Well, this is lovely (whistling language)

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I would be lost as I can't whistle, but my mom would jist addmit to her list of languages. She was great. All the kids in my neighbourhood knew her whistle when it was my time to come home for supper.

Thanks, lnbsig. I remember reading about whistling languages back when I studied linguistics. There are, as the article indicates, a number of them. This one replaces actual vowels and consonants with whistle tones, which is interesting and very complex. Others that I have heard of replace syllables, or even simpler, reproduce intonation patterns. For a simplified version of this, think about the American English three tone utterance that means "I don't know." Low, High, Mid. Not whistled, but hummed.

I was intrigued by how the language is suited to the mountainous conditions. I wonder how similar (in function) this is to the original uses for yodeling.

Not the same thing, but kind of close. In the Basque Country we have the "irrintzi", a "yell" that was formerly used by warriors in our mountains to scare the enemy, then by shepherds to communicate their position, and it´s now used in festivals as a symbol of joy and happines. In Lekeitio they celebrate a contest, mainly by women, curiously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q91oD7kt0Y0&ab_channel=ibonnoya, as an example. Still very popular.

Wow, this discussion is shaping up nicely! Thanks to all of you so far.