have a question: is this way of communication possible? If not, why not? If possible, what training would be required to speak Passgas?

Yes, this is possible with restrictions.

The more complex the meanings, the more difficult it is to reproduce and hear them.

Morse code, for example, would be relatively simple, since all you need to distinguish is long and short, or dot and dash. The downside is that such communication will take a lot of time.

Of course, some chosen ones could do it faster than others.

The more duration and pitch you have, the more likely there are errors in the system.

2 pitches and 2 durations should be easily accessible to the majority of the population. This gives you the equivalent of 2 bits at a time. The biggest problem is transmission, not reception.

The more trainings received, the more fields could be recognized. If you can recognize 64 different steps and have a dot or dash, you can create any 8 bit ascii character.

However, the faster you communicate, the more errors.

Also, this is not good for secrets, as anyone who hears this can decipher them. It’s in your best interest to encrypt it.

Moreover, we have excellent microphones today and we could probably record the mentioned noises. After recording, we could use computers to decode any message you might send. In the end, the field agent got cell phones there and forced computers to decrypt them in real time. Audio occupies a relatively small amount of memory, so agents in the field can have more than 1 microphone and record continuously.

It would probably be possible to use modern smartphones for real-time decoding.

Whistle language, one of the most unusual languages ​​in the world. Whistle language in the Canaries is experiencing a renaissance Whistle language

“At present, there are few places in the world where they speak the whistling language – in the village of As in the French Pyrenees, on the island of Gomera in the Canary Islands, in the valleys of Turkey and in Mexico, on the territory of the Mazatec and Zapotec Indians…


Whistle language on the island of Gomera


Gomera Island is one of the seven main islands of the Canary archipelago, and it is located some 115 kilometers west of the African coast. Homer’s shape resembles a huge wheel with the Garajonay peak, 1487 meters high, located in the middle of the island. Like the spokes of a wheel, numerous deep valleys, more like canyons, descend to the sheer shores that frame the island on all sides… staff “pertigu”, and once the language of whistling was born. As in Asa, communication by means of a whistle allows the inhabitants of the gorges not to suffer, climbing the steep slopes of the valleys back and forth to exchange news…
The Homerans whistle as piercingly as the Asses, with a force of 110 to 120 decibels, which is almost beyond the permissible limit for human hearing. That is why it is possible to communicate in both languages ​​over truly vast distances. For all that, however, the Asians can no longer make out their own whistle if they are two to two and a half kilometers apart, and the reason for this is the strong winds that often fall on the valley, while the Homerans perfectly hear each other at a distance of 7- 8 kilometers, and all thanks to the reflectivity of the rocks, from which the whistle echoes around the area. At one time, Homer even had a whistle range record – 10 kilometers. Mind unbelievable! …
As in Asa, Homeran whistlers even recognize each other by whistling: after all, whistling is individual for them, like speech…
At the same time, despite obvious similarities, there are certain differences between both whistling languages. Firstly, the Gomerans whistle very clearly and legibly, which means that the whistle is easy to remember. So, one of my acquaintances, who knew Spanish, quite easily learned to speak Homeran. Finally, the Homeran shepherds still whistle the way the Ases whistled before the First World War, and their vocabulary is still as rich, but it can be assumed that, like the Asian whistle, and for the same reasons, “silbo-homero” one ill-fated day will sink into oblivion due to complete uselessness as relics of the past. So, back in Christmas 1862, the mayor of San Sebastian, the capital of Gomera, ordered the church to be locked up so that local shepherds would not enter there, otherwise they would certainly not have resisted during the solemn service and began to sing psalms in their own – whistling – manners. It turns out that even then the locals were ashamed of this language.”

Ree Arrip,
Ass Whistlers

1985

Fortunately, Rhea Arrip was wrong about the sad fate of the Homeran language:
“Local authorities, concerned about the preservation of the unique language, even included in the list of cultural achievements of mankind at the end of the last century, introduced its teaching in schools. Today, the small island of Gomera is listed among the objects of ecological tourism, and, in addition to its unique nature, the whistling language that the Gomeran whistlers willingly demonstrate at separate sites, in cafes and restaurants, playing even small performances, serves as a lure for tourists here.”

