[cetalingua]

Denise Herzing used synthetic whistles trying to label things in our human way, pretty much the extension of Herman's line of thought. But we do not know if dolphins indeed label things in their natural communication system.

Signature whistles are tricky, and not everyone agrees that they are actually a thing. There was a recent study done in Israel where dolphins appeared to be using signature whistles of dolphins who died some time ago. It could mean that either signature whistles are not what we think they are, or that dolphins have routine conversations about their dead companions.

[mitchtbaum]

> synthetic whistles trying to label things

Oh, that's not very helpful..

> we do not know if dolphins indeed label things in their natural communication system

I believe we'd need to start with that as a basic assumption for how language works to begin with. How does that assumption seem to you?

> dolphins appeared to be using signature whistles of dolphins who died some time ago

I guess they probably talk about loved ones even when they're not in the same "room", same as us.

> Signature whistles are tricky

"Signature whistle" seems like an awfully complicated way to say "name".