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Whistled language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Whistled languages differ according to whether the spoken language is tonal or not, with the whistling being either tone or articulation based. Whistled languages are normally found and used in locations with abrupt relief created by difficult mountainous terrain, slow or difficult communication (no telephones), low population density and/or scattered settlements, and other isolating features such as sheepherding and cultivation of hillsides (ibid: 27-8). Though whistled languages are not secret codes or secret languages (with the exception of a whistled language used by ñañigos terrorists in Cuba during Spanish occupation (ibid: 22)), they may be used for secretive communication among outsiders or other who do not know or understand the whistled language though they may understand its spoken origin. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Whistled_language   (964 words)

whistled language   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) As the expressivity of whistle sound is limited compared to ordinary speech, whistled messages are typically short and standard and often have to be repeated. The main advantage of whistling speech is that it allows to cover much larger distances (typically 1-2 km but up to 5 km) than ordinary speech. Languages communicated by whistling are extremely rare among the world's languages. www.yourencyclopedia.net /Whistled_language   (278 words)

Whistled Language Shepherds who whistle to each other across the rocky terrain of the Canary Islands off northwest Africa are shedding light on the language-processing abilities of the human brain, according to scientists. Researchers say the endangered whistled "language'" of Gomera island activates parts of the brain normally associated with spoken language, suggesting that the brain is remarkably flexible in its ability to interpret sounds as language. Whistled languages survive today in Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Vietnam, Guyana, China, Nepal, Senegal, and a few mountainous pockets in southern Europe. www.crystalinks.com /whistledlanguage.html   (767 words)

Whistled language Such languages ignore phonemes and communicate solely based on tone, length and stress. Languages which are whistled include Pirahã, many African languages, including Yoruba[?] and Ngwe, and some dialects of Zapotec. French is whistled in some areas of western Africa, and Silbo is a whistled dialect of Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands. www.ebroadcast.com.au /lookup/encyclopedia/wh/Whistled_language.html   (72 words)

Language Miniatures 3: Whistled languages   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) In languages like these, because the voice's rising and falling carries a share of the meaning, when a number of words are strung together into a sentence (which is what we normally do in speech), its speakers can communicate a message to each other by the intonation alone far more easily than we ever could. Since the rhythms of village life tend to be fairly predictable, the speakers of this language are obviously being aided by their mutual knowledge of what is likely to be said. Whistling is by no means the only way to communicate a melody. home.bluemarble.net /~langmin/miniatures/whistle.htm   (807 words)

LINGUIST List 12.419: Talking Drums & Whistled Speech All whistled langs occur in ecological settings (mountains and hills) which present difficulties to normal communicative efforts. The primary function of whistled speech appears to be long-distance communication, not secrecy; however, whistled speech is heard frequently in Antia at close quarters. The whistles carry over longer distances than spoken words, so whistle speech is often used in the fields or from one mountain top to another. www.ling.ed.ac.uk /linguist/issues/12/12-419.html   (1628 words)

[No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) It might seem appropriate for a language that sounds like birdsong to exist in the Canary Islands, but scholarly theories as to how the archipelago got its name make no mention of whistling. An important step toward recovering the language was the First International Congress of Whistled Languages, held in April in La Gomera. Silbo-like whistling has been found in pockets of Greece, Turkey, China and Mexico, but none is as developed as Silbo Gomero, Plasencia says. www.asu.edu /educ/epsl/LPRU/newsarchive/Art3129.txt   (535 words)

The Original Language of the Canary Islands | Antimoon Forum It may have been a Berber language, but considering it's extinct at this point, and not that much is known about it at this point, well, we really cannot be quite sure, and it's unlikely that we every will be. The language has been passed on from father to son as it was essential to be able to communicate over long distances across the inaccessible valleys. Note that the use of whistled language, which is not a language as so much as a manner of speaking, is not the same thing as the Guanche language, which was the original language of the Canary Islands, and which is now extinct. www.antimoon.com /forum/posts/6857.htm   (807 words)

Brain processes whistled language just as spoken   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) When the whistlers listened to Silbo sentences, regions in the left side of their brain were activated, including areas linked to language production and comprehension, along with a region in the right hemisphere thought to be associated with linguistic processing. But the Silbadores (whistlers) were analyzing differently, as a language, and engaging those areas associated with language," he added in a statement. Whistled languages are also used in Greece, Turkey, China and Mexico, according to Corina. www.meritcare.com /news/world/viewarticle.asp?id=17777   (372 words)