This language does not seem to use any conventions for different concepts, the words are simply “whistle”, so it is understandable to those who know Spanish. Some other languages ​​are arranged in a similar way:
“In 1948 and 1952, the French linguist Georges Covan studied the “bird language” of the Mazatec Indians in the Sahaca province of the state of Veracruz in Mexico, which is spoken by more than 60 thousand (!) people. As established by J. Covan, a Mazatec Indian who speaks the language of whistling conveys any expression of thought, whole phrases and even turns of speech. When, following this discovery by J. Covan, whistle languages ​​were discovered among other Indian tribes of Mexico – Pueblo, Zapotec, Kikanu, Tepehuanu and others, it was found that the language of the Mazatec Indians belongs to the group of tonal languages, and it is relatively easy to learn to speak it , and other whistling languages, in particular the Tepehuana Indians, are not tonal and have many consonants that they have not learned to soften. At the request of Cowan, one of the Indians, who, in addition to his native language, also began to “whistle in Spanish,” while another Indian from another tribe, who also knew Spanish, but did not know the Mazatec language at all, understood the whistle “ in Spanish” of the first Indian and answered him “by whistling in Spanish”. So it turned out that by whistling you can translate and speak languages, both tonal and non-tonal.

With all the variety of sounds of human languages, most of them are similar and we can always determine whether it is a person speaking or. But if you visit the foothills of the Himalayas and hear a conversation between two people from the Hmong people, you may not even suspect that you hear human speech.

Indeed, in the speech of these peoples and several other small groups from different parts of the world, whistling is used instead of the sounds we are used to. So, scientists have been studying the language of Silbo Homer for several decades, in which the inhabitants of one of the Canary Islands whistle. Also, the whistling language is mentioned by Herodotus when describing the life of one of the African peoples.

The whistling language can use the following melodies, which are inherent in any spoken sentence. This feature is used by Asian peoples. But if the underlying language is not naturally tonal, then in these cases whistling mimics vowels, while consonants can be identified by changes in transition from note to note.

The whistle language, which uses a wide variety of melodies, is needed for communication between shepherds, hunters, in a word, those who are separated from the interlocutor by long distances. The nature of the regions where such languages ​​are used usually favors the development of just such a mode of communication, since the open plains and mountains provide ideal conditions for the propagation of sound.

The Hmong language is especially important for young people who use it to flirt with residents and residents of remote settlements. Such a conversation can be made private using sound combinations known only to two. In addition, by whistling, a third-party listen will hardly determine who exactly is talking.

And of course, during the conduct of hostilities, the whistling language is simply indispensable, since it cannot be easily recognized by the enemy. For example, the Australian Army is known to have hired a person who speaks the language from Papua New Guinea to broadcast messages that could confuse Japanese listening devices.

French scientist Julien Meyer of the University of Grenoble has identified more than 70 groups around the world that can use whistling to communicate to a degree comparable to the flexibility of normal speech. The scientist determined that a person who has a sufficient command of the whistling language can decipher it with an accuracy of more than 90%. Most likely, this ability is similar to the mechanism of the nervous system that allows us to carry on a conversation in a crowded room or understand a message uttered in a whisper.

The very existence of such languages ​​demonstrates the linguistic diversity of mankind, as well as the ability of the brain to decipher information from a variety of sources and signal systems. Perhaps these studies will be able to shed light on the very organization of the brain.

In addition, the study of such languages ​​can help to understand the origins of human speech in general. According to one hypothesis, they may have sounded very similar to the whistling language of the Hmong people.

