Sperm whale vocal patterns show parallels to human speech.

A Project CETI and UC Berkeley study found that sperm whale codas include two click types with distinct resonance patterns resembling human vowel contrasts, and recordings from different pods show variation that may indicate regional accents.

Sperm whales communicate with rhythmic click sequences called codas, and a recent study reports acoustic features that mirror aspects of human speech. Researchers from Project CETI and linguist Gašper Beguš at the University of California, Berkeley attached small underwater microphones to 15 sperm whales and collected thousands of recordings over four years. Computer analysis of the sound waves identified two click categories, described as a-vowels and i-vowels, which differ in resonance and timing and can show rising, falling, or double-pitch contours. The study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B and notes differences between pods that may reflect regional variation. Key findings: - Sperm whales use rhythmic codas made of clicks for communication. - Analysis identified two click types labeled a-vowels (single resonance peak, shorter) and i-vowels (two resonance peaks). - Clicks can change pitch and form diphthong-like double pitches within a single syllable. - Recordings came from 15 whales using attached underwater microphones and comprised thousands of samples collected over four years. - The authors report that the acoustic patterns resemble human vowel distinctions and say the patterns pattern similarly in phonetic and phonological terms; the work appears in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Summary: The study indicates that sperm whale codas show acoustic and patterning similarities to human vowel systems and that pod-level differences may reflect regional accents. Undetermined at this time.