Whistle something in Silbo Gomero?

Yeah, I know this is a little unusual as languages go, but in the Canary Islands (La Gomera in particular) there is a method of whistling that used to be used to communicate in Berber, but as of the 16th century is instead used to communicate in Spanish over long distances. There are roughly 20,000 speakers (for lack of a better word) and it is recognised by UNESCO as part of the world’s intangible heritage.

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A similar type of language is communicated in one of the Greek islands too: there is a mini documentary on it, which is really fascinating. It’s so interesting that they are separated by thousands of miles but use the same technique to communicate over vast distances!

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The Greek version (Sfyria) came up in another discussion a while back. I agree, fascinating to hear that the same technique of communication is used in such different places! Might be a bit difficult to learn and teach via SSi, but you never know… :slight_smile:

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I remember @aran saying somewhere here, at some point, that the ultimate aim would be to have all languages on here accessible from all others, via the magic of the SSiBorg – so, Spanish through the medium of Welsh, for example, rather than having to do everything via English.

You can see where I’m going with this.

Yup, that’s right: I’m holding out for a Whistle Something in Sfyria course, taught through the medium of Silbo Gomero. It has to be done.

In fact, now that I’ve named it, somewhere, down another trouser leg of time, I’m pretty sure it necessarily exists. Now all we have to do is reverse the polarity of the neutron flow…

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Sigh. Now you’ve gone ahead and said it, I suspect you’re probably right. [adds note on ‘to do’ list]

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You know I’m right. It’d be insane – like the Clangers on acid. People would get PhDs out of trying to figure out if was actually a language course or Dada :smile:

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:astonished: :laughing: :grin:

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