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Searching for Language in Dolphins: Cracking the Code

Denise Herzing's project seeks to find linguistic richness in the vocalizations of dolphins. This would represent nothing less than a paradigm shift in the way we understand diverse intelligence.
Richard Sergay

Richard Sergay

1 Min Read

“Do dolphins have a language?” “Can humans ever crack the code of communication among dolphins?” Famed dolphin researcher Dr. Denise Herzing has been working for thirty years to understand Dolphin communications. Understanding language is a major obstacle in recognizing the diversity of intelligences across Earth’s many species.  Herzing’s project seeks to find linguistic richness in the vocalizations of dolphins and apply artificial intelligence to assess sounds on a structural level. “We have not had the ability to distinguish non-human communication like this until now,” she says. New discoveries in dolphin language code will represent a paradigm shift in the way we understand diverse intelligences. Do other species besides humans have language? How would we recognize a non-human language if it existed? And how might we begin to assess the structure and patterns of signals to interpret the meaning of non-human communication?

Author(s)

  • Richard Sergay

    Richard Sergay is an award-winning veteran network television journalist and senior media executive who spent much of his career at ABC News. He reported on major domestic and international stories for World News, Nightline and Good Morning America and ABC Radio. Richard completed a six-year assignment as Bureau Chief and Correspondent based in South Africa covering the end of White rule and Apartheid, as well as the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and the ensuing peace negotiations. After the South Africa assignment, Richard began a new beat for ABC News – the first for any major network --  focused on the digital revolution unfolding in the U.S.