[yohd-l] 
verb, -deled, -del⋅ing, or (especially British
) -delled, -del⋅ling, noun | 1. | to sing with frequent changes from the ordinary voice to falsetto and back again, in the manner of Swiss and Tyrolean mountaineers. |
| 2. | to call or shout in a similar fashion. |
| 3. | a song, refrain, etc., so sung. |
| 4. | a call or shout so uttered. |
| yo·del (yōd'l) v. yo·deled or yo·delled, yo·del·ing or yo·del·ling, yo·dels v. intr. To sing so that the voice fluctuates rapidly between the normal chest voice and a falsetto. v. tr. To sing (a song) by yodeling. n. A song or cry that is yodeled. [German jodeln, from German dialectal jo, exclamation of delight, of imitative origin.] yo'del·er n. |
yodel
type of singing in which high falsetto and low chest notes are rapidly alternated; its production is helped by the enunciation of open and closed vowels on the low and high notes of wide intervals. Yodeling is also used as a means of communicating over moderate distances by the inhabitants of mountainous regions. It is associated with the Alpine peoples of Switzerland and the Austrian Tirol. But it is found also in other mountain regions (e.g., in China and the Americas) and among the Pygmies of Africa and the Aboriginal peoples of Australia
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