Whistled language

A whistle language is a communication system using whistles. The whistled languages are not languages in the strict sense of the word, but codes or conversions of the phonemes of an already existing language into whistles with certain tones, lengths and intensities. In most cases, whistling is done with the mouth, although some African whistling languages require the use of a whistle.

Because the expressiveness of whistling is limited compared to verbal communication systems, whistled messages are usually short and often must be repeated. The main advantage is that communication can take place over long distances (usually one to two kilometers, but sometimes up to 5 km). Whistled languages typically develop in sparsely populated areas and inaccessible terrain.

Neurolinguistics of whistled language

Neurolinguistics is the disciplinary area dependent on neuroanatomy that is concerned with the brain computation of human language. Normally the main areas of the brain that are in charge of processing language are cortical areas of the left hemisphere of the brain; however, it has been shown that for the Turkish whistle (a type of whistled language based on the whistled form of Turkish), it requires the use of both cerebral hemispheres equally, because the melody, the frequency and the tone, the whistle features are processed in the right hemisphere.

List of whistled languages

Whistling languages are extremely rare today. The following languages exist or have existed in whistled form^{[citation needed]}:

• America
  • Mexico: amuzgo, chinanteco, chol, kikapú, mazateco, náhuatl, otomí, tepehua, totonaca, zapoteca
  • Bolivia: Syrian
  • Brazil: pirahã
• Asia
  • Burma: chin
  • Nepal: chepang
  • Turkey: kuskoy
• Europe
  • GreeceGreece: Greek whistled in the city of Antia (Eubea)
  • France: French whistled in the village of Aas (Pyrenees)
  • SpainSpain: Spanish (silbo gomero) in La Gomera (Islas Canarias).
  • SpainSpain: Spanish (silbo herreño) in El Hierro (Islas Canarias).
• Africa:
  • bafia, bape birifor, bobo, burunsi, daguri, ewe, marka, tshi, ule

• Oceania
  • Papua New Guinea: gasup, binumarien