[jimwhite]

Here is the blog post from Project CETI that did the research

https://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/sperm-whale-phonetic-...

Ridiculous how many articles repeat the NYT'$ paywalled headline but don't report any sources.

[spopejoy]

> Rhythm, tempo, rubato and ornamentation can be freely combined. This gives rise to a large inventory of distinguishable codas — a “sperm whale phonetic alphabet” that makes it possible to systematically explain observed variability in coda structure.

It's remarkable how musical analysis is at the forefront here as a central categorizing schema.

There's remains a lot of mystery surrounding human neurology with respect to music, but it seems tha music travels different pathways than verbal communications, while still having "liguistic" features.

Music might even have vestigial function for us that birdsong and whalesong are still maintaining.