ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a sketch of the different contexts of the use of whistled speech and explains why it is severely endangered almost everywhere worldwide. It analyzes the general factors of the decline and maintenance of whistled language practices and discusses several cases to illustrate this analysis. The traditional subsistence activities that sustain whistled languages are central to the local economy of such communities. Therefore, depreciation of traditional knowledge and of the associated way of life strongly affects whistled speech. Moreover, whistled speech dies before normal speech, which explains why the vitality of whistled speech represents an indicator of the general vitality of the traditional way of life. Whistlers’ choices may be crucial for the maintenance of this practice. This is why defining whistlers’ profiles has proven helpful during fieldwork. Here, methodologies of documentation adapted to the specificities of whistled speech are described. This chapter also depicts pioneer revitalization initiatives that illustrate how local people decided to transmit this peculiar part of their oral patrimony to the next generation and to face the challenge of teaching whistled speech in a modern world.
