Since they use sonar to see underwater, I always envisioned their language would mimic the sonar returns, so it would be more like a pictographic language. The word shark would be the shape of a shark. But if that was true, I’m sure researchers would have picked up on it by now.
That’s a really interesting thought, and actually, this post from a few days ago attempts to use tech to “see” how dolphins do when they use their clicks. I’m not sure if they would be able to transmit images similarly though because what they “see” is how the sound of their click bounces off of whatever is in the direction they send their click. People are also able to learn to do this.
Since they use sonar to see underwater, I always envisioned their language would mimic the sonar returns, so it would be more like a pictographic language. The word shark would be the shape of a shark. But if that was true, I’m sure researchers would have picked up on it by now.
The article does mention them doing something like that, but only briefly. It doesn’t give any context or elaborate further that I saw
That’s a really interesting thought, and actually, this post from a few days ago attempts to use tech to “see” how dolphins do when they use their clicks. I’m not sure if they would be able to transmit images similarly though because what they “see” is how the sound of their click bounces off of whatever is in the direction they send their click. People are also able to learn to do this.