Scientists detect speech like communication patterns hidden inside sperm whale clicks

For decades the clicking sounds of sperm whales have reverberated through oceans where those rhythms were ignored by human ears as little more than spooky sounds for the sake of it. But new research indicates that those clicks may have far greater importance than you ever realised. Researchers have started to identify some of the patterns within these noises that mirror the phonetic elements of human language, indicating a communication system much more advanced than previously suspected.

The achievement comes from Project CETI, a non-profit research initiative in the US focused on deciphering sperm whale communications. To do so, researchers partnered with the University of California, Berkeley to make significant advances into learning how these ocean titans truly behave in close proximity.

Redefining Whale Clicks


Sperm whales generate strings of clicks called codas for when they are socializing. These sounds can also carry for miles under water discursively creating a challenging acoustic space within whale communities. Prior work in 2024 on more than 8,700 codas from at least 60 whales showing that these signals were far more syntactic and emotive in nature proved previously assumed. They even posited that the sounds shared common acoustic characteristics with human vowel sounds.

But while that earlier research demonstrated a certain degree of flexibility and composability of elements in whale communication, it did not specify how these elements were organized internally. Gap closed A new study led by linguist Gašper Beguš for Project CETI in the US fills that gap.

MacroStructure of STC: Tags

In the most recent study, researchers examined almost 4,000 codas called from 15 individual whales between 2014 and 2018 in the Eastern Caribbean. The Dominica Sperm Whale Project conducted these recordings, giving researchers a data set to work with that is much deeper.

The researchers looked at five particular aspects of the codas and were amazed to find similarities between their phonetics and phonology, discoveries that already suggest some cognitive parallels to humans. We just discovered similar patterns in whale communication, which are a huge step forward, given that phonology is about how sounds are organized and function.

One of the most exciting discoveries was recognising two different types of codas based solely on their physical structure. The researchers called these a-codas (or before consonants) and i-codas (after consonants), similar to how we think of vowel sounds in human speech. For reference, an a-coda consists of one formant and an i-coda two, which are acoustic resonator frequencies that interact to create the listener's auditory perception of what they hear.

Patterns That Mirror Human Speech

Not just because these sound types exist, but how they behave in this case is fascinating. A-codas are the longer ones, and i-codas can be either. This variation mirrors the sort of flexibility observed in human vowels, which can change according to context and pronunciation.

And those sounds become even more interesting when they start to overlap with each other. Just like vowel sounds in human speech mix smoothly into new sounds, neighboring codas can affect each other. In fact, combining certain vowels can create completely different phonetic outcomes in spoken language. The researchers found comparable interactions with whale codas, which hinted at a complexity above fundamental signaling.

Even individual whales seem to have their own rhythms when making these calls. This variation suggests an identity-specific or even personalized aspect to the way that they are communicating, raising yet another layer of sophistication.

Communication System or True Language

Even with these groundbreaking discoveries, scientists are reluctant to call whale communication a true language. But scientists still do not know what the patterns mean in a code and which elements combine together. In typical human terms, language require the ability to make specific and structured message.

For the time being, sperm whale communication is all that can be described as a very advanced (human) communication system. It has many similarities to human language especially regarding sound structure, however without agreed meaning it cannot be labelled as a language per se.

How Technology is Addressing Whale Speech

To take this research even further, Project CETI is applying new machine learning methods. One day, using vast arrays of recordings of whale songs that could be put into a computer to try and decipher meaning from these calls. Such an approach enables researchers to identify trends at a scale and granularity impossible by hand analysis.

Successfully translating whale communication would have far-reaching implications. It can change how we define what makes humans human-whether language is a human-centric ability or other animals have it too. It could also reveal how language itself evolved over the years.

A New Era in the Earth Life Science

But for a more scientific way, it only sets the stage for connecting with an another intelligent species. If we can learn to speak the language of sperm whales, perhaps one day humans could communicate with the often elusive animals on their own terms and close a remaining gap centuries old.

Also, the tools and methods developed from this line of research could be adapted to other species, which may one day transform how we approach studies into animal behavior and communication around the globe.

An Under-The-Radar Peek Into An Invisible World

Sperm whale clicks (FIN), recently recorded patterns based on how human speech changes, represent a major advance in marine science and linguistics. Although there are still lots of unanswered questions, the results indicate that a lot is going on under the ocean surface and we are only scratching an incredibly complex communication system.

With researchers still in the field, one thing is becoming clearer: sperm whale clicks do not represent random noise but serve a sophisticated function and that someday, instead of taunts flying between species as befits history's relationship with nature, perhaps a new mode of communication will take place.