Strange language: Whistling to communicate

Despite numerous objections, all elementary students residing on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands of Spain must learn an ancient whistling language called Silbo. Compared to memorizing irregular verbs in French or English, memorizing the Silbo language components is thought to be much more difficult.

Silbo, a version of the once-orthodox language of all communities on La Gomera island in the 16th and 17th centuries, consisted of only 2 - 4 vowels, 4 consonants and using whistles to create every Its sound shell.

Silbo language only includes 2 - 4 vowels, 4 consonants and use whistling to create all its sound pods.(Photo: Alamy)

The economic difficulties of the 1950s made the use of Silbo language degenerate, since most people "said" this language had to remove it and use other languages ​​to make money. At the end of the 20th century, the whistling language fell into a dying state.

However, Silbo language is now officially protected by local authorities as an example of "intangible cultural heritage" . Efforts led to the restoration of this particular language.

According to a research article on Today I Found Out, Silbo originated from an older language version called "Silbo Gomero" (meaning whistling of Gomero people). This language has been used throughout the Canary Islands and people can hear tingling whistles from Gran Canaria to Tenerife and from El Hiero to La Gomera.

Aboriginal Guanche on the islands almost "said" Silbo Gomero before the Spaniards occupied the place and caused the indigenous language to die slowly around the 17th century. Experts said, the Guanche had originated from North Africa and brought whistle language to this land with them.

Every elementary student residing on La Gomera island had to learn the ancient Silbo whistling language.(Photo: Daily Mail)

However, today, preserved Silbo is a form of whistling of the Spanish language. It began to be used in the 16th century after the last members of the Guanche Aborigines transformed their whistling languages ​​to match Spanish.

Whatever the origin of Silbo, it is believed that this particular language was developed as a form of communication and communication in the distance.

La Gomera terrain includes hills, valleys and streams. Therefore, the whistling sound can be resounded to more than 3.2km on the island, helping residents stay away from each other uninterrupted communication. This is particularly relevant when La Gomera used to be mainly an agricultural island with endless fields and free-range herds.