Whistling

Whistling system of the Hmong people, described in Busnel et al. (1989) and Rialland (2005). Methods of whistling include the use of fingers or leaves held between the lips (Busnel et al. 1989:42). The language is tonal, with 7 distinct lexical tones in the White Hmong variety studied by Rialland. Unlike the flute (raj) or free-reed mouth organ (qeej), the whistling system reproduces the pitch contours of spoken utterances closely. Also, as in the Hmong jaw harp system, certain consonant contrasts are encoded, albeit with much less articulatory specificity: “voiced nasals, laterals, and glides were regularly realized as continuous sounds, while all others, which form the natural classes of obstruents and voiceless sounds, were realized with a silent period” (Rialland 2005:26). Content includes courtship dialogues between men and women (Busnel et al. 1989:45).

R. G., B., Alcuri, G., Gautheron, B., & Rialland, A. (1989). Sur quelques aspects physiques de la langue à ton sifflée du peuple H’mong. Cahiers de l’Asie Du Sud-Est, 26, 39–52.,Rialland, A. (2005). Phonological and phonetic aspects of whistled languages. Phonology, 22(2), 237–271. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675705000552