Задание

Read the text and choose the right answer for the question.

How did the people of La Gomera communicate?

Linguists believe there are about 70 whistled languages still in use today, although only 12 are fully understood. Most are found in isolated areas with difficult terrain, such as mountains or canyons, where communication over distances is difficult.

The obvious advantage of whistled speech is that it allows the speaker to communicate over larger distances than ordinary speech. The whistler also has the benefit of reaching a number of people at once. Although this is not practical for those who want a private conversation, it is a convenient and efficient way to spread news fast.

Most whistled languages are based on actual spoken languages and are not secret codes. They express the same information as the spoken language through the tone, length and stress of the whistle.

Several hundred years ago people of La Gomera in the Canary Islands developed a whistled language called "El Sylbo". The islanders needed to communicate over valleys and cliffs. When one person heard a whistle, they passed it on. Islanders became so skilled that messages were successfully spread from one end of the island to the other.

Today El Sylbo is rarely used in everyday communication, however, it is still used to announce community events among the farming communities. In order to protect the language from dying out, the authorities in La Gomera have made El Sylbo a part of the school curriculum. The young people have embraced the idea of learning this whistled language and even see some advantages in it.

The people of La Gomera are fiercely proud of their linguistic heritage. The same pride can be seen in Kuskoy, Turkey - known as the "bird village". About 1,000 residents in and around also use a whistled language to communicate across the rocky valleys. They have 29 whistles, one for each letter of the Turkish alphabet.

"Most people here are farmers and still whistle across the valleys to communicate with their neighbours", explains one of the residents. The village even holds an annual festival for the best whistler. The message from Kuskoy is simple: despite all the advances that have been made in the field of communication, sometimes the old ways are still the best.

They used to repeat the whistles they heard.

We don't know about it.

on actual spoken languages

No, they aren't.