
The curious case of whistled languages and their lack of left-brain dominance - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/08/the-curious-case-of-whistled-languages-and-their-lack-of-left-brain-dominance/
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codezero
It's really interesting how this type of communication works, you can read up
about the details on Wikipedia [1].

Also, this page [2] has some cool examples of sine-wave speech that you can
listen to in order to understand how people can understand whistled speech.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistled_language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistled_language)
[2] [http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/sine-wave-
spe...](http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/sine-wave-speech/)

~~~
Gravityloss
Link 2, that's pure magic. I recommend to everyone, just listen the files in
the order given.

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esrauch
Interestingly in the first audio example of [2] I was able to understand the
sentence before listening to the clear version. I've heard other examples of
this phenomenon before (perhaps these exact examples on NPR?) and I recall
definitely not making it out then, so maybe something was stuck in my brain
the first time.

~~~
jcranmer
After listening only to the first one about four or five times, I made out "It
was a funny day when the children were going to the park." Even after priming
with the clear version, "sunny" _still_ sounds like "funny," although the
other text was _much_ clearer.

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davidw
I wonder if they also studied this one:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbo_Gomero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbo_Gomero)

~~~
gpvos
Not in this study, but the actual article, linked at the bottom, does refer to
an earlier study on the whistled language of La Gomera.

Also, Wikipedia says that Silbo Gomero is "one of the best-studied whistling
languages".

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forkandwait
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boatswain%27s_call](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boatswain%27s_call)

I wonder if the boatswain calls count as a whistled language?

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lawpoop
I heard this yesterday on NPR, and wondered if singing is processed similarly.
It's another phenomenon that is half-music, half-language.

~~~
jerelunruh
Singing does use a different part of the brain than speech and it _would_ be
interesting to know if it's similar to listening to whistling.

Someone in my family used to stutter badly but their singing has always been
flawless

~~~
Zancarius
Not surprising. That was the same case with John Paul Larkin whose stage name
Scatman John[1] probably rings a few bells. Although his style of singing lent
itself well to (ab)use of stuttering. _Very_ curious how that works, though.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scatman_John](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scatman_John)

