Wallied resembles more human language than previously assumed, has found research.
The study under the direction of the University of St. Andrews revealed a previously undiscovered “language -like structure” in Wallied, which was seen as unique for human language.
This indicates that, like humans, the Wallied is “culturally” transferred, which means that whales learn their communication systems from each other.
Researchers used methods used by the discovery of words in language and used for eight years of Buckel -WAL -WAL -Song data.
All human languages follow a universal pattern in which some words are used very often, while most words rarely appear.
This predictability is the key to how Baby’s language learns because they hear about the sequences of sounds in their language and discover moments of the surprise.
Research has shown a previously undiscovered “language -like structure” in Wallied (Image: Pa)
This is a way to break into the language when you find out where the boundaries between words occur.
Research showed that Whale Song also has sequences of sounds in which the sounds follow relatively predictable.
This had not been found in any other non -human animal.
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Professor Simon Kirby from the University of Edinburgh said: “These results require long -term assumptions about the uniqueness of human language and discover deep similarities between evolutionary distant species.”
Dr. Ellen Garland, who headed research, said: “It was unexpectedly to reveal this hidden language structure in Wallied, but it strongly indicates that this cultural behavior has a crucial insight into the development of complex communication throughout the animal kingdom.”
The research published in the journal Science was carried out by linguists, development scientists, marine biologists and behavioral ecologists from the University of St. Andrews, the University of Edinburgh, the Hebrew University, the Ird New Caledonia, Griffith University and the University of Auckland.