Свистящий язык Гомеры: Наследие ЮНЕСКО

Whistled language

Silbo Gomero (lang es ˈsilβo ɣoˈmeɾo, "Gomeran whistle"), also known as el silbo ("the whistle"), is a whistled register of Spanish used by inhabitants of La Gomera in the Canary Islands, historically used to communicate across the deep ravines and narrow valleys that radiate through the island. It enabled messages to be exchanged over a distance of up to five kilometres. Due to its loudness, Silbo Gomero is generally used for public communication. Messages conveyed range from event invitations to public information advisories. A speaker of Silbo Gomero is sometimes called a silbador ("whistler"). Silbo Gomero is a transposition of Spanish from speech to whistling. This oral phoneme whistled phoneme substitution emulates Spanish phonology through a reduced set of whistled phonemes. In 2009, UNESCO declared it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Little is known of the original Guanche language or the languages of the Canaries, but it is assumed that their phonological system must have been simple enough to allow an efficient whistled language. Used by the island's original inhabitants, the Guanches, the whistled language existed before the arrival of Spanish settlers and was also spoken on 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 into the following 17th century. In 1976 Silbo barely remained on el Hierro, where it had flourished at the end of the 19th century. Use of the language declined in the 1950s, one factor being the economic decline, which led many speakers to move away to seek better jobs. Technological developments such as the telephone played a part in reducing the practicality and utility of the language. The language's earlier survival had been due to its role in overcoming distance and terrain, in addition to the ease with which it is learned by native speakers. Most significantly, from the 1960s to 1980s, many people turned away from agriculture and so many middle class families did not want their children to speak the language as it was negatively associated with the rural peasants. In the late 1990s, language revitalization efforts began and initiatives from within the community started. By 1999, the revitalization of Silbo Gomero was furthered by education policies and other legislative measures. It now has official protection as an example of intangible cultural heritage.

Many people in La Gomera speak Silbo Gomero, but their expression of the language deviates in minor ways that show the speaker's origins. According to a 2009 UNESCO report, all of La Gomera's inhabitants understand the language, but only those born before 1950 and the younger generations who attended school since 1999 can speak it.

Silbo Gomero's consonants are modifications of the vowel based "melody line" or "vocal line". They may rise or fall, and can be modified by being broken, continuous or occlusive. The four main consonants in the now largely debunked and disproven 1978 analysis were wrongly listed as follows:

Moviemaker and photographer Francesca Phillips wrote and directed a 26 minute documentary on the usage of Silbo Gomero in La Gomera, Written in the Wind (2009). The movie won Best Short Documentary in Anthropology at The World Mountain Documentary Festival held in Qinghai, China in 2010. Romanian moviemaker Corneliu Porumboiu directed the 2019 movie The Whistlers, in which Silbo features prominently. French singer Féloche dedicated a song to Silbo. There are other examples of transposition of an oral natural language into a pitch string. When quickly spoken, Yoruba vowels are assimilated and consonants elided, so the linguistic information is carried by the tone system, which can therefore be transposed into talking drums.