Whistled language: Difference between revisions

The expressivity of whistled speech is likely to be somewhat limited compared to spoken speech (although not inherently so), but such a conclusion should not be taken as absolute, as it depends heavily on various factors including the [[phonology]] of the language.{{Weasel inline|date=July 2013}} For example, in some tonal languages with few tones, whistled messages typically consist of stereotyped or otherwise standardized expressions, are elaborately descriptive, and often have to be repeated. However, in heavily tonal languages such as [[Mazatecan languages|Mazatec]] and [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], a large amount of information is conveyed through pitch even when spoken, and therefore extensive conversations may be whistled. In any case, even for non-tonal languages, measurements indicate that high intelligibility can be achieved with whistled speech (90%) of intelligibility of non-standardized sentences for Greek<ref name=Meyer2005/> and the equivalent for Turkish.<ref name=Busnel1970>Busnel, R.-G. (1970) "Recherches expérimentales sur la langue sifflée de Kuşköy", ''Revue de phonétique appliquée'' 14/15: 41&ndash;57</ref>