Whale song shows language-like statistical structure

Inbal Arnon; Simon Kirby; Jenny A. Allen; Claire Garrigue; Emma L. Carroll; Ellen Clare Garland

doi:10.1126/science.adq7055

Whale song shows language-like statistical structure

Inbal Arnon^*, Simon Kirby^*, Jenny A. Allen, Claire Garrigue, Emma L. Carroll, Ellen Clare Garland^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Humpback whale song is a culturally transmitted behavior. Human language, which is also culturally transmitted, has statistically coherent parts whose frequency distribution follows a power law. These properties facilitate learning, and may therefore arise because of their contribution to the faithful transmission of language over multiple cultural generations. If so, we would expect to find them in other culturally transmitted systems. Here, we apply methods based on infant speech segmentation to eight years of humpback recordings, uncovering the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in whale song. This commonality, in two evolutionarily distant species, points to the role of learning and cultural transmission in the emergence of properties thought to be unique to human language.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	649 - 653
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	387
Issue number	6734
Early online date	6 Feb 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq7055
Publication status	Published - 7 Feb 2025

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Arnon_2024_Science_Whale-song-language_CCBY_AAM
Copyright © 2024 the Authors. This work has been made available online in accordance with the University of St Andrews Open Access policy. This accepted manuscript is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The final published version of this work is available at https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.adq7055
Accepted author manuscript, 7.38 MBLicence: CC BY

1 Active
3 Finished

Ellen Garland URF Extension 2022 - 2025: URF Renewal - YGR028
Garland, E. C. (PI)
The Royal Society
1/10/22 → 30/09/25
Project: Fellowship
Enhanced Research Expenses 2021: Sexy singing: cultural evolution and sexual selection in a complex song display
Garland, E. C. (PI)
The Royal Society
1/01/22 → 30/09/22
Project: Fellowship
Does vocal complexity reliably convey: Does vocal complexity reliably convey genetic quality information in humpback whales?
Garland, E. C. (PI)
The Royal Society
31/03/19 → 30/03/22
Project: Standard

Cite this

@article{2e19d15bdd0e440eb3ce32ee6f1ba09f,

title = "Whale song shows language-like statistical structure",

abstract = "Humpback whale song is a culturally transmitted behavior. Human language, which is also culturally transmitted, has statistically coherent parts whose frequency distribution follows a power law. These properties facilitate learning, and may therefore arise because of their contribution to the faithful transmission of language over multiple cultural generations. If so, we would expect to find them in other culturally transmitted systems. Here, we apply methods based on infant speech segmentation to eight years of humpback recordings, uncovering the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in whale song. This commonality, in two evolutionarily distant species, points to the role of learning and cultural transmission in the emergence of properties thought to be unique to human language.",

author = "Inbal Arnon and Simon Kirby and Allen, {Jenny A.} and Claire Garrigue and Carroll, {Emma L.} and Garland, {Ellen Clare}",

note = "Funding: Surveys of humpback whales in New Caledonia were made possible by contributions from Fondation d{\textquoteright}Entreprise Total and Total Pacifique; the Provinces Sud, North, and Isles; and the Minist{\`e}re de la Transition Ecologique et Solidaire. This work was funded by the following grants to E.C.G: Royal Society University Research Fellowship (UF160081 and URF\R\221020), Royal Society Research Fellows Enhancement Award (RGF\EA\180213), Royal Society Research Grants for Research Fellows 2018 (RGF\R1\181014), National Geographic Grant (NGS-50654R-18), Carnegie Trust Research Incentive Grant (RIG007772), British Ecological Society Small Research Grant(SR18/1288), and School of Biology Research Committee funding. E.L.C. was supported by a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi. J.A.A. was supported by a National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Postdoctoral Fellowship (2218949) and a grant from the Winifred Violet Scott Trust. I.A. was supported by an Israeli Science Foundation Grant (ISF 445/20). I.A. and S.K. were supported by a fellowship from the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies.",

year = "2025",

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doi = "10.1126/science.adq7055",

language = "English",

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pages = "649 -- 653",

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AU - Arnon, Inbal

AU - Kirby, Simon

AU - Allen, Jenny A.

AU - Garrigue, Claire

AU - Carroll, Emma L.

AU - Garland, Ellen Clare

N1 - Funding: Surveys of humpback whales in New Caledonia were made possible by contributions from Fondation d’Entreprise Total and Total Pacifique; the Provinces Sud, North, and Isles; and the Ministère de la Transition Ecologique et Solidaire. This work was funded by the following grants to E.C.G: Royal Society University Research Fellowship (UF160081 and URF\R\221020), Royal Society Research Fellows Enhancement Award (RGF\EA\180213), Royal Society Research Grants for Research Fellows 2018 (RGF\R1\181014), National Geographic Grant (NGS-50654R-18), Carnegie Trust Research Incentive Grant (RIG007772), British Ecological Society Small Research Grant(SR18/1288), and School of Biology Research Committee funding. E.L.C. was supported by a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi. J.A.A. was supported by a National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Postdoctoral Fellowship (2218949) and a grant from the Winifred Violet Scott Trust. I.A. was supported by an Israeli Science Foundation Grant (ISF 445/20). I.A. and S.K. were supported by a fellowship from the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies.

PY - 2025/2/7

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N2 - Humpback whale song is a culturally transmitted behavior. Human language, which is also culturally transmitted, has statistically coherent parts whose frequency distribution follows a power law. These properties facilitate learning, and may therefore arise because of their contribution to the faithful transmission of language over multiple cultural generations. If so, we would expect to find them in other culturally transmitted systems. Here, we apply methods based on infant speech segmentation to eight years of humpback recordings, uncovering the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in whale song. This commonality, in two evolutionarily distant species, points to the role of learning and cultural transmission in the emergence of properties thought to be unique to human language.

AB - Humpback whale song is a culturally transmitted behavior. Human language, which is also culturally transmitted, has statistically coherent parts whose frequency distribution follows a power law. These properties facilitate learning, and may therefore arise because of their contribution to the faithful transmission of language over multiple cultural generations. If so, we would expect to find them in other culturally transmitted systems. Here, we apply methods based on infant speech segmentation to eight years of humpback recordings, uncovering the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in whale song. This commonality, in two evolutionarily distant species, points to the role of learning and cultural transmission in the emergence of properties thought to be unique to human language.

U2 - 10.1126/science.adq7055

DO - 10.1126/science.adq7055

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 387

SP - 649

EP - 653

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6734

ER -

Whale song shows language-like statistical structure

Abstract

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Projects

Ellen Garland URF Extension 2022 - 2025: URF Renewal - YGR028

Enhanced Research Expenses 2021: Sexy singing: cultural evolution and sexual selection in a complex song display

Does vocal complexity reliably convey: Does vocal complexity reliably convey genetic quality information in humpback whales?

Cite this