Despite humans and whales being separated by millions of years of evolution, our vocalizations follow the same principle outlined in Zipf's law

The sounds that make up humpback whale songs follow some of the same statistical rules seen in human languages, which may be because of how they are learned

For all the world’s linguistic diversity, human languages still obey some universal patterns. These run even deeper than grammar and syntax; they’re rooted in statistical laws that predict how frequently we use certain words and how long those words tend to be. Think of them as built-in guardrails to keep language easy to learn and use.

Language has long been considered a uniquely human trait, with features that mark it out as distinct from the communication of all other species. However, research published in Science has uncovered the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in humpback whale song.

Scientists have discovered that human language and whale songs have remarkable similarities in the way they are segmented and structured.

Language has long been considered a uniquely human trait, with features that mark it out as distinct from the communication of all other

Researchers identified statistically coherent patterns in whale song that may be a signature of cultural learning.

But these are special occasion words, sprinkled sparingly into writing and conversation. The words in heaviest rotation are short and mundane.