Whales on the Net - Dolphin Intelligence This development is a new approach to language teaching that uses the process of social bonding and the resulting bonds themselves to create consistent behavior. on the plane of whistled languages it is in theory perfectly possible to use this type of FM as a basis for language teaching. It is still scientifically possible that dolphins may someday demonstrate communication abilities at or near the adult human level using a human whistled language or a deciphered dolphin communication code. whales7.tripod.com /policies/levasseur/levass3b.html   (2576 words)

Whales on the Net - Dolphin Intelligence A related explanation of the tail-slap response is that possibly Puka was combining her response to the task, the tail raising, with her displeasure over being asked to perform an act for which she had never been trained, the slap. It was then tempting to examine the possibility of teaching them, instead of speech, for which they are not particularly well equipped anatomically or phonetically, a whistled language, better suited to their natural characteristics. Whereas the sign language of deaf-mutes, for instance, is truly a surrogate since it is a substitute for normal speech, whistled languages do not replace but rather complement it in certain specific circumstances. whales7.tripod.com /policies/levasseur/levass2b.html   (2352 words)

Fourth Floor Studio: Diversity of linguistic signals   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) The ability to process language signal is apparently a uniquely human trait, involving specialised areas of the brain, particularly one in the left hemisphere known as Broca's area. The thing that struck me here is the diversity of signals the human brain is capable of interpreting as language: we know that systems using at least three of our five senses are useful (spoken language uses hearing; sign language uses vision; and braille uses touch). As a parallel, consider that the majority of languages can be represented with a limited number of signs in the alphabet; furthermore, proteins are made of combinations of around 20 amino acids, all DNA from four nucleotides (both with very rare exceptions). www.cotsapas.org /cgi_bin/mt/archives/000262.html   (471 words)

Home   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) For the same reason, it is worthwhile to mention here the research project, "Language, gesture, and pictures from the point of view of semiotic development", initiated two years ago, which is a collaborative effort by the Departments of semiotics, linguistics, and cognitive science at the University of Lund (henceforth called the SGB-project; cf. The Sixth China Language and Semiotics Conference was held at Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China from November 5 to 7. In a plenary speech, Professor Hu Zhuanglin, chairman of China Language and Semiotics Society, reported on a special topic entitled: "Orality,literacy,and Hypertext: Changes in the Relationship between Language and Perceptive Mode." He showed that the way for people to know the world and transmit knowledge in the earliest days is by way of orality. www.semioticon.com /semiotix/newsletterindex3.htm   (10056 words)

Language - Unipedia   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) Language is a system of finite arbitrary symbols combined according to rules of grammar for the purpose of communication. The Tolkaappiyam (தொல்காப்பியம் in Tamil) is a book on the grammar of the Tamil language, dating about 200BC by Tolkāppiyar, is said to be the world's oldest surviving grammar for any language. Other constructed languages strive to be more logical than natural languages; a prominent example of this is Lojban. www.unipedia.info /Language.html   (1184 words)

Near-Extinct 'Whistling Language' Returns (sample audio clip - very cool!)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) Whistling is banned in the Burlington Arcade in London because groups of pickpockets used to use a form of whistling language to communicate about their marks. I heard several men whistling back and forth in a small village outside of Xalapa, Mexico (east coast) and one of them explained to me that the other guy was saying 'where are you going?' and he replied with a whistle that meant, 'home'. Anybody who thinks "whistling language" is nearly extinct has never been to a fraternity retreat after the boys have been into the beer and beans. www.freerepublic.com /focus/f-news/1023079/posts   (2000 words)

CNN.com - Nearly extinct whistling language revived - Nov. 18, 2003   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) Juan Cabello demonstrates the whistling 'Silbo Gomero' language on the island of Gomera. Silbo -- the word comes from Spanish verb silbar, meaning to whistle -- features four "vowels" and four "consonants" that can be strung together to form more than 4,000 words. A strong whistle saved peasants from trekking over hill and dale to send messages or news to neighbors. www.cnn.com /2003/TECH/science/11/18/whistle.language.ap   (716 words)

Methods of Self   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) There are many, many forms of language, from the binary language that we use in computers and more generally in electronics to Silbo Gomero, a whistled language that is nearly extinct, but can be heard and understood from two miles away. The most obvious use of any language is communication, and it is with language that we are able to form teams for hunting, exchange ideas, settle disputes peacefully or escalate them beyond control. With language and imagination we have been able to expand our knowledge of everything from the workings of our own blueprints to the structure of the world smaller than the atom to the compositions of stars light years away, all within the last century. www.capoeiraresources.com /Matt/LanguageAndAbstraction.html   (908 words)