So, dear friends, we arrived on the Fred Olsen ferry to one of the seven islands of the Canary archipelago – the island of La Gomera. I cannot explain why, but as I approached this wonderful island, tears involuntarily came out of my eyes. Perhaps this came from the embellishment of the pristine nature seen, or perhaps because of the excitement of meeting with an unknown, wonderful island. Landscapes amaze with the greenery of steep slopes, which are cut by parallel winding lines of terraces. Everything here is amazing. Especially for me – a tourist who began his journey abroad from the Canary Islands. Not a bad start, you say. Yes, the bar has been raised to an unrealistic height. (For me) And, right away. The first of them was, of course, the largest and most visited – Tenerife. La Gomera is located just 30 km from Tenerife. This is where most tourists come for a day trip around the island

The whistling language (El Silbo) is one of the unique cultural phenomena of La Gomera. The whistling language was created by the first locals for communication through gorges, mountain landscapes. In the XVI century. the inhabitants of La Gomera adapted the whistling language to Spanish, since the Guanche language eventually disappeared from the face of the Earth. Today, silbo is hardly used by the locals; You can hear it at various folklore performances. Silbo uses only six sounds, which can be used to express more than four thousand concepts. Silbo was used in mountainous areas, while it was heard at a distance of up to eight km. With the help of the whistle language, women could call their husbands and children for dinner, shepherds exchanged information about lost and found goats, etc. Also, with the help of a whistle, residents warned each other of danger – for example, when ships approached the shores in search of slaves. Not so long ago, a special school was opened on the island to teach this unique language. Silbo whistling language is one of the national treasures. After a tour of the island, we arrived at one of the local cafes. There we were seated at large long tables with other tourists. Opposite us were German women. When we said that we were from Moscow, they nodded their heads approvingly. After drinking a glass of Spanish wine, we ate Canarian potatoes and other food. Then the most important thing began, for which we came to this cafe. We heard the language of silbo whistling. The young guy whistled something to the girl, and she followed his commands. In particular, it was about where to take something and where to put it. Our Russian-speaking guide translated everything into Russian. All commands were executed correctly. For example, take a mobile phone from a young man in a red T-shirt and give it to a girl with long white hair, etc. If possible, I will upload a video for you where you yourself can hear this amazing whistling language – silbo.

The Silbo language (el silbo – whistle), declared a masterpiece of the intangible heritage of mankind, was first discovered by European researchers on the island of Gomera. Sylbo is not a “spy” signaling system or some kind of Morse code. A silbo speaker (such a person is called a “silbador”), speaks using ordinary Spanish, transposed into a whistle. Silbador puts the tip of his tongue to his teeth and begins to whistle, while pronouncing the words, as in a normal conversation. Experienced “talkers” can whistle any word, phrase, or even an entire poem just as they would in Spanish. It will seem surprising to an inexperienced listener that in an ordinary shrill whistle one can at least distinguish something. However, experienced silbadors recognize every word by the slightest, it would seem, insignificant vibrations and changes in tone. Moreover, over the years, the inhabitants of Homera develop their own style of whistling, which allows the “interlocutors” to easily recognize each other.

Silbo became famous relatively recently. The Spaniards themselves, living on the continent, knew practically nothing about their unusual compatriots. All the more surprising is the fact that the silbo has been preserved and is still “whistled” on it. Fame began to come only in the XX century. For example, in 1906, the silbo was demonstrated to the Spanish king Alfonso XIII. The courtiers informed his majesty about the wonderful whistling language spoken in the Canary Islands. The king did not believe it and ordered that two Gomer soldiers be brought directly to the palace. One soldier went to the far corner of the hall, and the second remained at the throne. The king whispered to him, “Let your friend take off his hat.” From excitement, the campaigner whistled the order not quite accurately. His comrade confidently marched across the hall and decisively tore off the hat from the king himself! Despite this, the monarch was delighted, because such miracles happen in his own state! At the moment, the authorities are doing everything possible to save the silbo. The whistling language is taught in schools in the Canary Islands, and courses are also open to visitors. You can learn to “speak” Silbo well in three months, provided, of course, that you know Spanish.

Very rarely, and above all in order to surprise a foreigner, the inhabitants of the island resort to silbo in direct communication. But the shepherds, being far from each other with their flocks, while away the time for a lively “conversation”.

