The sperm whale 'phonetic alphabet' revealed by AI

bbc ^ | 11 July 2024 | Katherine Latham and Anna Bressanin

[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.

[MayflowerMadam]

Interesting.

[Paal Gulli]

"K.i.l.l A.h.a.b

R.a.m t.h.e P.e.q.u.o.d"

The real ship was the Essex, a Nantucket whaler sunk near the Galapagos in 1820 by an unruly white sperm whale. It made national news and inspired Melville to write Moby Dick but the real event was even more remarkable than what's in the John Huston film.

Huston co-wrote the script with -- of all people -- Ray Bradbury.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship)

[martin_fierro]

I speak Whale.

[gleeaikin]

I saw an interesting show last night which covered the windmill issue offshore. They pointed out that vastly larger numbers of birds are killed running into buildings, especially the reflective windows, than are killed by windmill blades.

[Openurmind]

“They pointed out that vastly larger numbers of birds are killed running into buildings.”

Well that is logical even though the windmills are not...

[SunkenCiv]

I’ve hit at least a couple of birds with various cars I’ve been driving. I doubt that birds flying into windmill blades are going to cause mass extinction, nor do I think that complaint has anything to with support for PETA. :^) Thanks glee’.

[gundog]

I think I saw the same show. It’ll be different species of birds, offshore. I find the whole argument rather specious...like when people excuse criminal activity by illegals by saying “Americans commit crimes, too.”