whistling

Whistling system used by the Chinantec people of San Pedro Sochiapam in Oaxaca, Mexico, described by Foris (2000) and Sicoli (2016) and documented in the TV broadcast "Whistles in the mist" (Duncan 2014). The language has lexical tone, with "seven tones: high1, mid2, low3, high-to-low fall13, mid-to-low fall23, low-to-mid rise32, and mid-to-high rise21" (414), as well as two distinct stress patterns for each syllable: "ballistic" (short, high intensity and rapid decline) and "controlled" (longer, steady decline) (414). Verbal and nominal inflection, including tense-aspect marking, has a tonal component. Additionally, questions can trigger "tone umlaut producing a complex set of tone correspoences that are generally higher than the declarative version of the initial element of the sentence" (415).Whistled pitches generally track the phonetic pitch of spoken equivalents closely, including grammatical tone and prosodic features. Consonants are not encoded except for syllable-final glottal stops marked by a break in the whistled signal.Sicoli (2016) describes how whistled Chinantec is more discursively rigid and simplified compared to the spoken language. Turn-taking does not usually overlap, whistled utterances are generally restricted to one proposition, and the conventions of conversational repair are more restricted than in spoken Chinantec. Whistled utterances also usually end in the utterance-final lexical marker réi13, which "functions similarly to 'over' in radio operator talk" to mark the end of a turn (414).Sochiapam Chinantec whistling is practiced only by men and boys, though women also understand it. A "smaller set" of the men and youth can carry on a conversation, though most youths generally only whistle a few common phrases (Duncan 2014). Whistling is used in open spaces for long-distance communication, particular for coordinating work efforts. It is less common and used in fewer contexts than in the past due to the arrival of walkie-talkies and other telecommunication.

Foris, D.P. (2000). A grammar of Sochiapam Chinantec. Dallas: SIL International and UT Arlington.,Sicoli, M. A. (2016). Repair organization in Chinantec whistled speech. https://doi.org/10.1353/LAN.2016.0028,Duncan, D. (2014). Whistles in the mist (Television Broadcast S2, E10). In In the Americas with David Yetman. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPuE0UMEMEs