Children of the islanders are great hunters of silbo: from the age of 11-12 they already begin to whistle whole phrases. Years pass, and each silbador develops its own style of whistling. So, when showing tape recordings of the conversation of some silbadors, listeners easily recognized them by their “voice”.
Whistle languages ​​also exist in parts of Mexico and Equatorial Africa, but they are not as accurate as Silbo. In addition, they consist of tones that are not related to other elements of speech. Silbo, this truly “Homeric whistle”, is built on the basis of the existing language, and this is its uniqueness.

In ancient times, our distant ancestors widely used whistling. While hunting, protecting one’s territory, or when someone suddenly lost their way in primeval forests, a whistle always came to the rescue, which can sound much stronger than a human voice (even a scream). Probably even then the first language based on whistling was formed. Later, the whistle began to be used by shepherds.

With the help of simple signals, the shepherd gave signals to guard dogs, which helped him control and manage the movement of a large herd. It is interesting that the whistle was used for communication not only for communication not only by birds, but even by fish. In many animals, the most complex communication combinations are built on the basis of whistling.

However, communication in the language of whistles is a privilege not only for animals, but also for people. In some countries, even specially developed whistle languages ​​have survived. At present, the whistle has lost its original semantic meaning, but we very often use it in everyday life. (When a whistle is suddenly heard in a dark alley in the evening, the townsfolk unambiguously understand: “Robbing.”

Whistle is heard among fans and judges, construction workers and dockers – many use whistle and cannot imagine their activity without it). Many peoples have a lot of superstitions associated with whistling. For example, the ancient Arabs claimed that the one who whistled defiled his mouth for as much as 40 days.

And European sailors could immediately send the whistler overboard, as he could invite a storm. Nowadays, many peoples have an opinion that a whistle can call trouble or call on dark forces. Remember the familiar phrase? – “Do not whistle in the house. You will lose all the money (whistling).
Note:
Many catchphrases associated with whistling have entered our habitual language, for example: he whistled all his fortune, just whistle and I will appear, whistle everyone upstairs.

If whistling did not play a big role in human life, it would hardly have entered the (vocabulary) apparatus of many peoples. Apparently, its secret meaning is now hidden in the human subconscious. What is the whistle maestro hiding? Many peoples in antiquity had a highly developed communication system, which was based on a whistle. Spirits (ectoplasmic substances), which from time immemorial lived side by side with human civilization, have learned to understand this language. For them, the verbal language familiar to a person seems difficult, but the language of the whistle turned out to be acceptable. Centuries passed, people forgot the virtual language of whistling, but the civilization of ectoplasmic neighbors kept the memory of it.

The essence of this language was remembered only by the initiates, who for many centuries passed this secret from generation to generation. This powerful power was entrusted to secret books, modern magicians resurrect the secret power without even understanding what they are dealing with…

Let’s remember how the shepherd controlled the movement of a large flock. The shepherd trained guard dogs to respond to certain commands (a combination of short and long whistles). Consequently, on one signal the herd was directed to the right, on the other the dogs directed the herd to the left. The spirits (ectoplasmic creatures) that accompany the flock of sheep everywhere could not remain “indifferent” to these whistling signals. The generations of ecto-beings will change and the signals of the shepherd will become familiar to them. Now, even without a herd, they will respond to the command.

Someone will break the silence with a loud whistle and gather invisible aliens around them. Perhaps this is the basis of many superstitions, for example, that a whistle can call trouble or a storm. Nowadays, there is a tribe of “savages” who communicate with each other in a language familiar to humans, but once a year they celebrate the “whistling holiday”, when for three days and nights all members of the tribe communicate with each other only in the whistling language.

Perhaps by doing this they pay tribute to their ancestors who mastered this art to perfection … Is there any evidence that the ancients gave great importance to whistling? Perhaps one of the most important evidence of this is the whistles and whistles of various shapes and designs that have survived to this day are present in the folk craft and folklore of different countries.

