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The Sweet Whistling Language That Transforms Humans into Nightingales

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If you ever visit La Gomera, one of the small islands that make up the Canaries, you are guaranteed to hear some sweet nightingale. Wonderful whistling sounds! While some may come from the golden-voiced bird itself, chances are most that you are hearing them coming from the residents, who believe it or not, are pronouncing actual words to each other in a language they call Silbo Gomera (Spanish for 'Gomeran Whistle').

Nobody knows for sure how this whistling language originated, since it was invented even before the original residents of the island came to settle there. It is believed that before the last of them left the island in the 16th century, they passed it on to the Spanish settlers who not only adopted it, but also, translated it to Spanish.

Like most ancient languages, it was used until about the 19th century and then began to die down. By the late 20th century, hardly anyone could 'speak' this unique whistling language. Alarmed at the loss of what was regarded as a cultural heritage, the local government decided to step in and make the language compulsory for all students.

Today, all the residents of this tiny island are good at Silbo Gomera and take great pride in chirping (щебетать) away at each other. Also, while there are a few other whistling languages around the world, this is the only one that is fully developed - one where every vowel and consonant of the local spoken language, Castilian Spanish can be mimicked by distinct whistles, making for some real sweet sounds!

 

1. The whistling language is one of the variants of Spanish. T

2. Tourists who come to the island learn the whistling language. NS

3. The inhabitants never speak, they either sing or whistle. NS

4. The language was used only in pre-historic times. F

5. The inhabitants of the island are proud of their native language. T

6. Silbo Gomera is an artificial language created in the 19th century. F

7. The local authorities open special schools to teach everybody the unique language. NS

8. There are a lot of whistling languages in the world like Silbo Gomera. F

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