CNN.com - Near-extinct 'whistling language' stages comeback - Nov. 16, 2003 But almost as important as speaking -- sorry, whistling -- Silbo is studying where it came from, and little is known. Little is known about Silbo's origins, but an important step toward recovering the language was the First International Congress of Whistled Languages, held in April in La Gomera. Silbo-like whistling has been found in pockets of Greece, Turkey, China and Mexico, but none is as developed as Silbo Gomero, Plasencia said. www.cnn.com /2003/WORLD/europe/11/16/offbeat.save.the.whistle.ap   (716 words)

Mirabilis.ca: language Archives Malti, a Semitic language that sounds like a gentler, less guttural Turkish, apparently only began to be used for literary purposes in the 17th century, which might explain why it is convoluted and impenetrable to foreigners: it grew wildly, without primers or grammar to confine it. It is the language of Goethe, the Brothers Grimm and Bertolt Brecht. The language was used widely in the three adjacent counties of Jiangyong, Daoxian and Jianghua, but was on the verge of extinction today for lack of use, he said. www.mirabilis.ca /archives/cat_language.html   (12662 words)

[No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) Their brilliant solution to the land's endless hills and valleys was El Silbo Gomero, a language that's whistled, not spoken. Over time, it evolved into a complex language with four "vowels" and four "consonants" that allowed the islanders to express complex thoughts and ideas over long distances. And like a bird talking back to a bird, he whistled, "Adiós." ***Sidebar*** The Future of Silbo Since 1999, Silbo is an obligatory school subject for students up to age 14. www.sarahandrews.com /SilboHunt.doc   (1198 words)

Silbo - Audioasis - Neuroasis   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) Silbo — the word comes from Spanish verb silbar, meaning to whistle — features four "vowels" and four "consonants" that can be strung together to form more than 4,000 words. But almost as important as speaking — sorry, whistling — Silbo is studying where it came from, and little is known. The musical phrases that they are using in this whistling dialogue sound very reminiscent of Native American Flute songs. www.neuroasis.com /cgi-bin/twiki/bin/view/Audioasis/Silbo   (699 words)

All words on Language This, however, is not a scientific question, but rather one of definition. Virtually all researchers agree that, although human and animal languages have analogous features, they are not homologous. Mark Rosenfelder's Metaverse provides a useful listing of 4000 languages and dialects (grouped by their relationships), where the numbers one to ten in each language can be found www.allwords.org /la/language.html   (1060 words)

the language feed   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) The first national survey of adult Japanese language skills in 50 years could come as early as 2006. Anyone with a passing interest in the history of the English language knows that the word posh originally stood for port out, starboard home. Drawing a linkage between awareness of the “strategic” language and national security, the Bush administration and senior education officials are intensely collaborating to foster study of the Arabic language in American schools. mason.gmu.edu /~smorris2/feed/010905.html   (341 words)

languagehat.com: Comment on PIRAHA UPDATE. Now here is a language, with only 7 vowels and 3 vowels, and open syllables, and no consonant cluster, in which "head" can be indifferently 'apapaí, kapapaí, papapaí, 'a'a'aí, kakakaí. I recently wrote an article discussing whistled languages (email me if you want a copy, although I still have some editing yet to go), and tonal languages tend to eliminate all articulatory gestures and simply use the tone itself to communicate when whistling. If a language can be simplified simply to tone, then some free variation in phonology, while implausible to this extent, is not impossible, either. www.languagehat.com /mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=1524   (1308 words)

Whistling Languages I'm doing a paper on the whistling language (and maybe the pre-historic languages) of the Canary Islands. As for older Canarian languages, Guanche seems to be the only language that has survived in any form. 1984 'Lybic-Guanche language community as a foundation for ethnic and anthropological parallels between the native speakers', Materials of the Conference on Linguistic Reconstruction and the prehistory of Orient, Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow, pp. www-personal.umich.edu /~jlawler/ask/whistle.html   (390 words)

Herders' Whistled Language Shows Brain's Flexibility   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03) Their novel means of staying in touch allows them to communicate over long distances—Silbador whistles can travel up to six miles (ten kilometers). A Silbador from Gomera in the Canary Islands uses the whistled language Silbo Gomero as a means of remote communication. The language recodes the vowels and consonants of individual Spanish words into whistles. news.nationalgeographic.com /news/2005/01/0105_050105_whistle_language.html   (649 words)

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