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[–] 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

They identified nouns and adjectives in prairie dog communication, that also seems to vary with regional dialects. I'll try to remember to dig up a source when I'm not out and about later.

Edit: here's a not fully scientific link, but has names and links for people who want to go deeper in the science while being a decent lay person's overview.

Yes, the blog name isn't very scientific looking (I have not read anything else on it). https://thehumanevolutionblog.com/2015/08/18/a-career-studying-the-sophisticated-vocabulary-of-prairie-dogs/

And here's a peer reviewed study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347205801174

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Weren't science communicators talking about parts of speech in whale communication last year, too? They're using AI to identify patterns and variations in speech.

    Here's a general (though older) overview of whale language: https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/the-language-of-whales

    Here's a more recent article taking about using AI to identify patterns in speech: https://scitechdaily.com/ai-decodes-sperm-whale-language-revealing-a-complex-system-of-communication/

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  • [+] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    Okay, I'll bite.

    Why isn't it language? And how do you define that a method of communication qualifies to be called a language?

    Also, what would you call a method of communication that lies somewhere in between "follow the pheromones" and "modern human comms"?

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