Overview
- A paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B reports five speech-like features in sperm whale codas that closely parallel human phonology.
- The team analyzed 3,948 click sequences recorded from 15 whales off Dominica between 2014 and 2018.
- Researchers identified two formant-based coda types—“a-codas” with one resonant band and “i-codas” with two—that show systematic length contrasts.
- The sequences follow nonrandom rules, including neighbor-sound interactions similar to coarticulation, with pacing that varies by individual and by clan.
- The authors do not call this a language because meanings are unproven, and they are using machine learning in ongoing efforts to test and decode the signals.