Whistle

Whistling system used by the Gavião people of Rôndonia State in Brazil, described in Moore & Meyer (2014). Whistling is bilabial and labio-manual. The language is tonal, with L, H, downstepped H, and derived high-falling and low-rising tones, as well as vowel length contrasts (616-7). The pitch of whistled utterances reproduces the surface tones of natural speech (624). Some consonant information is encoded: “liquids, nasals and glides were found to be continuous or near-continuous whistles, while obstruents, either voiced or voiceless, were interrupted whistles … voiced consonants are whistled with a shorter closure than voiceless” (626). In the bilabial mode, palatal and dental consonants also corresponded with local pitch distortions. Only men whistle. Content includes extensive use in hunting for covert communication, including description of the game and its movements as well as warnings of danger, and long-distance communication around the village for addressing others and for invitations.

Moore, D., & Meyer, J. (2014). The Study of tone and related phenomena in an Amazonian tone language: Gavião of Rondônia. Language Documentation, 8, 24.