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canario
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These examples may contain colloquial words based on your search.

Los alumnos vinieron al colegio vestidos con ropa tradicional canaria.

The children all came to school dressed beautifully in their traditional Canarian costumes.

Aprenderemos sobre la Flora canaria y sus diversos ecosistemas.

We will learn about the Canarian flora and its various ecosystems.

En todas ellas encontraremos abundantes ejemplos de arquitectura popular canaria.

In all of them you will find plentiful examples of Canary Islands popular architecture.

Se ha ejecutado dentro de una típica finca canaria, integrándolo con un fantástico palmeral.

It has been created on a typical Canary Islands estate, and blends harmoniously with a spectacular palm grove.

Allí podrá disfrutar de una sublime cocina canaria e internacional.

You can indulge yourself with the outstanding traditional Canarian and international dishes.

Tus vacaciones no estarán completas sin probar comida típica canaria.

Your holidays will not be complete without trying the typical Canarian food.

Aquí podrá conocer la auténtica vida cotidiana canaria.

Here you can also get a glimpse of the authentic Canarian everyday life.

Restaurantes en Valle Gran Rey ofrecen deliciosa cocina canaria.

Many restaurants in the Valle Gran Rey offer delicious Canarian cuisine.

Cristina es hija de la diseñadora canaria Elena Rubio.

Cristina is a daughter of the Canarian designer, Elena Rubio.

A dicha canonización acudió Felipe Fernández junto a una nutrida representación canaria.

Felipe Fernández attended this canonization along with a large Canarian representation.

La afortunada fue Sonia Santana, una joven cantante canaria.

The lucky one was Sonia Santana, a young Canarian singer.

Asunto: Problemas con la industria tabaquera canaria

Subject: Problems affecting the tobacco sector in the Canary Islands

La administración canaria y española siempre llega tarde.

Canarian and Spanish administration is always late.

De nuestros fogones salen los más deliciosos y típicos platos de la gastronomía canaria.

From our kitchen come the most delicious and typical dishes of Canarian cuisine.

El Ayuntamiento de La Orotava ofrecerá una cena canaria a los asistentes, acompañantes matriculados incluidos.

A Canarian Dinner will be offered by the Town Council of La Orotava for the participants and registered accompanying persons.

La cocina canaria aúna tradición y modernidad.

Canarian cuisine combining tradition with modernity.

Oportunidad única de comprar una casa de campo canaria en Los Blanquitos, Granadilla.

Rare opportunity to purchase an old Canarian farmhouse in Los Blanquitos, Granadilla.

Esta antigua casa canaria fue rehabilitada recientemente y está perfectamente preparada para una pareja ofreciendo un ambiente cálido y romántico.

This old Canarian house was recently renovated and is perfectly suited for a couple offering a warm and romantic atmosphere.

Posiblemente el plato de la gastronomía canaria por excelencia.

Possibly the dish of Canarian gastronomy par excellence.

Mágnifico hotel para descansar, en un ambiente familiar y tranquilo, disfrutando de la hospitalidad canaria.

Great hotel for a rest in a quiet family atmosphere, enjoying the Canarian hospitality.

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Islas Canarias – Traduccin al ingls – Linguee

canario traducir del español al inglés: Diccionario Cambridge

canario

adjective

  /ka’naɾjo/ (also canaria /ka’naɾja/)

Canarian

El mojo picón es habitual en la comida canaria.

The mojo picón is common in Canarian food.

canario

noun

  [ masculine ] /ka’naɾjo/

canary

canario cantor

singing canary

Los canarios suelen tenerse en jaulas.

Traducción de canario | Diccionario PASSWORD Español–Inglés

canario

noun

canary
[noun] a type of small, yellow, singing bird, kept as a pet.

Ejemplos de canario

canario

Ya se sabe que si los canarios mueren, hay que salir de la mina, y esos son the small island states .

If the canary drops dead, you know you have to get out of the mine, and that is what these small island states are.

De Europarl Parallel Corpus – Spanish-English