An article by Sarah Andrews, Associated Press writer, has been making the rounds on the internet this week. That article, along with the recent Massey Lecture series, has got me thinking about language, in particular languages that are disappearing. In Andrews’ case, however, it is about a language that is returning. Her article, “Near-Extinct 'Whistling Language' Returns,” is about the Canary Islands and silbo.
Silbo, Andrews defines as follows: “Silbo - the word comes from the Spanish verb silbar, meaning to whistle - features four ‘vowels’ and four ‘consonants’ that can be strung together to form more than 4,000 words. It sounds just like bird conversation and Cabello says it has plenty of uses.”
Cabello is Juan Cabello, a silbador, someone who knows this whistling language that can be heard more than two miles away. Apparently silbo came to the tiny, mountainous La Gomera, one of Spain’s Canary Islands off West Africa, 2,500 years ago with early African settlers. The whistle saved peasants from trekking distances to send messages or news to neighbours. It’s still used to call a lost friend in a crowd, to tell your kids to come home for dinner or to fetch the castanets as is the case in this bit of dialogue:
Here’s a link to the full article, including the translation of the dialogue.
We all tell stories in different ways. As James says, "what's your story?"
FYI: The book is available at Pages (Queen West) in Toronto. They had three -- count 'em, three -- copies. Now there are two.
Congrats, again, James. She's a beaut!
Posted by: Toronto Craig at November 21, 2003 08:32 AM