Whistled Languages and Whistled Speech

Abstract

International audienceWhistled languages are secondary speech codes based on whistles anchored to, and derived from, a spoken language thanks to a relation of acoustic iconicity. Whistled languages essentially consist of a complementary/auxiliary modality of speech mostly used for distance communication that is mainly used in language communities maintaining a traditional lifestyle. Indeed, whistles propagate well in natural surroundings. This special speech practice is often called ‘whistled speech’ because its productions maintain and augment some acoustical features of spoken speech while degrading others, to adapt spoken sentences into a simple melodic line modulated in amplitude and frequency