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Emulation of speech by whistling

Whistled languages are linguistic systems that use whistling to emulate speech and facilitate communication between individuals.

A whistled language is a system of whistled communication which allows fluent whistlers to transmit and comprehend a potentially unlimited number of messages over long distances. Whistled languages are different in this respect from free associative whistling, which may be done to simulate music, to attract attention, or, in the case of herders or animal trainers, to transmit simple messages or instructions to animal companions. Generally, whistled languages emulate the tones or vowel formants of a natural spoken language, as well as aspects of its intonation and prosody, so that trained listeners who speak that language can understand the encoded message. Whistled language is rare compared to spoken language, but it is found in cultures around the world. It is especially common in tone languages where the whistled tones transmit the tones of the syllables (tone melodies of the words). This might be because in tone languages the tone melody carries more of the functional load of communication while non tonal phonology carries proportionally less. The genesis of a whistled language has never been recorded in either case and has not yet received much productive study.

Because whistled language is so much rarer than standard vocal language or non verbal physical language such as sign language, historical research on whistled speech is sparse. In early China, the technique of transcendental whistling, or xiao, was a kind of nonverbal language with affinities to the spiritual aspects of Daoist meditation. The development of xiao as a practice and art form can be traced through the works of the Western Zhou dynasty, and it was initially used to convey a sense of grief, or to invoke the spirits of dearly departed loved ones. By the time of the Six Dynasties in Han China, xiao had become a widely used complement to spoken language, irrespective of social class. Due to the shrill tones employed while whistling, xiao was often used to punctuate intense feelings or reactions, such as joy, displeasure, and surprise. In the Melpomene, the fourth book of his Histories, Herodotus makes a passing reference to an Ethiopian tribe who "spoke like bats". While travelling through the territory of an ancient tribe on the southern Black Sea coast in 400 B. C. E, Xenophon wrote in the Anabasis that the Mossynoeci inhabitants could hear one another at great distances across the valleys. The same area encompasses the Turkish village of Kuşköy where whistled speech (kuş dili) is practiced today. Aelian later wrote in De Natura Animalium of the Kinoprosipi people of North Africa, who made use of "acute whistling," who later historians believe were likely a tribe of the Anuak in South Sudan. In 1982 in the Greek village of Antia on Euboea island, the entire population knew the local whistled speech called sfyria, but only a few whistlers remain now.

Whistle languages have naturally developed in response to the necessity for humans to communicate in conditions of relative isolation, with possible causes being distance, noise levels, and night, as well as specific activities, such as social information, shepherding, hunting, fishing, courtship, or shamanism. The main advantage of whistling speech is that it allows the speaker to cover much larger distances (typically but up to in mountains and less in reverberating forests) than ordinary speech, without the strain (and lesser range) of shouting. More specifically, whistle speech can reach a loudness of 130 dB, and the transmission range can reach up to 10 km (as verified in La Gomera, Canary Island). The long range of whistling is enhanced by the mountainous terrain found in areas where whistled languages are used. Many areas with such languages work hard to preserve their ancient traditions, in the face of rapidly advancing telecommunications systems in many areas.

In some cases (e. g. Chinantec) the whistled speech is an important and integral part of the language and culture; in others (e. g. Nahuatl) its role is much lesser. Whistled speech may be very central and highly valued in a culture. Shouting is very rare in Sochiapam Chinantec. Men in that culture are subject to being fined if they do not handle whistle speech well enough to perform certain town jobs. They may whistle for fun in situations where spoken speech could easily be heard. In Sochiapam, Oaxaca, and other places in Mexico, and reportedly in West and Southern Africa as well (specifically among the VhaVenda), whistled speech is men's language: although women may understand it, they do not use it. Though whistled languages are not secret codes or secret languages (with the exception of a whistled language used by ñañigos insurgencies in Cuba during Spanish occupation), However, both types of whistle tones have a phonological structure that is related to the spoken language that they are transposing. Tonal languages are often stripped of articulation, leaving only suprasegmental features such as duration and tone, and when whistled retain the spoken melodic line. Thus whistled tonal languages convey phonemic information solely through tone, length, and, to a lesser extent, stress, and most segmental phonemic distinctions of the spoken language are lost. In non tonal languages, more of the articulatory features of speech are retained, and the normally timbral variations imparted by the movements of the tongue and soft palate are transformed into pitch variations. Certain consonants can be pronounced while whistling, so as to modify the whistled sound, much as consonants in spoken language modify the vowel sounds adjacent to them. Different whistling styles may be used in a single language. Sochiapam Chinantec has three different words for whistle speech: sie3 for whistling with the tongue against the alveolar ridge, jui̵32 for bilabial whistling, and juo2 for finger in the mouth whistling. These are used for communication over varying distances. There is also a kind of loud falsetto (hóh32) which functions in some ways like whistled speech.

Most whistle languages, of which there are several hundred, are based on tonal languages. Only the tone of the speech is saved in the whistle, while aspects as articulation and phonation are eliminated. These are replaced by other features such as stress and rhythmical variations. However, some languages, like that of the Zezuru who speak a Shona derived dialect, include articulation so that consonants interrupt the flow of the whistle. A similar language is the Tsonga whistle language used in the highlands in the Southern parts of Mozambique. This should not be confused with the whistled sibilants of Shona. There are two different types of whistle tones hole tones and edge tones. A hole (or 'orifice') tone is produced by a fast moving cylinder (or 'vena contracta') of air that interacts with the slow moving anulus of air surrounding it. Instability in the boundary layer leads to perturbations that increase in size until a feedback path is established whereby specific frequencies of the resonance chamber are emphasized. An edge tone, on the other hand, is generated by a thin jet of air that strikes an obstacle. Vortices are shed near the point of disturbance in the flow, alternating on each side of the obstacle or 'wedge'. Each place has its favorite trend that depends on the most common use of the village and on the personal preferences of each whistler. Whistling with a leaf or a flute is often related to courtship or poetic expression (reported in the Kickapoo language in Mexico and in the Hmong and Akha cultures in Asia).

"All whistled languages share one basic characteristic: they function by varying the frequency of a simple wave form as a function of time, generally with minimal dynamic variations, which is readily understandable since in most cases their only purpose is long distance communication."

In continental Africa, speech may be conveyed by a whistle or other musical instrument, most famously the "talking drums". However, while drums may be used by griots singing praise songs or for inter village communication, and other instruments may be used on the radio for station identification jingles, for regular conversation at a distance whistled speech is used. As two people approach each other, one may even switch from whistled to spoken speech in mid sentence.