From Newsgroup: sci.lang



https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-found-human-speech-like-patterns-in-sperm-whale-clicks

The staccato clicks of sperm whales may sound like meaningless background noise to human ears, but a new analysis suggests they may be part of a communication system with a level of complexity approaching that of our own.


According to researchers with Project CETI, a US non-profit working to understand sperm whales, the clicks known as "codas" are more complex than a 2024 study indicated. That earlier work found the sounds had an acoustic resemblance to human vowels.

Now, a new paper investigating five properties of the codas shows that these sounds are used in patterns that follow structured rules similar to those seen in human speech.

"All five properties have close parallels in the phonetics and phonology of human languages, suggesting independent evolution," writes a team led by linguist Ga+iper Begu+i of Project CETI and the University of California, Berkeley.
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