| Whistled language of Aas | |
|---|---|
| siular d'Aas | |
 Plaque on the church in Aas illustrating a person whistling | |
| Native to | France |
| Region | Aas, Pyrénées-Atlantiques |
| Extinct | 1999, with the death of Anne Pallas |
| Revival | >10 revivalists |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Coordinates:42°59′N0°24′W / 42.983°N 0.400°W /42.983; -0.400 | |
Thewhistled language of Aas (in French:langage sifflé d'Aas,occitan sifflé d'Aas; inOccitan:siular d'Aas) is awhistled language used in thePyrennees village ofAas, located in theBéarn area of southern France. Localpastoral activities andshepherds benefited from long distant communication allowed by whistled and the mountainous topography. Whistled Occitan is based on the localBéarnese dialect ofGascon, itself often regarded as a dialect ofOccitan. According to Philippe Biu, it is "a practice known as the whistled language of Aas, but above all it is a technique [allowing] speech to be transposed as whistling".[1]
The use of the language was first documented in the 15th century.[1]
The local topography, notably including deep valleys, allows for quality sound transmission, with a usable range of over 2 kilometres (1.2 miles).[1] The inhabitants of the area therefore began using a whistled transposition of theGascon dialect of theOccitan language as a means of communicating between the pastures and the village, or from one part of a valley to another.[2][3]
After being informed of the practice,René-Guy Busnel [fr], acoustician anddirecteur d'études (university educator) at theÉcole pratique des hautes études,[4] documented the whistled language in 1950.[5] The natural use of the language in theOssau Valley ceased toward the end of the 20th century as the agricultural lifestyle disappeared along with the passing of the final remaining goatherds who used the language.[3] Anne Pallas, the last historical user of the language, died in 1999.[6]
The language is articulated around fourvowels (i, e, à, o) and fourconsonants (ke, ye, che, ge).[2] The language was transmitted from generation to generation, however,rural flight[3] and the adoption of new communication techniques caused this transmission to cease.[5]
Thecultural heritage status of the language and regrets over its disappearance brought several localBéarnese language activists to contribute torevitalisation efforts. Participants travelled toLa Gomera in theCanary Islands to learn from 'master whistlers' ofSilbo Gomero.[1] An association titledLo siular d'Aas, led by Philippe Biu and containing over ten members, is working to revive the language. TheUniversity of Pau and the Adour Region (UPPA) offers a class taught by Philippe Biu.[5] TheLo siular d'Aas association, the regional council, the UPPA and the middle school (collège) inLaruns support the preservation of the language with bilingual classes taught in French and Occitan.[5][2]
Research projects and a digital content repository have been discussed.[5]
In 2024, audio recordings of the language were released for the first time inopen access and under afree license through a collaboration between theUniversity of Toulouse andWikimedia projects, notably theLingua Libre project run by Wikimedia France.[7] In the same year, a temporary exhibition titledSiffler le gascon, histoire d'une renaissance (Whistling Gascon, history of a renaissance) took place atAnglet.[8] An interactive map created for the exhibition allowed guests to explore the Occitan area and hear the names of villages in the whistled language.[9][10]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)