Posted on 12/26/2024 10:45:15 AM PST by BenLurkin
Sperm whales communicate with each other using rhythmic sequences of clicks, called codas. It was previously thought that sperm whales had just 21 coda types. However, after studying almost 9,000 recordings, the Ceti researchers identified 156 distinct codas. They also noticed the basic building blocks of these codas which they describe as a "sperm whale phonetic alphabet" – much like phonemes, the units of sound in human language which combine to form words.
Pratyusha Sharma, a PhD student at MIT and lead author of the study, describes the "fine-grain changes" in vocalisations the AI identified. Each coda consists of between three and 40 rapid-fire clicks. The sperm whales were found to vary the overall speed, or the "tempo", of the codas, as well as to speed up and slow down during the delivery of a coda, in other words, making it "rubato". Sometimes they added an extra click at the end of a coda, akin, says Sharma, to "ornamentation" in music. These subtle variations, she says, suggest sperm whale vocalisations could carry a much richer amount of information than previously thought.
"Some of these features are contextual," says Sharma. "In human language, for example, I can say 'what' or 'whaaaat!?'. It's the same word, but to understand the meaning you have to listen to the whole sound," she says.
The researchers also found the sperm whale "phonemes" could be used in a combinatorial fashion, allowing the whales to construct a vast repertoire of distinct vocalisations. The existence of a combinatorial coding system, write the report authors, is a prerequisite for "duality of patterning" – a linguistic phenomenon thought to be unique to human language – in which meaningless elements combine to form meaningful words.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Nature never ceases to amaze...
We’ve broken the code: D....r....i....n....k.....m....o....r....e....o...
m...a...k...e...a...m...e...r...i...c...a...g...r...e...a...t...a...g...a...i...n
They could see the same things in bird songs, no doubt. Projection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4PYI6TzqYk
"So long, and thanks for all the fish."
Interesting! I’m always learning something on FR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_vocalization#Bird_language
K.i.l.l A.h.a.b
R.a.m t.h.e P.e.q.u.o.d
Makes you wonder what they are discussing...
Gals: “watch out for that guy... He thinks he is some kind of slick donor or something...”
Next step is to teach them how to complain the oceans are dirty
LOL. I ALWAYS look for this on these threads. One time I was on it early enough to be the one to post it. Happy days!
Just unfortunate about the name.
A—l—l—-y—u—o—r—-s—h—i—p—-b—e—l—o—n—g—-t—o—-u—s
So long and thanks for all the fish.
“We have a translation interlock on their audio signal, we’re taking over this conversation now.”
Hah. I just watched that last night.
Tind some that speak Right Whale, and have them ask about those off-shore windmills.
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