Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

Smart Messages: The Whistled Languages of La Gomera (Spain), Antia (Greece) and Kuşköy (Turkey)
inventions or vestigial remains of a proto-historical general phenomenon which has
succeeded in surviving under certain geographical and cultural conditions.” (Busnel &
Classe 1976: 13)
regions with whistled languages
Europe
name of the (whistled) language linguistically and bioacoustically
described by
Gomera (Spain) Silbo Gomero (Spanish) Classe (1956,1957,1963); Busnel
and Classe (1976); Busnel and
Siegfried (1990); Trujillo (1978);
Meyer (2005)
Island of Evia,
Greek Xiromeritis (1991);
village of Antia (Greece)
Charalambakis (1993); Meyer (2005)
Kuşköy (Turkey) Turkish Busnel (1970); Lenneberg (1970);
Leroy (1970); Moles (1970); Meyer
(2005)
village of Aas (Pyrénées, France)
North America
Béarnais (variety of Gascon) Busnel et al. (1962)
St. Lawrence (Alaska )
Middle and South America
Yupik detected only in 2005
Mexico Amuzgo; Chinantec; Chol; Mixteco;
Nahuatl; Otomi; Totonac; Zapotec
Kickapoo Ritzenthaler and Peterson (1954);
Hurley (1968); Voorhis (1971)
Mazateco Cowan (1948, 1952); Busnel (1981);
Meyer (2005)
Tepehua Cowan (1952, 1971,1972)
Bolivia Sirionó
Brasil
Asia
Mura Pirahã; Gaviaõ; Surui; Wayãpi
Burma Chin
Nepal Chepang Caughley (1976)
Thailand and Laos Akha Meyer (2005)
Hmong Meyer (2005)
Yunnan (China)
Africa
Bai Xian-Ming (2002)
Westafrica Bafi a; Bape; Birifor; Bobo; Burunsi;
Paguri; Ewe; Fongbe; French;
Marka; Ngwe; Tshi; Ule; Yoruba;
Banen (Ndiki); Moba; Ari; Bencnon
Diola (Senegal) Moreau (1997)
Oceania
Papua New Guinea Gasup; Binumarien
Abu (Wam, Arapesh) Nekitel (1992)
1. Wanted: whistled languages around the world
Multilingualism.indb 357 4-12-2006 12:28:46
357